West Haven, Conn., April 10, 2007 - The Minority Professionals Committee and the Minority Student Advisory Council of the University of New Haven (UNH) invite the public to attend a colloquium on "Public Education: Its Financing and Its Future" featuring a lecture by Dr. Lawrence DeNardis, president emeritus of UNH and former U.S. Congressman.
Governor Rell has recently proposed spending $3.4 billion in additional state aid over the next five years in an effort to equalize educational spending between affluent and poor communities. The plan includes shifting some of the poor towns' property tax burden for school spending over to the state budget. In doing so, Rell has taken the recommendation of the Educational Finance Commission she established for this purpose. DeNardis will recount his experience with the Commission and address many of the issues that require further action. The discussion will cover numerous questions raised by tax payers including:
- Do we spend enough on public education?
- Why is it difficult to achieve educational spending equity among our towns and cities?
- Why has the achievement gap between students from rich and poor districts remained disturbingly wide?
When: Thursday April 19, 2007, 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m.
Where: Student Enrichment Center, Maxcy Hall Room 118, UNH campus
DeNardis served on the Educational Finance Commission, the seventh special state panel to study and make recommendations on improving school finance since the start of the school finance revolution in the 1970s. He also co-chaired the first such advisory commission from 1973-75 and is the author of the first education finance reform legislation in Connecticut history. DeNardis is president emeritus of the University of New Haven, professor of political science, and a former member of the Connecticut Congress and the United States Congress.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call 203-932-7427.
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