The Connecticut state budget proposed by Republican lawmakers, which plans to cut a total of $93 million over the course of the next two years, has been a topic of debate recently.
The proposed budget was recently vetoed by Governor Dannel Malloy, in which he called the budget “unbalanced, unsustainable and unwise,” according to WFSB.
According to Central Connecticut State University history professor Louise Williams, CCSU had already felt the impact of a $66 million reduction to the CSCU system budget in the past three years.
A budget cut in the amount of $93 million has the potential to do a lot of damage to Central: class sizes will grow, the amount of courses offered will decrease, travel funds will be reduced, some part-time faculty will be fired and clerical support will be reduced, according to Williams.
The backlash in regards to the proposed budget being vetoed is that an official budget is yet to be announced.
The debate over the current proposed budget continues to push back the official release of a Connecticut state budget.
Back in the beginning of June of 2016, the state budget was finalized, facing $77 million in cuts, according to the Connecticut Mirror.
The state budget was officially finalized in June of last year, while this year, Connecticut is still trying to finalize a budget, reaching the middle of October.
Even with the original budget proposed by Republican lawmakers being vetoed, that does not mean similar proposals cannot be put into effect, which could mean budget cuts will continue to worsen.
Students will face large repercussions financially if the proposed budget cuts of Republican lawmakers get approved, ultimately putting their education in jeopardy.
Coming so far into the 2017-18 fiscal school year without a set-in-stone budget really portrays the struggles of compromising on a budget that would best suit Connecticut.
Although lawmakers are expected to move forward with a budget proposal by the end of this week, it was not discussed what the new budget will entail for the residents of Connecticut.
Despite the planned meeting, Malloy still remains pessimistic, as he says both Republicans and Democrats are “hundreds of millions of dollars apart,” and the “lack of a state budget for more than three months is causing the state to lose jobs.”
As a result, thousands of workers could lose their jobs within the near future, ultimately putting Connecticut’s economy at a greater risk for collapse than it already is.
Making matters worse, Malloy has made it clear that if a budget deal is not reached by Friday, the chances of anything getting done before the start of November are unlikely due to legislator scheduling conflicts.
With that being said, it will not only be students who will feel the effects of the budget crisis but also state workers and their families, as some can be expected to be without a job by as soon as the end of this month.
Ultimately, it is because of the state budget crisis that Malloy said taxes could increase for Connecticut residents, making an already difficult situation even worse.