Fully Funded Public Ed… without the tax hikes
This is a fictional interaction between me and a voter – it is heavily based on real conversations I’ve had while going door-to-door, introducing myself to folks in our town. I want you folks reading to feel like you were there – because you were!
I carry all of you with me when I’m out talking to folks at their doors, making phone calls, and researching policy.
I’ll be in regular type. Our neighbor will be bold.
(Knock knock)
Hi, can I help you?
Yes – hello, my name is Dr. Kathleen Kimball and I’m running for state representative for North Haven.
Oh, wow – hello, good to meet you.
It’s so great to meet you! I thought I’d come by and introduce myself since I don’t think we’ve met before.
I’m a veterinarian, an educator, and your neighbor up in the Green Acres neighborhood.
You’re a veterinarian?
Sure am!
That must have taken a lot of school.
It did – about 10 years including post-graduate clinical training.
But, I was blessed with an outstanding public education as a youngster, so I was ready.
I am forever grateful for that solid foundation.
That’s what I’m thinking about a lot these days. Public schools.
I have kids, you know. I want them to have a great education, but these property taxes are too much.
My second grader even gets sent home early sometimes in the spring and summer months.
I guess the schools don’t have reliable A/C and it’s not safe for them to stay in class on hot days.
How does that happen? I’m so worried.
I hear you. The budget referendum this year is at the forefront of all our minds.
You shouldn’t have to choose between an excellent education for your kiddos and affordable taxes.
That’s your state rep’s job to advocate, negotiate, and find a solution.
Do you have ideas on how to help us get better funding for the schools, but ease up on these tax hikes?
I love it here. I don’t want to leave.
I love North Haven, too. And yes – I do have a plan. I’m so glad you asked.
My plan to get fully funded public education to North Haven is as follows:
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This way, elementary-aged students won’t be sent home early on hot days, and their parents don’t have to leave work or scramble for childcare coverage
I’ve already investigated what it takes to acquire such a grant, and will have it ready to submit on Day One of my term as State Representative
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Increase the “foundation amount”
This is the per-student figure at the very heart of the state's funding formula. It’s been frozen at $11,525 since 2013, with no adjustment for inflation. Updating it to meet inflation would bring it to about $16,000 per student
Amend how the formula measures a town's "ability to pay"
Today it leans heavily on a town's property-tax base, which counts North Haven's solid commercial and residential base as "wealth” even as homeowners feel stretched thin.
It also pays out based on enrolled student counts, so when a town's school-age enrollment dips (ex: siblings go to college, parents become empty nesters, grandparents age in place…), funding quietly erodes with it.
We need to fix both, so the formula reflects a town's real fiscal capacity and real, lived experiences.
Require the ECS formula to be reassessed and updated for inflation every 4 years minimum by a bipartisan committee with representation from all calculated DRGs (district reference groups)*
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This would allow updated school funding values to reach the districts instead of being automatically funneled into the pension debt
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This would be in line with a comparable town like Newington, which receives around 20% of their education budget from the state
Even Bethel, in our same DRG, receives about 15.5% - nearly double what North Haven gets.
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This would:
Remove disproportionately high costs of healthcare from the town budget
Make costs of school funding more predictable
Improve retention and health services for the folks who keep our kids educated, strong, and safe every day
Dr. Kimball, this all sounds great, but I’m confused. How did we get to this point?
Doesn’t the Board of Education budget already include stuff like building updates?
Great question – yes, it does.
Annually, as with all services in North Haven, the Board of Ed submits their budget needs to the Board of Finance. Budgets are meant to cover the year’s expenses for maintaining services and meet needs of our town’s changing population.
This includes staff healthcare coverage, appropriate salary increases, transportation, paras for special needs students, building maintenance, materials like books and computers, etc.
Building maintenance would fall under “capital expenditures” in a budget – the same column as things like toilet paper, plumbing, mold mitigation, and day-to-day needs to keep the lights on.
Over the last several years, as prices have gone up, the contributions from the state have chronically gone down.
To make up for the deficit while avoiding higher property taxes, money was pulled from North Haven schools’ capital budget.
In particular, the Board of Ed has cited healthcare coverage for staff as the biggest, most disproportionate increase in cost year-over-year. Because money is being pulled from the capital budget, projects like updating electrical, roofing, and A/C units were delayed.
This year, the budget referendum happened because we no longer had enough money in the school capital budget to continue this pattern.
So, because the state wasn’t – and hasn’t been - giving us proper school funding, the town had to make up the deficit with increased property taxes.
Some other school districts in Connecticut experienced this problem as well. Furthermore, even though our property taxes went up, it still wasn’t enough to meet our needs – we still had to make tremendous cuts.
So, in summary…
The state chronically underfunds all districts by not updating the ECS formula to keep pace with inflation
North Haven has been especially underfunded in comparison to similar towns in our reference grouping - most notably, Newington and Bethel
Newington & Bethel get 20% and 15.5% (respectively) of their school budget from the state, but North Haven only gets 8% currently
Our Board of Ed tried their best to maintain school services with the money we had, but rising costs this year still triggered an increase in property taxes
The heaviest, most disproportionate increase is the cost of healthcare for staff
Okay, I understand. But doc, I thought North Haven was too wealthy to get more state money for our schools? That’s what I heard on Facebook.
We are financially better off in North Haven than some other districts – that is true. However, you just told me you cannot financially tolerate these increased property taxes. We cannot be “too wealthy” for state support while living hand-to-mouth with property tax hikes at the same time.
Your lived experience is what really matters, not numbers on an excel sheet. My job is to improve your lived experience with better policy.
What’s your point?
My point is that proper funding doesn’t have anything to do with relative town wealth.
It has everything to do with your state rep’s ability to innovate, negotiate, and advocate on your behalf.
Can you give me an example?
Definitely. What school district do you think is one of the wealthiest in the state?
Greenwich. Definitely Greenwich.
Exactly! But I can tell you right now, the Greenwich reps secured a $20M state grant for their schools in 2024. It came in the form of a 20% reimbursement for a building project valued at $112M.** The craziest part is: they originally were aiming for more like 7% reimbursement but were given almost 3 times that amount!***
The richest district in the state got a $20M grant for their schools?
Sure did. Districts get grants all the time.
I want to get North Haven an $8M grant so your kiddos don’t have to sweat it out while trying to learn. Then, you wouldn’t have to leave work to get them if we hit unsafe temperatures! Also – the building in general needs updates. It’s been decades since any of them had meaningful renovations.
That’s amazing.
So, fully funded schools don’t depend on town wealth when it comes down to the nuts and bolts.
No, but it does depend on having focused, efficient, and attentive representation.
I offer myself as an alternative to the rep we’ve had for 16 years.
I had no idea. Suddenly all this makes sense.
North Haven has amazing schools, devoted teachers, and talented students who – year over year – punch above their weight in all measures of success despite stunted funding.
Our schools are also among the highest draws for our town – many neighbors specifically moved here to have access to our education opportunities for their kiddos.
Imagine what our kids could do if they were fully funded! Imagine what we could do, as taxpayers, if we didn’t have to bear this much burden to ensure our schools are funded!
Imagine the possibilities with someone new, fresh, informed, and energized to deliver those things for you and your kiddos!
…are you taking donations?
*A District Reference Group (DRG) is a group of school districts with similar socioeconomic bases as defined by the State of Connecticut. As of 2026, districts in the same DRG group as North Haven include Newington, Bethel, and Ledyard. These groups are defined based on town qualities like home value, household income, proportions of students on free or reduced lunch, and much more.
**Greenwich House Legislative Delegation Secures Funding for New Central Middle School | Greenwich Free Press https://greenwichfreepress.com/news/government/greenwich-house-legislative-delegation-secures-funding-for-new-central-middle-school-216467/
***Greenwich will get $15 million more than expected on CMS reimbursement
https://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/greenwich-central-middle-school-reimbursement-19450741.php
