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Mayors and first selectmen were outraged in December when their all-important education funding was cut mid-year, forcing administrators to scramble to make cuts in the public schools.

Republican legislators offered a plan Tuesday to close that gap completely, but Democrats did not agree amid squabbling at the state Capitol. As a result, the issue remains unresolved heading into Wednesday's budget address by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as the state faces even bigger problems in the next fiscal year.

"Towns deserve to know what they can count on from the state so they can plan for their own budgets and give local taxpayers predictability," said Rep. Melissa Ziobron, the ranking House Republican on the budget-writing committee. "This proposal would restore vital funding to municipalities for our children's education needs and ensure that unpredictable state cuts are not placed on the backs of local taxpayers."

Republicans were working on a bipartisan plan as late as Monday, but said the proposal suddenly blew up Tuesday without a solid explanation why. Lawmakers, however, said there is hope they can still work together in the coming weeks to provide about $20 million in relief for cities and towns.

The state's major cities, including Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, New Britain, Stamford, and Waterbury, were all cut by a maximum of $250,000 each that was placed on the lowest-performing school districts. In Greenwich, however, the cut was far higher at $1.3 million for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends on June 30. Simsbury was cut by about $145,000, while Litchfield was reduced by $58,000.

The Republican plan calls for relatively small cuts statewide totaling $31.4 million - compared to an annual state budget of $20 billion. The cuts would be spread across 25 state departments and agencies, ranging from the prisons to the state library. One of the largest proposed percentage cuts Tuesday was 10 percent of the operating budget of the Connecticut Television Network, which provides live television coverage of the state House of Representatives and Senate.

But Malloy's budget spokesman, Chris McClure, said the Republican plan does not work.

"Given their ongoing sanctimony about so-called 'structural' budget fixes, it's laughable that Republicans now want to spend every last nickel in the current year budget, even with a very small projected surplus," McClure said. "If Connecticut Republicans were actually fiscally-responsible, they would put any surplus into the rainy day fund at year's end. Instead, they want to eliminate our surplus, and risk putting Connecticut back into a current year deficit. All of this from legislators who said the current year budget spent too much. This isn't a serious proposal. It's an attempt to pander and get headlines."

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz said that a compromise is still possible.

"It's potentially a workable idea, but the details still need to be fully assessed," Aresimowicz said. "With the current budget year in balance, making a minor adjustment to avoid these cuts is certainly worth looking at. We offered to sit down to go over their proposal, but were told an announcement was already set. I'm still willing to meet and govern together."

While lawmakers are trying to help the cities and towns in the current fiscal year, they will also be tackling a larger deficit that is projected by Malloy's budget director, Ben Barnes, at $1.7 billion in the next fiscal year.

Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney of New Haven said the Democrats had offered to continue to meet on the idea.

"The Republicans instead chose to hold a press conference and play politics as usual, much as they did last week on the pension refinance bill," Looney said. "Rather than rushing into a press conference without details or consensus, we intend to meet with the members of our caucus on Wednesday to discuss the issue in hope to move from there to a bipartisan consensus."

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Republicans Offer Plan To Restore Education Funding, Dems Say Proposal Needs Work - Hartford Courant