Demand Grows to End Fiscal Guardrails

 

For years, legislation to meet urgent needs of public education, health care and housing have been denied by the state legislature and Governor on the basis of artifically established “fiscal guardrails” that place protected funds off-limits.

This week two legal memos question the constitutionality of these “fiscal guardrails,” even as economic and racial inequities increase and attacks from the Trump administration put federal funding into question.

The memos released by Yale Law School’s Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic (WIRAC) validate the real-world harm caused, and confirm that the “fiscal guardrail” restrictions are also constitutionally unsound.

Their finding is that years of disinvestment were not only damaging but unnecessary and unjustified.

“The power granted to me and my colleagues by our constituents is considerably hampered by the restraints of our fiscal guardrails,” said State Rep. Josh Elliott. “Elected officials must be able to exercise decision making authority that current times call for, without the self imposed burden of an unconstitutional bond lock”

The crisis for public education is so severe that a civil disobedience sit in in front of the Governor's office denanded release of funds for under funded school districts so that all students, including Black and brown students, can have a world class education.

“This week I joined nine other teachers, students and community members who were arrested at the Capitol to escalate our concerns about the fiscal roadblocks,” said Leslie Blatteau, New Haven Federation of Teachers President, “Now to see that these arbitrary constraints aren’t even operational or constitutional, is an insult to every parent, student and community member who has been told, we don't have the money.” 

“The effect of years of underinvestment in public education and other critical public services will be felt in our communities for generations,” said Maya Shepard, Executive Director of Hearing Youth Voices, “Students in New London and other towns across the state, have missed out from the benefits of fully funded schools: adequately staffed classrooms, arts and sports and safe buildings – all in the name of “protecting” these unconstitutional roadblocks.”