This week the Berlin Film Festival is abuzz with the talk about a new film about Edith Piaf, La Vie En Rose (la mome). Piaf’s signature song could well echo the thoughts behind Governor Rell’s budget preparation. “Non, je regrette rien.”
Rell’s vision for the next 20 years is to fix Connecticut’s creaky educational system by throwing money at it. Tackling the ECS funding formulas is admirable, and elevating education to a spending priority, or as Rell puts it, as an investment, is courageous. But is throwing money at Education really going to change anything for the better? It may seem so, if you are a municipality only able to get revenue from residential property. But as long as local school boards continue unchecked spending, it doesn’t solve the issue of smarter spending and gaining operational efficiencies.
