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More than 200 town officials and school leaders gathered at the state capitol to ask for more state funding to help sustain public schools. WNPR's Marie Kuhn reports.

Both Governor Jodi Rell and the Legislature's Appropriations Committee have proposed flat-funding the Education Cost Sharing grant, or ECS, that municipalities receive from the state.

According to Dianne Kaplan deVries, the Project Director for the State's Coalition for Justice in Education Funding, these budget proposals will result in massive layoffs, larger class sizes, and many program cuts.

"As municipalities and their school boards struggle to pay for rising wages tied to contractual obligations, ever-escalating healthcare premiums, soaring special education costs, and heavy burdens owing to No Child Left Behind and other federal and state mandates, the Governor and the general assemble must recognize that the bulk of education costs cannot continue to be passed on to cities and towns."

That's particularly true as cities and towns face deep cuts in other areas of municipal aid.

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, a former state senator, said his city can't survive without massive infusions of state money, especially as the city faces cutting another 2.7 million dollars from its budget.

"To save $2.7 million, I could close all recreation programs, all veterans programs, all senior citizens programs, and all after-school programs, I could close all that. That might close the 2.7 million dollar gap. What lovely choices. I never had those choices to make when I sat up here."

Many of the town leaders said they see no alternative but to raise taxes. They've proposed a local sales tax.