Deb Heinrich

A recent Shoreline Times article reports on Deb's nomination for re-election:

For Heinrich, who represents Madison and North Guilford, one of her proudest accomplishments has been making the Educational Cost-Sharing (ECS) Formula more equitable. Last year Madison got a 34 percent increase in ECS money, and Guilford a 7.5 percent increase (Heinrich says Guilford got more aid than Madison to start with). This year the amount increased by 4.5 percent, despite revenue shortfalls for the state's coffers. Heinrich received an award from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities for her work on changing the ECS formula.
Now she's working to get the state to fully fund special education. "It's the most unpredictable piece of the town budget, and one of fastest rising costs," she said. "If we want to see more education funding, the way to get it is through special education."

Heinrich is also working to implement results-based accountability in the funding of programs by the state, which would require programs to report back with how they used funding, and assign goals to departments that would then determine how money is doled out. Results-based accountability has already been applied to early childhood education programs and to the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Heinrich. It has reduced redundancies in programs that affect early childhood, and resulted in a goal for the DEP of achieving a healthy Long Island Sound, a goal that helped lawmakers decide which programs would get the most funding, she said.

Heinrich is running for her third term as State Representative. "When I first ran," she said, "I said I would do it as long as I felt I was making a difference. And I still feel there is more I can do to help the community and help the state."

About Stevens, she said, "I have tremendous respect for anyone willing to serve their community in elected office. My opponent should be applauded for stepping up to serve."