SUMMONS - CIVIL STATE OF CONNECTICUT SEEMS TENN, «RECEIVED FOR FILE igen 00 othor sido for instructions 2 aroun, ga nret or pope in del O gee wlessan saeco. ee Seamount aga fret or property h demand pA Ys O Re Sb stnee i AND CIT CLERK Bz] "«°i claiming other root in edtion to orn NALA Mig GOMMERDERLT TO: Any proper officer; BY AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT, you ae hereby commanded to make due end legal service of this Summons and attached Compiait SISter sc ps TES TEL TOTES LWT | ae aio TRA ae WT Ee pre) eon 14 West River Street, Milford, CT 06460 (203 877-4293 June 52018 280 ‘waar Ao was TESST GF OTR BT ase pe cote (San ven page 7) ax Fimceee, Oth [intone Major MM 80 For the Plaintiff(s) please enter the appearance of a TORT eT ae PET OO STATE SEER iainen, Escala & McHale, Pe 21 Oak Stoo, Sue 60, Haro, CT 05106 18008 Tera ne! ph oar Santrol Rail anid (860) 493-0870 Tis trot ee pn pr ey Sierras easapeoneeciemaye Bel yes Cl No | jmequadegkemiav.com Taber of Pants Taarorof eto 4 Ey Fon s0-0¥2 each fr aional patios aries [Nam 1a Fils le i and Aas of Eo pry umber Set P.O Bor ToS Hr Coy Foot OSA First. ‘Name: Ansonia Board of Education ot Paiste [Rte are eet gcaot Tatona Pa al Fit iy of Angora i. Janol Via Waugh, Town and Gy Gr, Gy of Ansonia oa befenot AY MUN Sea About ey Set ‘Additional D-02| etnaat ‘Additional Dos] ermaort Fon oa Deena Notice to Each Defendant 4. YOU ARE BEING SUED. Tis paporis @ Summons ne lausul. The compl atached o these papers sats he css that each pans making _2galnst youn this ave 2. To ba noted af turer proceedings you oF your attorney must fe a form cad an "Appearance" with te clerk ofthe above-named Cour tthe above Court address on or before the second day ater the above Relura Date, The Retum Data pt araarng date. You donot have to comet cout onthe Return Date uniess you recalvaa separate noice fling you to come io cour. you or your altrnay do nt fie a ten “Appearance” form en tine, a judgment mey be erlored against you by eta. The “Appesrance form may be blainod athe Cour adress dove or at wanwjulet gov under “Court Farms.” you belove that you have neurance that may cover th cm tatis being made aginst you in ie aw, you shou immesfately contact your insurance representative, Oder acion you may have o lakes cescibed i tha Connecticut Pracice Book which may be four ina superior cout aw Ibrery or on-ng a wisrjudetgov under "Court les 6. Ifyou nave questons about the Summone and Complaint, you hous talk to an atomey quicy. The Clerk of Courts not allowed to give advice on fogal questions. Sear SE | marroooTS ea "Preip DM Leade. FEEEER” [levoowuceaie oarsaote a ft Sommonsls signed by a Clerk: ‘For Court Use Only, Fin Dae «2, The slgning fis been done so tal he Paint) wil not be denied 2ccoss to the cout © te the respons bay af to Pant to Sea thal sence is made inthe manner provided by aw ©. The Cle snot perl fo give any legal advice in connec wh any laveut. _—+ 1. The Clerk sighing thie Summone at ho request of he Plains) Is not espanstiein any way for any errs or iisiong inthe Summons, any allegations cenlinad inthe Complaint, oho servic of tre Summers or Complain Sta “Tearty Trae rand and |S ERS PAT va taertand the above Pane To| RETURN DATE: JUNE 5, 2018 ANSONIA BOARD OF EDUCATION SUPERIOR COURT PLAINTIFF JD OF ANSONIA/MILFORD ve AT MILFORD CITY OF ANSONIA DEFENDANT MAY 15, 2018 PLAINTIFF ANSONIA BOARD OF EDUCATION’S COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT 1. This is a declaratory judgment action, fled pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes §52-29, seeking a declaration that the City of Ansonia (the “City”) has illegally withheld $600,000 of the funds that it allocated to the Ansonia Board of Education (‘Board of Education") for the 2017-2018 fiscal year (FY 2018) and is obligated to immediately pay such $600,000 to the Board of Education. The City's actions clearly violate Connecticut law. The Parties 2. The Ansonia Board of Education is a duly constituted board of education charged with overseeing the public schools in Ansonia, Connecticut. 3. Under Connecticut law, a local board of education is an agent of both the State of Connecticut, for purposes of fulfling the State's Constitutional and statutory duty to provide a free, public education, and of the municipality that it serves 4. The City of Ansonia is a municipality in Connecticut, 5. The City has adopted a City Charter (‘Charter’).The City’s Budget Process 6. The Charter provides for an annual budget process. Under such budget process, the Mayor proposes a budget based on the projections of expenditures from each municipal department, including the Board of Education. The Mayor's budget is then reviewed and may be amended by the City’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation, Thereafter, the budget is reviewed and may be amended by the City's Board of Aldermen. Assuming that the proposed budget does not exceed three percent (3%) of the previous year's budget, the Board of Aldermen may adopt the budget for the ensuing fiscal year and fix the municipal tax rate. State Requirements for Education Budgets 7. Under both Connecticut General Statutes §10-222 and Article 51 of the City's Charter, the Ansonia Board of Education is responsible for preparing a proposed budget for the following fiscal year. 8 Municipalities are bound by Connecticut General Statutes §10-262) to adhere to certain minimum funding requirements for education. Passage of the Fiscal Year 2018 Budget 9, On January 10, 2017, the Board of Education approved a proposed budget for FY 2018 totaling $32,097,736. Such recommendation was submitted to the City for inclusion in the Mayor's budget. 10. On June 20, 2017, at a Special Meeting, the City's Board of Aldermen approved and established a City budget that allocated $31,860,474 to the Board of Education for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.Control Over the FY 2018 School Allocation 11. Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes §10-222, “{t]he money appropriated by any municipality for the maintenance of public schools shall be expended by and in the discretion of the board of education.” 12. Once the $31,860,474 in education funding was appropriated by the City through its budget process, state law required that the Board of Education maintain control over the use and expenditure of such $31,860,474 appropriation. 13. State law does not allow a municipality to reduce its education allocation unilaterally. The State Budget 14. In 2017, the Connecticut General Assembly failed to pass a state budget until the end of October of 2017. 15. When the Connecticut General Assembly did pass a state budget, it recognized that some municipalities had earlier approved municipal budgets that relied on certain levels of state education funding that may have been reduced in the later- passed state budget. With regard to the state’s minimum education funding statute, the State Budget legislation provided limited options for such municipalities to adjust municipal budgets based on anticipated state education funding that did not materialize. Thus, for the fiscal years ending 2018 and 2019, the State Budget Act provided, in part: “if a municipality has adopted a budget, levied taxes pursuant to such budget or made adjustments, transfers or modifications to such budget prior to the adoption of the state budget, for said fiscal year and such municipality receives, pursuant to such adoptedstate budget, a lower amount of state aid than that projected in the municipality's adopted, adjusted or modified budget, such municipality may (1) amend its education budget in the same manner as such education budget was originally adopted, adjusted or modified, provided the amendment to such education budget shall not exceed the amount of the decrease in equalization aid grants made to the municipality pursuant to section 10-262h of the general statutes . 16. Because all equalization aid grants cannot be used to reduce a municipality's expenditures on education, the City could not use the state alliance district grants to reduce its allocation for education. Ansonia is an Alliance District 17. The State has designated certain school districts as “alliance” districts. Such alliance districts receive additional state equalization aid funding over and above the amounts that affected municipalities choose or are required to expend. 18. Ansonia has been designated as an “alliance” district since at least the 2013-2014 school year. 19. For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, Ansonia received an alliance grant of $1,441,875 for specific educational purposes. 20. The Board of Education was not guaranteed to receive an alliance grant for FY 2018. 21. The 2017 State budget legislation stated: “For the fiscal year ending June | 30, 2018, the commissioner [of education] shall designate thirty-three school districts as | alliance districts. Any school district designated as an alliance district shall be sodesignated for a period of five years.” 22. Ansonia was designated as an alliance district for FY 2018, 23. Because Ansonia was designated as an alliance district for FY 2018, it wil remain an alliance district for at least 5 years. 24. For FY 2018, Ansonia received an alliance grant of $1,441,875 for specific educational purposes. Ansonia received the same amount of money under the alliance grant for FY 2018 that it received for FY 2017. Ansonia saw no reduction in its alliance grant for FY 2018. 25. Based on this funding, the City was prohibited from withholding, reducing | or removing any funds from the Board of Education's fiscal appropriation for FY 2018. The City's January 9, 2018 Reduction of $600,000 From the School Budget 26. On January 9, 2018, the City's Board of Aldermen voted to amend the City's FY 2018 budget by, among other things, reducing the appropriation (approved on June 20, 2017) to the Board of Education by $600,000. 27. In discussing this mid-year reduction to the Board of Education's budget, the City's Finance Director indicated that the alliance district grant was unexpectedly renewed by the State for FY 2018 and included $1.4 million in new monies (albeit Monies restricted to certain educational functions) and, therefore, the Board of Education appropriation should be reduced by $600,000 in order to avoid a municipal tax increase. 28. This mid-year reduction of $600,000 is contrary to state law. 29. This mid-year reduction of $600,000 was done in a manner that wasdifferent from the manner employed to approve the budget on June 20, 2017. As such, the reduction was illegal. 30. Despite repeated demands, the City has refused to restore its illegal mid- year reduction in the Board of Education's appropriated monies. 31. The appropriated monies that the City has failed to release to the Board of Education are for contracts, goods and services purchased or undertaken in reliance on the City's June 20, 2017 appropriation, 32. On May 2, 2018, the Connecticut Department of Education's Director of Legal Affairs wrote to the Superintendent of Schools, while copying the City’s Mayor and President of the Board of Aldermen, and advised that the City's mid-year reduction of its budget allocation for education by $600,000 was unlawful. 33. Without the $600,000 of appropriations unlawfully withheld by the City, the Board of Education cannot meet all of its bills and obligations. 34. The Board of Education will suffer irreparable harm due to the City's mid- year unlawful actions, 35. There is no other form of proceeding that can provide the Board of Education with immediate redress, 36. The Board of Education seeks a temporary and permanent injunction directing the City to immediately restore the $600,000 of appropriations that it has unlawfully withheld, 37. OnMay 10, 2018, the Town Clerk, Mayor, President of the Board of Aldermen and Corporation Counsel of the City were informed, in accordance with | |Connecticut General Statutes §7-466, that the Board of Education intended to file suit. 38. Because this is a dispute between the City and the Board of Education, all interested parties have been made parties to this action. The Attorney General of the State of Connecticut has been sent a copy of the complaint, along with the Connecticut Commissioner of Education. PRAYER FOR RELIEF The Board of Education is entitled to the following relief: 1, Apermanent injunction requiring the City of Ansonia to immediately convey to the Ansonia Board of Education $600,000 in funds that the City illegally reduced at mid-year from its June 20, 2017 appropriation for education for FY 2018, 2. A declaration that the Ansonia Board of Education is entitled to the full allocation of the school funds for the 2017-2018 fiscal year that the City of Ansonia made on June 20, 2017 and further declaring that the City’s mid-year reduction of school funding by $600,000.00 is unlawful. PLAINTIFF, ANSONIA BOARD OF EDUCATION By, Fréderick Dorsey, Esq. ‘Joseph W. McQuade, Esq. Kainen, Escalera & McHale, P.C, 21 Oak Street, Suite 601 Hartford, CT 06106 Telephone (860) 483-0870 Facsimile (860) 493-0871 Its Attorneys Firm Juris No. 418003CERTIFICATE All interested parties to this dispute have been joined as parties to this action or have been given reasonable notice hereof, including the following: The Honorable David 8. Cassetti Mayor 253 Main Street Ansonia, CT 06401 Mr. Lorie Vaccaro President, Board of Aldermen 253 Main Street Ansonia, CT 06401 Dr. Diana R. Wentzell Commissioner of Education Peter M. Haberlandt, Esq. State Department of Education 450 Columbus Boulevard Hartford, CT 06103 James Tallberg, Esq. Karsten & Tallberg, LLC 500 Enterprise Drive, Suite 4B Rocky, Hill, CT 06067 John Marini, Esq. Corporation Counsel 253 Main Street Ansonia, CT 06401 Carol Merlone, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools 42 Grove Street Ansonia, CT 06401 George Jepson, Esq. Attorney General State of Connecticut 55 Elm Street Hartford, CT 06106 PLAINTIFF, ANSONIA BOARD OF EDUCATION By; “ederick Dorsey, ESq. ‘Joseph W. McQuade, Esq Kainen, Escalera & McHale, P.C, 24 Oak Street, Suite 601 Hartford, CT 06106 Telephone (880) 493-0870 Facsimile (860) 493-0871 Its Attomeys Firm Juris No. 418003