Fee elimination for new teachers, nurses amounts to win for Lamont
Keren Shaverdi is a nursing student at the University of Hartford, graduating this year. She’s from Long Island and is applying for jobs in both states.
Ifa proposal Gov. Ned Lamont rolled out Wednesday at the UHart campus wins approval from lawmakers, nurses, teachers and home day care workers would not need to pay state fees for their initial professional licenses. That’s $180 for registered nurses and $200 for teachers.
Would that small break make a difference in attracting nurses and teachers to Connecticut?
“It reduces the barrier, kind of gives me that push,” Shahverdi said. I asked her, is it symbolic of Connecticut’s view of the profession, or an actual financial incentive for her to stay? “Both,” she told me.
The cut in fees, which I reported last Friday, gives Lamont a quick, cheap and easy win to launch a state budget season that could end up bloody. At a cost of just $3.5 million and with a direct effect on thousands of young people starting their careers, it’s hard to imagine the legislature turning this one down.
That’s especially true because it’s a revenue cut,
not an expense. The difference matters because Connecticut has plenty of revenues, an estimated $645 million in the black this fiscal year. But spending is capped by law, so this $3.5 million per year won’t have to fight among the hundreds of millions of dollars in spending items that will, overwhelmingly, not win funding.
Those battles start next Wednesday, Feb. 7, at noon, when Lamont delivers his budget to lawmakers with a speech at the Capitol. On the fight card are hundreds of millions of dollars the nonprofit service providers, state universities and many others say they need. They say they’re falling behind in delivering crucial services because of inflation and, in the social services, higher demand for mental health and other needs.
Lamont vowed again Wednesday to hold the line and adhere to the so-called fiscal guardrails that will limit spending increases to 4 percent for the fiscal year that starts July 1. That’s the rate of income growth in the state.
Lamont’s budget chief, Jeffrey R. Beckham, said Wednesday the governor’s proposal for the $26 billion, 2024-25 spending plan will increase spending by about $100 million over the amount set last June, when lawmakers and the governor agreed to a 2-year budget. It’s unclear how that’s possible considering the state is already up against the maximums under the law, but Beckham promised it’s true, “with no gimmicks.”
The fee reduction is an easy one. It’s good for everyone. The state doesn’t need the money. The only question is, will Lamont and lawmakers follow it by eliminating other fees? For example, annual renewal of $120 for some 88,000 registered nurses.
“We’re just getting started,” Lamont said about the possibility of other fee reductions, although, of course, that could get into the tens of millions of dollars just for chosen professions that are in short supply.
The number of registered nurses in Connecticut is up by 40 percent since 2019, Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, said Wednesday at the UHart event. “There’s still a shortage,” she said, in part because not everyone licensed by the state is working in the profession.
Juthani called the initial fee reduction “one small gesture” to help send a message and to offset the high costs graduating nurses face. Nursing exams cost money, for example, and Juthani said, “Some students delay until they have money.”
She added, “These are mission-driven people...who are interested in making a difference in the lives of others.”
That includes Jeralyn Wiggins, a UHart senior from Middletown strapped for cash.
“Being a full-time student who works two jobs, I worry far too much about how I will pay back my loans in the future,” Wiggins said at the rollout event.