Technical schools face budget axe

Hartford (WTNH) - Two technical schools in Connecticut will shut down under Gov. Jodi Rell's budget plan as she tries to close a $8 billion deficit.

Rell says closing J.M. Wright in Stamford and Bristol Technical Education Center would eliminate 100 jobs and save the state $7 million.

"If it wasn't for this school, I really don't know what I'd be doing. This school has basically saved my school career," said Bobby Clay, a student at Bristol Tech.

There are 18 technical schools in the state serving over 10,000 kids. Rell wants to close Wright and Bristol because they are the smallest.

"I probably would have failed high school, I probably wouldn't have passed as well because I wasn't really good in high school. But here, this gave me a second chance," said Daniel Woolbright, a student at Bristol Tech.

Frank Nicastro, the former mayor of Bristol who is now a state representative, says he has received about 50 letters on this issue.

"They basically said the same thing to me; not everyone can be a doctor or a lawyer and there's a lot of kids who need hands on training," Nicastro said. "They told us, quite frankly, to keep the school open, to do everything humanly possible to fight to keep the tech school open."

In addition to closing the technical school, Rell has also proposed closing the courthouse in Bristol. It's a move that the mayor thinks is an unfair double whammy on his city.

"We are defintely of that mind set, that's why we're working so fervently to try and get the message to the governor that some of these services are in fact services that are beneficial, not only to the city of Bristol, but to the region as a whole," said Mayor Art Ward (D-Bristol).

There's also a new series of television commercials paid for by the state labor unions mocking the governor for saying sacrifice would be shared.

"Shared? When will Governor Rell ask the wealthy and big corporations to pay the same taxes the rest of us do?" Call the governor. Tell her to stop protecting the wealthy and big corporations," the commercial says.

The public relations blitz does not seem to have moved the governor very much and the Democrats don't appear to have enough votes to pass a budget without her.