Members of the JCT Education team learned about “banked cap” primarily through research with the Education Law Center. On April 20, 2018, we engaged in a “research meeting,” which is a key tool in organizing. Research meetings do not have any desired outcome other than to learn. Going into the meeting, our team had no awareness of what banked cap was or that it was an allowable local funding source for the school budget that was being determined by the Board of Education in Spring 2018. Neither the Superintendent nor the Board of Education had highlighted the banked cap during the regular budget process; we therefore saw an opportunity to teach what banked cap was, and compel the BOE to act on this opportunity to invest in the local school levy and fund the public schools. The win: $5.3 million added to the budget.
