One of the biggest jokes in the stand-up, sit-down and shut-up comedy act called the Connecticut General Assembly is the concept of the "task force."

Last year, more than 60 bills included components of task forces.

They are usually the result of late-session compromise, or neglect.

Say a lawmaker has an issue for which there is not enough money and/or interest to pass an actual law. They gather up a critical mass of co-sponsors to create an off-session task force. The enabling legislation is always pushed through during the waning days of a session.

After all, what harm could it do?

The agenda-driven lawmakers are named chairmen of the task forces, which may or may not include outside experts with competing ideas of their own. Hearings are held and concepts are drafted. A report eventually results, for submission to relevant legislative committees in the following year, or never.

The Legislative Office Building is so spotlessly clean because task force reports almost always become dust magnets in forgotten corners of the State Library, across Capitol Avenue, or in a warehouse where interested parties can someday hunt. If they're lucky, the reports get lost in a wall of books, a few shelves above the mouse trap, up on the fifth floor aerie of the Legislative Library.

Out-of-sight, out-of-mind can be a good thing.

The recent report of the task force studying victim privacy and the public's right to know, which recommended expanded secrecy of crime scene information in a knee-jerk reaction to the Newtown massacre, is mercifully heading for a secluded nook.

But another one, focused on 21st century jobs for a vulnerable segment of the high school population, is on the verge of taking the train to Palookaville, too.

It's a typical example of the state of Connecticut -- and in this case, Mr. Jobs himself, Gov. Dan Malloy -- watching out for the pennies and letting the dollars take care of themselves.

It's about the expansion of the state's vocational-agriculture program and a measly $3 million-a-year in continued funding. The money would be used to offset the costs of sending out-of-town kids to places like Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury, which has a nationally recognized agri-science program that draws students from 23 towns, as far away as Danbury and Seymour.

You see the Nonnewaug kids in the Capitol on the annual Agriculture Day, in which farmers, nursery operators and state agencies set up displays and offer goodies (maple syrup milk shakes!) to lawmakers and staff.

The students wear dark-blue Future Farmers of America jackets that are arguably dorky-looking. But strike up a conversation with one or more of the FFA kids from throughout the state and you can see they're knowledgeable and super well-spoken. Public speaking is part of the deal at Nonnewaug and the other programs.

I love the description given to me recently of a Nonnewaug student, fresh out of a meat-cutting class, pulling off her blood-splattered smock and running for her AP English class.

It's nearly an annual battle, though, for administrators like Bill Davenport, who heads Nonnewaug's agri-science program, which is one of 19 spread around the state.

The really stupid fact, typical of Connecticut, is that there's room for 874 more kids and 19 teachers in the existing programs, but not enough money.

So there's Malloy the other day, at a round table in the Capitol with a couple dozen adults called the Working Lands Alliance. A few of the farmers in the circle look uncomfortable in their blazers, ties and unmuddy shoes.

They seem flattered that the governor, whom they might not have voted for in 2010, takes the time to show up. So they are deferential and praise him for continuing the state's open-space acquisition program. The governor boasts of his Thanksgiving turkey, all 36 pounds of Connecticut-grown. He spouts some banalities about the history of farming in the state, back to the early white settlers and beyond.

But because there are no Future Farmers of America on the alliance, which spends a lot of time considering the future farms of Connecticut, the governor is let off the hook. No smart teenager is there with the gumption to look the face of power in the eye and speak the truth.

Malloy's budget proposal has cut out the $3 million in continued funding that was recommended by his own Task Force on Education Funding.

Fortunately there's time before the May adjournment date for a frustrated Davenport to gather powerful legislative support. It wouldn't be the first time.

"After working with that committee for 18 months, and after this committee determined that agri-science programs have been under-funded for decades, and came up with a reasonable solution for finally providing more equitable state funding for these programs by phasing in an increase of 3 million per year for four years, (which would make state support for agri-science programs equal to regional magnets, although still far below Charter school and Vo Tech school funding levels), I do not understand why this committee's recommendation has not been recognized, valued and put into the budget," Davenport wrote me in a pro-model run-on sentence.

Davenport recently selected 90 eighth graders from 170 applicants.

He described a recent visit to one of the two Danbury middle schools, where 450th eighth graders came under the spell of interesting careers in agriculture. Many of these kids are the children of immigrants. Their language skills might be lacking. They need something for which to continue coming to school over the next few years.

In fact, Danbury would be the perfect location for a 20th agri-science program. It could offer kids experience and education, so they start their careers right out of high school in the state's $3.5-billion agriculture industry, or head off to college.

I keep thinking about Malloy's cynical election-year bone to taxpayers: the $55 or $110 rebate checks totaling $155 million. I would gladly give up that tank of gas if it meant another agri-science program and some more 21st Century jobs for the next generation. How about you?

Ken Dixon can be reached in the Capitol at 860-549-4670 or at Find him on Twitter at His Facebook address is Dixon's Web log, Connecticut Blog-o-rama, can be seen at