Erika Haynes brings to the School and State Finance Project decades of community leadership, parent engagement, and experience navigating the state’s public school systems.

In her role as Director of Community Engagement, Erika meets with parents, teachers, students, community leaders, and interested residents across Connecticut to help them better understand the state’s school finance system and how it impacts their communities. Erika regularly gives school finance presentations to community and school groups, and offers a number of workshops for those interested in learning more about education funding and how they can increase their civic participation. In addition to trekking around the state, Erika is responsible for developing and executing the School and State Finance Project’s community engagement plan, and for nurturing and maintaining connections in communities.

Erika is a former member of the Windham Town Council and has served as both a community representative on the Windham School Readiness Council and as a board member for the Windham Parent Network.

As a proud mother of four, Erika has experienced the gamut of Connecticut’s public school systems. In addition to homeschooling for a period of time, her children have attended local public schools and magnet schools. The journey of her children through school, and her unique experiences as both a community leader and parent, have fueled her passion for working with communities to support their students and schools.

Erika’s commitment to education and community is demonstrated through her past work assisting parents and guardians through special education Planning and Placement Teams (PPTs) and her founding of the Windham chapter of Blessings in a Backpack, a program that sends food home to roughly 500 Windham-area children each weekend.

Erika holds a Master of Education degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Hartford and a Bachelor of General Studies degree from Eastern Connecticut State University. From 2000-2016, she also served as an adjunct professor at The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, where she led the nonprofit component for Performance Arts Management and Music Management majors.