How Connecticut Funds Education

While the primary sources of education funding (local, state, and federal tax dollars) are relatively simple, how each allocates or provides funding is not always as straightforward — particularly when it comes to how the State of Connecticut provides funding to its public schools.

The State of Connecticut distributes state education funding to public schools through a variety of formulas and grants. Currently, Connecticut’s legislature uses more than 10 different funding formulas to determine how much money public schools should receive.

Of these formulas, only the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula, which is used to fund local and regional public school districts, and the state charter school formula take student learning needs into consideration.

As a result, thousands of Connecticut students who attend other types of public schools are not funded by a formula that accounts for their learning needs. Instead, these students, who are disproportionately students of color, are funded through flat-dollar grants.

The School and State Finance Project is working collaboratively with legislative, education, community, and municipal stakeholders across the state to change this, and finally ensure all of Connecticut's public school students are provided equitable education funding based on their learning needs.