For the second time in just over a week, the Connecticut General Assembly has approved greater funding for special education. Today, the legislature passed H.B. 7163, which will provide an additional $40 million in funding in the current fiscal year (FY 2025) for the special education Excess Cost grant.
While Connecticut ranks among states with the highest levels of education spending, most of that does not derive from the state itself but from municipal budgets.
A broad coalition of advocates and local officials is prepared to push for large increases in K-12 education funding during the coming legislative session, even as Gov. Ned Lamont remains reluctant to commit to major new investments.
The expiration of federal pandemic-relief funds will affect a wide range of Connecticut school districts, resulting in hundreds of lost staff positions and cuts to programs serving tens of thousands of students, a new survey of state superintendents shows.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as students, educators, advocates and community leaders, united Thursday against a proposal from Gov. Ned Lamont to redirect money earmarked for K-12 education.
State legislators and Gov. Ned Lamont have agreed to boost funding for UConn, the state university system and K-12 schools by hundreds of millions of dollars over initial budget proposals.