Education stakeholders — including lawmakers, superintendents and municipal leaders — gathered Thursday to call out Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration for a lack of financial investment in K-12 education and to urge state leadership to make it a priority in the upcoming 2024 legislative session.
Thanks to widespread, bipartisan support, next year will see the second-largest investment in K-12 education in Connecticut’s history. Along with increases to numerous grants, an additional $150 million will be delivered to students across the state for the 2024-25 school year.
The budget passed today is a historic leap forward for Connecticut’s public schools, its communities, its teachers, and, most importantly, its students. It provides the largest single investment in K-12 education in the past 10 years, and the second largest investment in our state’s history. It also brings Connecticut one step closer to enacting a student-centered funding system for all students.
The budget proposal released yesterday by Senate Republicans is disappointing. The proposal fails to prioritize K-12 education and falls far short of making the investments necessary to meet the urgent needs of students, families, educators, and communities.
We applaud House Republicans for releasing a budget proposal that prioritizes K-12 public education, makes significant investments in Connecticut’s students and communities, and provides additional funding for special education.
While we are thankful the Committee’s proposed budget provides an increase in K-12 education funding, we are disappointed the proposal falls short of implementing H.B. 5003 — a historic education funding bill, with wide bipartisan support, which would fully fund all of Connecticut’s public school students.