Nearly 200 residents signed up during a Friday public hearing to speak largely in favor of legislation to boost state support for Connecticut’s lower-income school districts in the wake of expiring federal COVID relief funding.
The legislature’s Education and Appropriations Committees heard testimony on a bill, which would expedite scheduled increases in the Education Cost Sharing grants in time to offset the absence of federal funding when it expires in fiscal year 2025.
The change will result in an additional $275 million in state funding, according to the nonprofit group School + State Finance Project. The bill will direct its financial assistance to school districts considered underfunded by the state’s current ECS formula. Lisa Hammersley, the group’s executive director, said the bill would result in a net increase in funding for all but 12 towns.