Superintendents from Ellington, East Hartford, Stafford, and Vernon, along with Enfield officials who sent a letter, joined almost 200 people last week to speak in favor of legislation that would revise how the state funds public education.
About 180 school board chairs, city officials, public school students, and members of the public appeared during a nine-hour joint public hearing in Hartford on Friday held by the Education and Appropriations Committees on House Bill 5003, which would accelerate the Education Cost Sharing, or ECS, grants for 2028 by several years, fully funding the grant adjustments by fiscal year 2025 with an estimated cost of $275 million.
The bill also would expand ECS-weighted funding to students attending public schools of choice such as magnet schools, charter schools, and agriscience programs, while protecting funding for public schools, and eliminate general education tuition for magnet school operators and agriscience programs as of 2025.