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.
Hundreds of staff members at Connecticut schools could face layoffs as federal pandemic-relief funds expire, and state lawmakers appear unlikely to come to the rescue. A year after signing off on $150 million in additional funding for K-12 education, Gov. Ned Lamont will seek to redirect some of those funds to early child care, his budget chief said Wednesday.
By cutting the legislature’s historic, bipartisan investment in K-12 education made just eight months ago, the governor is proposing a budget built on broken promises while turning his back on the needs of students, families, and educators throughout the state.
Connecticut school districts have spent $981 million of a total $1.7 billion in federal pandemic relief funds meant to offset the costs of educational expenses like paying teachers and improving facilities, according to a Thursday update by the School + State Finance Project.
State funding for the city’s public school system has increased for the current fiscal year and for the following year. However, those monies still fall short of what advocates say is considered full funding under the state-determined formula.
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.