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.
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.
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 are at a critical point for public education in our state. We know we cannot continue with business as usual or return to a pre-COVID “normal” that did not work for a large portion of our state’s students, families, and communities. We must change how we support our public schools, empower educators, and set all students up for success.