While Connecticut ranks among states with the highest levels of education spending, most of that does not derive from the state itself but from municipal budgets.
Public school superintendents are hailing a proposal to accelerate growth in state aid as a solution for the expiration of federal covid dollars used to increase staffing and pay for programs in many districts over the last three years.
Leaders of the Democratic legislative majorities, intent on seeking greater education aid for municipalities, are urging Gov. Ned Lamont to relax some of the fiscal restraints that contributed to the state’s huge surpluses and the governor’s overwhelming reelection in 2022.
The nation’s first report card since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed unprecedented declines in student performance in math and reading, with fourth and eighth grade students last year scoring at the lowest levels in two decades. While every state experienced declines in performance as a result of pandemic-induced learning loss, Connecticut’s results stand out.
Education advocates and officials said the gap largely comes down to whether cities and towns can fund teaching and learning in their districts on their own, without needing to rely heavily on state and federal money to offset funding gaps.
Hearst's multi-part report found that wealthy communities dominate poorer ones across sports, with one particularly successful town having won more state titles over the past decade than the 10 poorest towns and cities combined. Of the seven schools with the most championships during that period, all but one came from one of the state's wealthiest suburbs.