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.
With over $1 billion in COVID funding available to school districts, a new report by The School and State Finance Project, ConnCAN, and FutureEd found more than 50% is going toward hiring and training staff, while 20% is being used to address learning loss.
A bill that would have enhanced state funding for all types of public elementary and secondary schools bogged down this spring amid fears that it would force primary education and early childhood development programs to compete for the same dollars.
The Connecticut House of Representatives will consider legislation that would increase funding for public schools across the state. In 2017, Connecticut lawmakers created a school funding formula that would go into effect in the 2019 fiscal year with a 10-year phase-in. The formula would roll out funding for lower-income districts and decrease funding for wealthier districts. This means “full-funding” would be reached by 2030.
At a press conference on Tuesday, advocates and legislators gathered in support of a bill that will increase funding for public schools across the state — a decision that supporters say will help address the existing racial and socioeconomic divides in the education system.
If signed into law, the state’s Education Cost Sharing Grant, which supports all local and regional school districts, would be fully funded beginning in 2024-25. That means more than $275 million would be invested across 164 public school districts in the state.