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.
The state legislature’s Appropriations and Education Committees heard hours of testimony on Friday regarding Proposed House Bill 5003, a bill that would accelerate a phased overhaul of school funding so that high-poverty and English language learning districts receive more state funding per student.
Friday, a large coalition of lawmakers, advocates and parents gathered at the Legislative Office Building to call on the state legislature to fund schools immediately. They pushed a new bill to increase funding for the state’s public schools.
Students and school leaders urged lawmakers Friday to spend an extra quarter billion dollars on schools. Currently, that increase is scheduled to happen gradually over the next five years.
Towns and cities that past education funding formulas shortchanged are backing legislation to speed up the changeover to a new funding method that is expected to direct nearly $300 million more to them.
Legislators, school officials, students and parents are calling for the state to use a portion of its surplus to increase funding to schools as the federal coronavirus funding runs out, but legislative leaders warn that this decision may come at the expense of other budgetary requests.