CT Insider: You can’t solve Connecticut’s affordability crisis without addressing education funding

Connecticut families don’t need another reminder that the cost of living has climbed relentlessly in recent years. From groceries to heating bills to basic household expenses, residents across our state are feeling squeezed and living under the weight of rising costs that make it harder to get by.

Over half of Connecticut families report difficulty meeting basic needs with many more struggling to pay utility bills. Others are tapping into savings just to afford groceries and trying to survive under the pressure of an affordability crisis.

Now a similar pressure is hitting our public schools. As school districts face rising costs, communities are facing an impossible choice: cut programs and services critical to students or pass the increased expenses on to families and local taxpayers who are already stretched thin.

To avoid placing an even greater weight on the backs of taxpayers, or negatively impacting the opportunities and quality of education accessible to students, policymakers must act during the upcoming legislative session. Now is the time for Governor Lamont and legislators to provide some much-needed relief to communities and taxpayers by adjusting state education funding annually to account for inflation.

Over the past eight years, legislators across the political spectrum have come together to make significant improvements to Connecticut’s school finance system and the state’s Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula, which is the primary mechanism for distributing state education dollars to communities. A sign of that progress is this school year, after an 8-year gradual phase-in, the ECS formula will be “fully funded” for historically underfunded school districts for the first time in state history.

Although a fully funded ECS formula is a landmark achievement, it also means there are no built-in annual increases for districts going forward. This is because the phase-in of the formula is complete and the formula’s “foundation” doesn’t account for inflation. Instead, the ECS formula’s foundation amount — intended to represent the cost of educating a general education student with no additional learning needs — has remained the same since 2013 when it was raised by roughly $1,800 to the current amount of $11,525. For comparison, had the formula’s foundation simply kept pace with inflation, it would be approximately $16,000 per student today — aligning far more closely with what districts actually spend to educate their students.

While the ECS formula’s lack of accounting for inflation was largely masked as the formula was being phased in over time, it now poses a significant challenge to schools, communities, and taxpayers as the formula is fully funded and districts are left with a decade-old foundation amount that doesn’t reflect today’s costs. Without an annual adjustment for inflation, education cuts or property tax increases are the remaining options for school districts and municipalities. Neither is acceptable.

At a time when so many families are struggling to afford basic necessities, Connecticut cannot shift more of the cost of education onto the very people least able to absorb it. We cannot continually place the burden of rising costs on local taxpayers and ask municipalities to raise property taxes, particularly when many residents are already facing higher tax bills as a result of soaring home values and revaluations.

Relying on property tax revenue to always pick up the tab of inflation is not a sustainable or equitable practice. It makes our state less affordable, prevents families from settling down in Connecticut, and disproportionately harms low- and moderate-income residents who already pay a larger share of their income in property taxes. And in a state where over 57% of education funding comes from local tax dollars, it has an outsized impact on our highest-need and lowest-wealth districts — widening longstanding disparities and deepening cycles of poverty that hold families and Connecticut back.

At the same time, students’ education cannot be made to suffer because of rising costs. We cannot have students see services reduced, course offerings cut, and extracurriculars eliminated because state education funding doesn’t provide for increases in essential costs such as transportation, utilities, insurance, and instructional materials. Cuts, like the ones districts are facing due to rising costs, weaken school climates, reduce academic support, and make it harder for students to learn.

Fortunately, there is a solution and time for Gov. Lamont and the General Assembly to act and prevent communities from having to resort to education cuts or property tax hikes. Indexing the ECS formula’s foundation amount to inflation would provide predictable, annual adjustments that reflect real-world costs, support students by preventing cuts to essential programs and staff, reduce pressure on local taxpayers, and make our state more affordable, stable, and competitive. This is a simple, sustainable, and common-sense solution that would benefit every school district and community in Connecticut.

Our state has made significant progress in recent years when it comes to education funding and has taken meaningful steps toward ensuring every public school student receives fair funding no matter where they live or go to school. But without annually updating the ECS formula’s foundation for inflation, that progress will erode quickly — and students, families, and taxpayers will pay the price.

At a time when residents are stretched thin, student academic and mental health needs are growing, and teachers are in short supply, the state must step up. An annual inflation adjustment to the ECS foundation is a fair, future-focused investment that strengthens our schools, supports our taxpayers, and keeps our promise to the next generation.

Connecticut’s students deserve nothing less.

Lisa Hammersley is the executive director of the School and State Finance Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit policy organization that works collaboratively with policymakers, communities, and other key stakeholders to develop data-driven solutions that ensure all public school students receive equitable education funding to support their learning needs.