Current Initiatives
Our dedicated team is always working on different projects and policies to achieve equitable education funding for all students. Check out some of our current initiatives below, and contact us at info@schoolstatefinance.org for more information or to see how you can get involved.
Student-Centered Funding
We're working collaboratively with legislative, education, community, and municipal stakeholders across the state to create a student-centered funding system that will help address Connecticut’s educational inequities, fix the state’s current complex and disjointed way of funding public schools, and make significant strides in reducing the alarming racial funding disparities.
Transparency in Federal Education Funding
The influx of hundreds of millions in federal education dollars as a result of congressional COVID-19 relief and stimulus packages presents both unprecedented opportunities and challenges. One of these challenges is ensuring transparency around how the federal dollars are spent.
Improving Funding for English Learner Education
Connecticut public schools currently educate more than 45,000 English Learners. In the last 10 years, Connecticut’s English Learner population has grown by over 14,000 students, while the state’s total enrollment has decreased by 41,200 students. Despite this growth, funding for English Learner education has not kept pace to meet the needs of Connecticut's students.
Addressing Impacts of COVID-19 on School Districts
The coronavirus pandemic has affected public education in unprecedented ways and has left lasting impacts on students, teachers, and staff. We're working with districts to meet the challenges COVID-19 has caused or exacerbated, and ensure resources are maximized to support students and their needs.
Committed to Equitable, Fair Public Policies
Every day, our staff works to develop and advance data-driven and people-centered policy solutions that help end racial and economic disparities in Connecticut education funding. Unfortunately, there is no magic answer or quick fix to eliminating these disparities, which are the product of decades of discriminatory policies, institutional racism, and systemic inequity.
As we work to ensure equitable education funding for all of Connecticut’s public school students, we acknowledge how systemic racism, racial and economic segregation by town lines, and the state’s flawed property tax system intersect with this work. We are committed to uprooting the policies that have allowed this longstanding discrimination to occur, have disproportionately harmed students of color, and have hindered equitable funding for so long.