Analysis of the Impact of Budget Holdbacks on State Education Funding

On Friday, November 17, Governor Dannel Malloy announced budgetary “holdbacks” — or cuts —that impact state education funding for school districts and towns across Connecticut.

The holdbacks to state education funding, which are permanent cuts for fiscal year 2018 unless changed by the Connecticut General Assembly, are part of the more than $880 million in unspecified reductions the General Assembly mandated the governor achieve in fiscal year 2018 as part of the new biennial state budget.

While most of the mandated reductions came from labor savings achieved through the agreement reached with the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) over the summer, the governor was still required to issue approximately $180 million in holdbacks for fiscal year 2018.

Among the reductions to state education funding included in the holdbacks announced by the governor last week are a $58 million cut to the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant, a $3.6 million cut to the Excess Cost grant, and an $18.5 million cut to the State Magnet School grant.

In response to these latest reductions, the Connecticut School Finance Project created an independent analysis detailing state education funding for fiscal year 2018. Included in the analysis is a town-by-town list of estimated fiscal year 2018 ECS grants, as well as a town-by-town list of total estimated state education funding for fiscal year 2018.