On April 22, 2025, the Connecticut General Assembly's Appropriations Committee introduced and passed its recommended state budget for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. This nonpartisan analysis details these changes to state education funding in the Appropriations Committee's budget, and provides a brief overview of the general fiscal outlook of the state budget and economy.
This policy briefing details the current mismatch between student learning needs and per-student spending in Connecticut’s local and regional public school districts, and examines some of the factors that contribute to this mismatch.
This frequently asked questions document discusses special education services for Connecticut students attending public schools of choice, including how those services are delivered and paid for.
One learning need currently not weighted for in the ECS formula is special education. This summary document provides an overview how adding a weight for students with disabilities to the ECS formula would benefit students, the cost of adding such a weight, and other states that currently weight for special education in their funding formulas.
Excess Cost grant reimbursement requests for FY 2024 significantly exceeded the $181 million appropriated for the grant in the state budget, and are expected to exceed the amount appropriated in FY 2025. Without additional funding, districts and towns will not receive the reimbursement levels specified in statute for the Excess Cost grant, resulting in less funding for all districts educating high-needs students with disabilities.
This model provides the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula phase-in schedule, and estimated grants from FY 2020 to FY 2032, for each Connecticut municipality based on current inputs and variables.