On May 7, 2024, the General Assembly passed H.B. 5523, a budget stabilization bill that appropriates funds for fiscal year 2025 and makes a number of different policy changes to K-12 education and other areas. Along with maintaining the $150 million in additional funding for K-12 education in FY 2025 that was allotted as part of the state budget passed last year, the bill overhauls how Connecticut distributes state education funding to school districts.
This document details how Connecticut could use a needs-capacity formula to distribute non-education municipal aid to the state's cities and towns and help address municipal fiscal disparities. Under a needs-capacity formula, municipalities with the greatest level of fiscal disparity would receive a greater level of state funding, while municipalities with the capacity to pay for services through their own revenue raising capacities receive less or no state funding.
The State of Connecticut contains 169 towns with a wide range of wealth and resident needs. Currently, the State of Connecticut provides financial aid to towns through a variety of statutory and non-statutory grant programs. The current structure for non-education town aid does not sufficiently address the underlying municipal fiscal disparities that are caused by the unequal costs of delivering services and the low revenue raising capacity of towns in Connecticut. The purpose of this policy briefing is to introduce and examine how Connecticut can address municipal fiscal disparities by using a needs-capacity formula to distribute non-education town aid.
This frequently asked questions document covers the 2023 legislative change made to the kindergarten entry age in Connecticut and what this change means for the state’s students, families, districts, and childcare providers.
Since property tax revenue remains the largest source for education funding in Connecticut, tax abatements raise questions about the impacts of incentives on communities’ abilities to fund their local public schools. This document helps address some of these frequently asked questions about tax abatements and their potential impacts on local education funding.
The Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula is used by the State of Connecticut to distribute approximately $2.36 billion annually in state education funding. This infographic breaks down the ECS formula and provides an easy-to-understand look at how it is used to provide state funding to Connecticut's local and regional public school districts.