During its 2025 regular legislative session, the Connecticut General Assembly made a number of changes to how the State funds special education, including creating the Special Education and Expansion Development (SEED) grant to provide dedicated state funding to school districts for educating students with disabilities. This infographic provides an overview of the SEED grant, how it is calculated, and for what purposes grant funds may be used.
SEED grants are calculated using the structure of the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula, with students with disabilities weighted at 50%. Grant funds must be used solely for special education purposes (excluding administrative, operating, or third-party contractor costs) and cannot supplant existing special education funding.
If fully funded, the SEED grant would allocate over $190 million to local school districts each year. However, for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, the state budget appropriates approximately $30 million annually for the grant, which results in grant allocations being proportionately reduced for every town and districts receiving roughly 15.7% of their fully funded grant amounts.
Citation
School and State Finance Project. (2025). Special Education and Expansion Development (SEED) Grant [Infographic]. Southington, CT: Author. Retrieved from https://files.schoolstatefinance.org/hubfs/Reports/SEED%20Grant%20Infographic.pdf.