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.
We surveyed school district leaders in Connecticut in order to quantify how the expiration of federal COVID-relief funds will impact schools, staff, and students. Survey results revealed district leaders believe the loss of ESSER dollars will impact thousands of students and educators through cuts to programs, services, and staff, and make it more difficult to address student learning and mental health needs, support higher-need students, and improve student academic performance.
District Reference Groups (DRGs) are a classification system that groups local and regional public school districts together based on the similar socioeconomic characteristics and status of their students. Developed by the Connecticut State Department of Education, the DRGs have not been officially updated since they were first released in 2006. Although not for official use, the School and State Finance Project has replicated the DRGs using updated data and the same methodology and variables as the original DRGs.
This report highlights policies that currently exist to provide greater accountability and transparency in Connecticut K-12 education, and the impact changes passed during the General Assembly's 2023 regular legislative session will have on these existing policies.
This report breaks down how districts propose to spend hundreds of millions of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund dollars, provided under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, by the 2024 deadline as they continue to respond to the ongoing pandemic and its impacts on the academic and social-emotional needs of students.
Connecticut's public school districts remain deeply segregated and significant funding gaps continue to exist between districts that predominantly serve students of color and districts that largely serve White student populations. These are two of the overarching findings from this School and State Finance Project report, which examines racial disparities in Connecticut education funding.