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.
The State of Connecticut has a constitutional responsibility to provide public elementary and secondary education in the state. In charge of carrying out this responsibility and ensuring the State’s educational interests are met are the Connecticut State Board of Education and Connecticut State Department of Education, along with local education agencies —including local and regional boards of education — that directly provide educational services to the state's elementary and secondary students. This frequently asked questions one-pager looks further into these roles and the entities responsible for Connecticut public education.
This frequently asked questions document discusses fiscally independent school districts and the structural differences between school districts that are fiscally independent and those, like the vast majority of Connecticut's school districts, that are fiscally dependent.
In Connecticut, the cost per square foot for school construction, adjusted for inflation, increased 64 percent between 2000 and 2012. This report examines the costs, processes, and state funding associated with school construction in Connecticut and its peer states. The report also examines legislative changes made in 2017 to Connecticut's school construction grant program.
Two pieces of legislation, Conn. Acts 12-116, passed by the Connecticut General Assembly in 2012, and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed by the U.S. Congress in 2015, require Connecticut to take steps toward greater transparency in education spending. The following policy briefing provides an update on the implementation status of these pieces of legislation, and examines how they impact transparency in school finance.
This report from the Connecticut School Finance Project examines how statewide school finance systems can be developed to meet the resource needs of schools of the future, and support public school districts implementing, or seeking to implement, approaches to systemic educational change.