As districts work to meet increasing student needs and maintain high-quality educational programs, the purchasing power of state and local dollars has eroded under the cumulative effects of persistent inflation. To understand how rising costs are impacting students and teachers in the classroom, we conducted interviews with leaders across 18 school districts.
This frequently asked questions document summarizes key components of Connecticut's Excess Cost grant, which is provided by the State to school districts to assist them in paying for special education expenses for students with extraordinary needs.
The District Repair and Improvement Project (DRIP) program is a new program that provides reimbursement grants to school districts for minor capital repairs and improvements to public school buildings, grounds, and infrastructure.
Glossary compiled by the School and State Finance Project defining terms related to school funding in Connecticut.
This brief details how an inflation-based adjustment to the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula's foundation amount could be implemented to mitigate the annual increasing costs of providing educational services. The potential adjustment would alleviate districts’ reliance on local sources to cover rising costs and would ensure all districts have the resources they need to properly operate their schools and provide their students with a high-quality education when economic changes occur.
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.