During its 2025 regular legislative session, the Connecticut General Assembly made a number of changes to how the State funds special education, including the creation of a new formulaic grant to support special education services.
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.
Excess Cost grant reimbursement requests for FY 2024 significantly exceeded the $181 million appropriated for the grant in the state budget, and are expected to exceed the amount appropriated in FY 2025. Without additional funding, districts and towns will not receive the reimbursement levels specified in statute for the Excess Cost grant, resulting in less funding for all districts educating high-needs students with disabilities.
Despite state charter schools receiving most of their funding through state sources, local school districts may still be impacted financially by the opening and operation of a charter school. This briefing focuses on the potential financial implications of state charter schools on local school districts.
These frequently asked questions documents provide more information about FY 2025 funding for different public school types. Included in each document is an overview of funding from the previous year, details on how funding will be allocated in FY 2025, and information about funding in future years.
Funding for ECS Grant in FY 2025
Funding for BOE Magnet Schools in FY 2025
Funding for ASTE Programs in FY 2025
Funding for RESC Magnet Schools in FY 2025
Funding for Charter Schools in FY 2025
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The Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant is distributed to Connecticut school districts in three parts throughout the year: October, January, and April. This one-pager summarizes the ECS grant payment schedule and how districts receive their ECS grant.