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.
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.
This document provides an overview of how the State of Connecticut currently supports school construction and expands on how the State’s school construction grant reimbursement processes can be improved to better serve all students and public schools.
During the 2025 legislative session, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bonding bill that contained several policy changes affecting school construction and capital projects.
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.