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Reports & Publications

We've published hundreds of reports and analyses covering a variety of issues in education funding and state finance policy, and we're always working on new research reports. Browse through all of our reports and publications using the keyword search below, or search by a specific category using the drop-down menu below the Featured post.

Insights from District Leaders: How Rising Costs are Impacting Students & Teachers

Featured
Inflation written in white chalk on a green chalkboard

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.

Insights from District Leaders: How Rising Costs are Impacting Students & Teachers One-Pager: Impacts of Rising Costs on the Classroom
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Education Funding Funding Formulas

District Reference Groups (DRGs)

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.

DRG Webpage 2023 DRGs One Pager
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Community Student Enrollment/Demographics District/School Spending

Impacts of the Pandemic: Learning Models & Attendance

As a result of school districts serving different student populations with different needs, and having access to varying levels of resources, differences in the type of instruction Connecticut students received during the 2020-21 school year varied greatly. This variation resulted in districts with higher student needs being impacted more than those with lower student needs.

This report explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning models and attendance rates among Connecticut’s local and regional public school districts and charter schools. Additionally, this report examines each district’s student needs and the resources available to address changes and disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Impacts of the Pandemic
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Student Enrollment/Demographics Equity

Racial Disparities in Connecticut Education Funding

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.

Racial Disparities in CT Education Funding Racial Disparities and Educational Funding Fact Sheet
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Education Funding Community Student Enrollment/Demographics District/School Spending Equity

10 Years Later: An Updated Look at CT's District Reference Groups (DRGs)

The Connecticut School Finance Project has updated the 2006 District Reference Groups to determine what they would look like today. The 2016 DRGs were determined through calculations by the Connecticut School Finance Project and are not official classifications produced by the Connecticut State Department of Education. While the 2016 DRGs listed are not official, they were calculated using the same cluster analysis methodology and variables used by the CSDE in 2006 to determine the current DRGs.

DRG One Pager FINAL
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Student Enrollment/Demographics