The Condition of Education in Connecticut is the Connecticut State Department of Education’s yearly status report on public education in the state. The report presents indicators that describe the progress of the public education system, the characteristics of its students and educators, and the resources expended. The report also incorporates key indicators around student engagement and student readiness for college and careers.
Authorized by Conn. Acts 13-232 and prepared for the Connecticut General Assembly's Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, this report from Connecticut's Department of Revenue Services examines the state's income tax with respect to tax filing status. Included in the report is background information on the state's personal income tax, consideration of alternatives, and a multi-state comparative analysis of tax burden by filing status. Data used in the report is from the 2010 tax year.
The final report for the State of Connecticut’s Task Force to Study State Education Funding features recommendations to address problems with the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant formula, which distributes the largest share of state education aid to towns, and certain other major state education grants. The final recommendations build on interim recommendations to (1) support efforts to increase and make more predictable ECS funding; (2) update and improve the ECS formula; (3) support equitable funding for school choice programs, including interdistrict magnet schools and regional agriscience technology centers; and (4) explore fairer and more reasonable approaches to funding services for students with special educational needs. Due to the state's budget constraints, the Task Force offered its recommendations without a specific recommendation for more ECS funding.
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled a lower court erred in dismissing claims filed in 2005 by the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding. CCJEF filed suit on behalf of students and families, contending the state’s failure to properly fund public schools inadequately prepares students for higher education and employment opportunities. The Court held the state constitution requires "public schools provide their students with an education suitable to give them the opportunity to be responsible citizens able to participate fully in democratic institutions, such as jury service and voting, and to prepare them to progress to institutions of higher education, or to attain productive employment and otherwise to contribute to the state's economy." The decision allows plaintiffs to continue to pursue their suit that the state has failed to adequately fund its lowest-performing schools.
After Governor Jodi Rell formed a Commission on Education Finance in 2006 to examine how Connecticut funds its public schools, the Commission released its final report in January 2006 with a multitude of recommendations on how to improve the state's school finance system.
District Reference Groups (DRGs) is a classification system in which districts that have public school students with similar socioeconomic status (SES) and need are grouped together. The 2006 DRGs are the fourth generation of the State Department of Education’s classification of school districts. The groups are based on seven variables (income, education, occupation, family structure, poverty, home language, and district enrollment). All variables were based upon families with children attending public school.