As Connecticut works to right its fiscal ship, addressing how we fund public education is essential to improving the accountability, transparency and productivity of our state.
The amount of funding a city or town receives per child varies widely not only from one zip code to the next, but even at schools within the same district. Many schools lack the resources they need to provide their students with quality educational opportunities.
More than a third of public school students in Connecticut live in poverty and too many of these students, including those who require additional services or have special needs, sit in underfunded schools. By investing in our neediest students we can take steps to close the achievement gap they face vs. their peers in well-funded schools, which is among the nation’s widest. The time to act is now.
The formulas for financing public education in Connecticut are dysfunctional, outdated and overly complex.
Over the past three decades, our state’s school funding formulas have been revised and altered countless times, adding to their complexity. In fact, there are more than 10 different funding formulas used in Connecticut to determine how much money public schools receive. There should be one, inclusive formula to fund every public school student.
The state’s budgetary climate requires a funding system that helps not hurts the state.
As our state faces significant deficits and as funds become even tighter, we need an education funding system that meets budgetary restrictions while reflecting Connecticut’s priorities and supporting communities struggling to provide their students with resources and opportunities.
Connecticut’s current way of funding education is not based on the student needs in our towns and cities.
We need a school funding system that considers and responds to changes in enrollment, a community’s low-income student population and the number of English Learners and special needs students to ensure they have the resources they require to succeed, including basic school supplies and access to libraries and technology.
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