School funding tweak sought
‘Cost sharing,’ which targets schools most in need, could be more fully implemented under new plan
In 2017, Connecticut lawmakers overhauled the way the state funds schools by creating a formula that directs more dollars to districts with larger populations and greater levels of student need. But districts aren’t yet receiving what they should.
The legislature is now considering a bill that would leverage the state’s strong fiscal health to fully fund the formula, known as education cost sharing, in an effort to accelerate aid for underfunded districts and streamline the process by which need is calculated.
“Simply put, we have a very disjointed funding system that does this through 11 different mechanisms, and we are trying to simplify that down to one,” state Rep. Jeff Currey (D-east Hartford) said during an education committee meeting last week.
How would funding amounts change?
The 2017 law went into effect in the 2019 fiscal year with a 10-year phase-in for underfunded districts.
That phase-in would be accelerated under House Bill 5283, with the education cost sharing formula fully funded by the 2024-25 school year — the same year Connecticut’s $1.5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief dollars expire.
Proponents of the bill say the early implementation of
“student-centered funding” will help bridge the “fiscal cliff ” faced by some districts, and make it easier for highneed districts to hire teachers, social workers and plan long-term services.
Urban school districts in particular stand to benefit from millions of dollars more in state funding by 2025.
Hartford Public Schools’ net state funding would increase by more than $24 million, compared to the $259 million it stands to receive under current law, according to School and State Finance Project calculations.
The bill would also mean significant increases for schools in New Britain ($18.2 million), East Hartford ($10.9 million) and Manchester ($8.5 million).
Funding increases would be more modest for Bridgeport, the state’s largest city, which would receive an increase of just $3.5 million. Funding would increase by $7.5 million for Stamford Public Schools, and $19.4 million in New Haven.
For districts deemed overfunded by the formula, the 10-year phase-out period would remain unchanged.
How is need assessed?
Under current law, the funding formula considers three factors to determine the level of student need.
The formula provides more funding for every student who qualifies as low-income, every student who is an English language learner and to districts where 60% or more of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
The formula also provides a base amount to each district for every student, regardless of need.
Connecticut has been through several iterations of school funding in recent decades. Most recently, the state supplied the bulk of education funding through block grants, according to Michael Morton, deputy executive director of the nonpartisan School and State Finance Project.
The process, with grants contingent on historical funding levels and occasionally political sway, was “certainly not equitable, not transparent and not reflective of the needs of the district and the community,” Morton said.
Sheff ruling and sending districts
Morton said the bill would help to alleviate the negative financial impact that sending districts may experience as a result of the Sheff vs. O’neill settlement, in which the state agrees to meet 100% of demand for Hartford students who want to attend a Choice school.
Under current law, Hartford Public Schools pay tuition costs for Hartford students who attend magnet schools operated by Capitol Region Education Council. House Bill 5283 would shift those costs to the state.
Some schools in Greater Hartford are “overly burdened with tuition payments that are increasingly on the rise and will continue to be if we don’t take action,” Currey, former chair of the East Hartford school board, said Friday.
Dr. Leslie Torres-rodriguez, superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, has previously raised concerns over the settlement’s impact on the district’s finances should enrollment in Hartford schools decline.
Districts with declining enrollment aren’t held completely harmless, Morton said, but there are some mitigating factors under current law. A Hartford student who attends a magnet school operated by Hartford Public Schools counts toward enrollment. Students who attend schools in other towns through Open Choice count as half of a student in the district where they live and half of a student in the district they attend.
What’s the status of the bill?
The legislature’s education committee advanced the bill Friday with a 27-12 vote, with one lawmaker absent. The bill was filed with the Legislative Commissioners’ Office on Monday.
Some lawmakers expressed concern Friday over the bill’s price tag, which has not yet been finalized.
Fully funding last year’s education cost sharing proposal, Senate Bill 948, would have come with a $376 million price tag, according to a report from the Office of Fiscal Analysis.
House Bill 5283 is different than last year’s proposal in several ways, as vocational agriculture schools and certain interdistrict magnet schools are held harmless from funding decreases.
State Sen. Doug Mccrory (D-hartford), co-chair of the education committee, applauded the bill for including a task force that would study funding and outcomes for school boards and magnet school operators.
“We talk about being accountable with the schools, [and] we’ve got to be accountable with resources,” Mccrory said. “This gives us an opportunity to have a robust discussion for how we fund schools, treat children the same [and] hold ourselves accountable.”