The mayors and superintendents of Connecticut’s five largest cities gathered at the state Capitol in Hartford on Monday morning to call for a significant increase in state funding for their school districts.
Endorsing the recommendations of an October report by the 119K Commission, part of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the officials from Bridgeport, Stamford, Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury called for a statewide increase of $545 million in education cost sharing (ECS) funding.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said the state’s funding formula provides a per-student foundation amount of $11,525, a sum that hasn’t been raised or adjusted for inflation since 2013. He said that leaves municipalities in the position of needing to raise taxes to pay for education necessities, with urban districts having a disproportionate number of the state’s “high-needs” students – students who are English learners, students with disabilities, students receiving free or reduced-priced lunch, or a combination of the three…