by Jamil Ragland and Doug Hardy
HARTFORD, CT – Following an announcement from Gov. Ned Lamont and Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker that the state would be increasing funding for special education by $40 million in 2027, a key Democrat on the appropriations committee put the number in perspective.
Sen. Cathy Osten, a key Democrat from Sprague who co-chairs the Appropriations Committee, said it’s good that the governor wants to increase the funding, but $40 million doesn’t even cover a third of the need in 2026.
“We’re not going to do anything to make it fully funded this year, and that would be $101 million,” she said. “In FY 2026 it’s $126 million, and in FY 2027 it’s going to be more than that unless we change some of the parameters surrounding it, so that’s the other question I had.”
She noted that even the most resource-strapped schools, known as tier-one schools, only receive about 61 to 62% of the funding they need to cover excess costs, which include the cost of sending students out of district to receive special education services.
“Nobody’s going to go to that press conference and say this isn’t enough, but [$40 million is] not even close. So in terms of 2026 – 2025 is done – but in terms of 2026, it’s only about a third.”
Osten said that she wants to create a budget that everyone can support.
The governor, who is set to present his budget to a joint session of the General Assembly on Wednesday, announced the increase in funding while flanked by a bipartisan group of legislators, mayors, and education leaders Monday morning. Specifically, the $40 million is to increase funding for Excess Cost grants, which subsidize out-of-district placements for students with the greatest needs. Students whose educational needs cost at least 4.5 times more than average are eligible for funding under the Excess Cost grants.
According to the Department of Education, there are 91,847 special needs students in Connecticut. Bryan Klimkiewicz, special education director for the Department of Education, said the services required for 4,300 of those students cost more than 4.5 times the average and require support from the state’s Excess Cost grants.
In addition to the $40 million boost, Lamont is proposing to allocate $10 million from the General Fund and $4 million in bond funds to establish the High-Quality Special Education Incentive Grant program. This will be a competitive grant program run by the state Department of Education to increase the capacity of school districts to provide high-quality special education programming in-district and regionally, reducing reliance on out-of-district placements.
Osten said that in the rural northeast corner of Connecticut, the cost of transporting students to special education programs outside of their district sometimes outweighs the costs of the educational services themselves.
Russell-Tucker celebrated the additional finding during Monday’s news conference.
“The bill that Governor Lamont proposed today is a solid and strategic step forward in ensuring that the 92,000 students [with disabilities] and the school staff who support them have increased access to high-quality special education services within their communities,” she said. “By investing in programs that expand in-district and regional services, increasing the excess cost grant to help offset high-cost placements for students with the greatest needs and addressing special education tuition costs, this approach will not only address the rising costs of special education services, but will also ensure that our students with disabilities, each with their unique strengths, challenges and perspectives, are in environments that are fully equipped to support them.”
The money to improve in-district services will help to correct one of the more glaring inequities in Connecticut’s education system. According to a 2023 federal report about the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Connecticut sends 6.3% of special education services out of their home district for services – the highest rate in the nation.
Rep. Maryam Khan, a Windsor Democrat who co-chairs the legislature’s special education task force, spoke about the benefits of in-district services for students with disabilities from her perspective as both a special education teacher and former Windsor school board member.
“I know it’s a cost saving for the district to also have students closer, but I think it’s also important to recognize how important it is for students themselves to be able to go to school in their communities, to have friends in their communities,” she said. “And then it’s also important for parents to be able to participate more in their school community, their child’s school community. They can still come in and volunteer, rather than if their student is being bused out a long ways away, they would not be able to participate as much.”
Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, a Trumbull Democrat who serves as the task force’s other co-chair, said the funds are much needed.
“This is a moral obligation,” Gadkar-Wilcox said. “So we have to do better to meet the needs of all of our students. And we also want to meet communities where they are.”
The issue cuts across the political aisle. Republican Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano, of Bristol, revealed that his city’s budget will spend about $6.64 million on special education services this year – a 17% increase.
“This is a problem that hasn’t gone away, and I’m very proud that we have a nonpartisan group coming together to prioritize this,” Caggiano said. “I think this is going to help, obviously, the large cities and the medium-sized cities, maybe a little more. But this is across the spectrum that people are really hurting locally, because the burden of the cost does fall down to us locally, so I want to thank everybody again for bringing us together.”
Rep. Lezlye Zupkus, R-Prospect, said that House Republicans proposed a similar increase in special education funding two years ago and agreed that special education funding is often seen as a form of property tax relief because education funding primarily comes from property taxes.
“It is property tax relief, but I want to be careful of that,” she said. “I’m getting relief in my right pocket, but it’s my left pocket being pulled out twice as much.”
Zupkus was also wary of using grant funding to pay for special education.
“So is this a one-time infusion of funding for these grant programs that are great, but how are they going to work? Who’s going to be able to apply?” she asked. “There’s so many questions.”
Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, left, and Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of School Superintendents, chat before the start of Monday’s news conference on special education funding at the state Capitol in Hartford. Credit: Doug Hardy / CTNewsJunkie
“While we appreciate the attention the governor is giving to special education with today’s proposal, our students can’t afford to wait years for the crisis to be resolved,” she said. “Teachers are disappointed that the governor’s proposal doesn’t address special education for this school year or the next. An additional $40 million toward districts’ special education costs in 2026-27 will help our schools but it falls far short of what is needed. For the 2023-24 school year, the state allocated $181 million for special education, far below the $261 million in costs districts incurred that were eligible for state reimbursement. This year the shortfall is even greater, and due to inflation, costs will only continue to rise. Special education is in crisis today, yet we continue to push off remedies to truly tackle the problem.”
Joe Delong, executive director and CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities also suggested keeping the total in perspective.
“Today’s announcement from Governor Lamont was an appreciated step in the right direction. Ensuring a well-rounded education requires investment in students with special needs,” Delong said. “However, we must also recognize adding $40 million two years from now to an ECS formula that has lagged inflation by $654 million since 2017 is a mere starting point to the further work that lies ahead. The Young People First plan, spearheaded by CCM, reveals an overall need to adapt to an evolving educational environment through equitable funding for all students, a commitment to increased and sustainable special education funding, and a necessary shift away from over relying on local property taxes to fund our educational needs.”