Albakkour and other NHPS students testify before the Education Committee.
HARTFORD — Metropolitan Business Academy senior Bayan Albakkour took the bus Wednesday morning not to school, but to the state’s capital city, where she delivered a message to the Connecticut legislature alongside more than 100 of her peers: New Haven Public Schools needs more money.
“I have personally experienced how low funding impacts students,” Albakkour said before the Connecticut General Assembly’s Education Committee during a public hearing. Her school’s book club wanted to attend an educational, literary event in New York but was told there wasn’t enough money for it.
Rather than give up, Albakkour took the lead in raising the money they needed.
“Students should not always have to find funding on their own just to access educational opportunities,” she said. Proper funding for extracurricular groups should be a priority: “They’re part of what makes school meaningful.” They build confidence, leadership, and community.
Albakkour was one of ten New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) students to jointly testify during the Education Committee’s public hearing on Wednesday in support of Senate Bill No. 7, a bill that proposes raising the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula’s foundation grant incrementally.
The ECS foundation grant, the per-pupil funding each local school district receives from the state before other adjustments, has been $11,525 per pupil since 2013.
The ECS formula began as a method of leveling the playing field, created after a Connecticut Supreme Court decision found solely using property taxes to fund schools to be inequitable. Now, students and educators argue that the formula hasn’t kept up with rising costs.
If passed, the bill would increase the foundation grant to $12,500 in fiscal year 2027, $13,500 in fiscal year 2028, $14,500 in fiscal year 2029, and $15,500 in fiscal year 2030. After the 2030 increase, the grant would be indexed to economic indicators, allowing the funding to keep pace with economic conditions.
NHPS students — alongside Supt. Madeline Negrón, Mayor Justin Elicker, NHPS Chief Financial Officer Amilcar Hernandez, and teachers union leadership — bussed to the Legislative Office Building to urge legislators to support the bill, alongside students and officials from other urban districts. It wasn’t the first time this legislative session that the city and its students have advocated for more funding the state. (Read about last year’s push for an improved ECS formula, which saw ten public education advocates arrested at a related protest.)
“It is important now more than ever for legislators to hear from our students,” said New Haven teachers union vice president Jenny Graves, as public education faces federal funding cuts from the Trump administration. Graves estimated that around 140 New Haven students were in attendance on Wednesday, compared to around 80 students last year.
“We’re not asking for extra, we’re asking for what we deserved all along,” said High School in the Community senior Diana Robles at a morning press conference to kick off the day.
When funding is insufficient, Robles said, “students feel it immediately.” She described schools’ leaky roofs, broken heating systems, and broken laptops.
“When you fund our schools fairly, you’re telling us our education matters,” Robles said. “Local action alone cannot solve a state-wide problem.”
Robles’ history teacher, Ben Scudder, asked, “Will we continue to let them cry poor while building up record surpluses?”
FaithActs for Education CEO Jamilah Prince-Stewart, standing with other faith leaders, quoted the Bible: “‘Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it,’” she said. “This is not merely a soundbite. It is a call to action.”
Teachers union VP Jenny Graves, Diana Robles, and teachers union prez Leslie Blatteau.
Reached for comment about Wednesday’s push for increased state funding of public education, Gov. Ned Lamont’s spokesperson, Rob Blanchard, said, “Governor Lamont has made strengthening education funding and classroom resources a cornerstone of his administration, so that every child has the opportunity to succeed. It’s one of the reasons Connecticut continues to be home to some of the best public schools in the nation, because we recognize that education is among the most important investments we can make as a state.
“At the same time, the Governor understands that local leaders face the difficult task of managing rising costs while ensuring classrooms have the teachers, tools, and support services students need, all without placing additional strain on property taxpayers. Although he has presented his biennium budget proposal, he looks forward to continuing the conversation on ways we can reduce pressure on local property taxpayers and promote greater equity.”
At still another press conference in Hartford ahead of Wednesday’s public hearing, state-wide leaders joined legislators in supporting the bill. New Haven State Sen. and President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, a Democrat, described S.B. 7 as “one of the most important votes in the state to municipalities and children.”
Looney introduced and co-sponsored the bill alongside a host of lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk, a fellow Democrat.
At that same press conference, Elicker said that NHPS has one counselor for every 396 students, one social worker for every 343 students, and one school psychologist for every 661 students.
“Our communities are desperate,” Elicker said.
In a packed hearing room on the first floor of the Legislative Office Building, where over 300 people were signed up to speak, Albakkour joined Robles, Board of Education student representative Abdellah Aly, and seven other NHPS students in collectively standing before the Education Committee and testifying in support of S.B. 7.
“If we look at the inflation between 2013 and today,” when the foundation grant was last set, Aly said, “it has roughly increased about 39 percent. If we adjust the ECS foundation amount with that rate … that would be approximately $16,000 per student.”
“The difference is extremely significant if and when applied across large school districts,” Aly continued, and operating costs continue to increase. “Those costs don’t just disappear, but instead districts are forced to make difficult decisions,” like increase class sizes, forgo infrastructure improvements, and put pressure on local property taxes.
“Thank you, young people,” said committee co-chair Doug McCrory, a Democratic state senator from Hartford.
“The more that we have support as students, the more powerful we can be,” said Albakkour, after leaving the hearing. “We’re tomorrow’s leaders. I feel like that’s really important to say.”
Right now, Albakkour said her book club is reading Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang.
“I’m also a big fan of Maya Angelou’s poetry,” Albakkour said. This week, she said she read “And Still I Rise.”
Students take a group photo.
Elicker at the mic at the day’s first press conference.
State Sen. Martin Looney: This is overdue.