The Connecticut General Assembly intends to vote next week on a $40 million supplemental appropriation to help local school systems offset rising special education costs in the current fiscal year, legislative leaders said Wednesday.
The extra funding comes as the legislature and administration of Gov. Ned Lamont are taking steps to eventually shift more responsibility for special education costs from municipalities to the state.
“I’m very sympathetic to what they are saying, but you have to do it in the context of an honestly balanced budget,” Lamont said.
Lamont has proposed a $40 million increase to the Excess Cost Grant, which is the state’s vehicle for reimbursing school districts for high special education costs, and a $14 million grant to develop ways to educate more students without sending them to expensive private programs outside the district.
But the governor’s proposal would not yield more special-education aid until the second year of the fiscal biennium that begins July 1, and legislative leaders said their proposal reflects that action is needed immediately.
“It’s an acknowledgement that we have fallen short on the Excess Cost Grant now, for FY 25,” said House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford.
Ritter and Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, announced the plan at a press conference Wednesday morning, saying the appropriation would come from a projected operating surplus. They were accompanied by lawmakers who have been working on special education funding.
The state is anticipating a $443 million in operating surplus in the current budget due to better-than-expected revenues, but agencies also are projecting significant cost overruns of about $429 million. Raising overall spending could bump against the state’s spending cap.
“We’ve got a tight budget. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. Every piece fits,” Lamont said after the legislative announcement.
The Lamont administration is trying to cut other spending to offset a portion of the overruns. But the governor warned that at least $166.5 million of those projected cost overruns are unavoidable and will have to be covered through a supplemental appropriation. If that holds true, there’s only $500,000 remaining under the cap.
“Just show me how you pay for it, guys,” Lamont said. “I can’t be the only one in the state that says you’ve got to have an honestly balanced budget.”
Neither the governor nor the Republican legislative minority were briefed before the news conference, said Lamont and Rep. Lezlye Zupkus, R-Prospect, the ranking House Republican on the Education Committee.
The legislative proposal would bolster funding in current fiscal year, and the governor’s would increase special-education funding in the one that begins July 1, 2026. It was unclear if school districts would lose aid in the intervening budget year.
“I think we’ll let the budget process play out,” Ritter said. But he added, “I can’t envision a budget that doesn’t address some of the things that you heard about.”
Lorna Thomas-Farquharson, the chair of the West Hartford Board of Education, said school districts are struggling with special education costs. Her community, where 18% of the students get special education services, is facing a shortfall of more than $1 million.
Under the Excess Cost Grant formula, West Hartford could expect about 3% of the additional funding.
“With this additional funding that will be provided to us, it’s going to help meet the needs of our young people,” she said. “It’s going to help meet the needs to help them now and also pave the way for them down the road.”