It has only been a few weeks back at school, and already the loose threads in the fabric of our classrooms are beginning to unravel. From stories of inadequate funding to a seemingly never-ending teaching shortage to educators paying out of pocket to supply classrooms, educators and students are bearing the brunt of underfunding. Across the country, 93% of teachers agree that inequitable school funding is a serious problem, and Connecticut is no exception.
Federal pandemic relief dollars, known as ESSER funds, provided critical support in 2020 by addressing long-standing challenges in schools – that existed even before the pandemic – including staffing needs and student learning loss. These funds helped many districts make meaningful progress, but they were never intended to be permanent. However, investing in our students does need to be permanent and prioritized. Unless budgeted by the end of September, ESSER funds will expire at the close of this school year.
Hartford Public Schools has already laid off many educators as a consequence of decreased funding. Though many of these educators were ultimately rehired before the start of the 2024-25 school year, the budget crisis still prevails. While districts, fortunately, found ways to make their current funding work to keep high-quality educators in the classroom, their solutions are not permanent.
As other school districts face continued funding cliffs, any gains made in recent years are at risk. The loss of key staff and programs could revert schools to pre-pandemic conditions, which were already inadequate in addressing issues like opportunity gaps, teacher shortages, and supports for our highest-need students.
When funding forces schools to lay off educators, the teachers who do remain in the classroom must support even more students, taking on more responsibility. This causes educators to feel overwhelmed, unsupported and burnt out, resulting in a compounding effect of even more teachers leaving the classroom. When educators are spread too thin and cannot provide individualized attention, our students suffer. Thankfully, there are things we can do to minimize these shortages and their effects on our educators.
Over the past several years, the Education Justice Now coalition, made up of organizations like Educators for Excellence and other advocacy groups, has been fighting to demand equitable funding for all public school classrooms. In response, the Connecticut legislature began to phase in the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula, which promises to make education more equitable throughout the state. However, the ECS will not be fully funded for several more years, and to avoid reaching a fiscal cliff caused by expiring ESSER dollars, this phase-in needs to be expedited next year to ensure districts have the money needed to seamlessly transition from a pandemic to a post-pandemic climate.
Last year, the Education Justice Now coalition helped to pass a bill maintaining an additional $150 million in school funding for 2025. This bill also made history by partially implementing student-centered funding for all public school students based on their individual learning needs. While the coalition has made significant progress, the legislature still falls short of providing the funding necessary to best serve our schools and students.
While fully funding the ECS formula is crucial in fulfilling these promises, we must also ensure we do not pit different public school models against one another. For example, magnet schools and vocational agriculture (VOAG) schools charge districts tuition to send students there, which takes away from money going to district schools. Rather than pitting school types against one another, the state needs to fund all school types according to student needs to ensure all students receive an excellent education. Each student is important and deserves a quality education, regardless of their school type or zip code.
We have spent years working towards fully funded education, and we have identified which students need funding the most. Even still, Connecticut does not fulfill its promises. We cannot continue sacrificing our students’ well-being. We have been promising fully funded education for years, and we must hold ourselves and our leaders accountable to ensure students receive equitable education throughout the state regardless of race or location.
Daniel Pearson is Executive Director of Educators for Excellence CT