Fully Fund Our Future

The time is now for addressing special education funding

by Taylor Adams, CCM Public Policy Fellow

Each year, the Public Policy and Advocacy team at the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) passionately represents state municipalities regarding a variety of pressing legislative issues. Of particular note is the issue of special education funding, which will most likely be a part of CCM’s legislative agenda in 2025.

CCM has and will continue to dedicate a significant amount of resources and energy towards special education primarily because it has become an exorbitant cost for towns and cities to endure and it is inadequately funded. Currently, municipalities are bearing the burden of the consequences that have resulted from the lack of state funding. The main source of funding for special education, known as the Excess Cost Grant, is “provided by the State to school districts to assist them in paying for special education expenses for students with extraordinary needs” (School and State Finance Project, 2024) and is currently capped and not fully funded; however, the cost of special education across Connecticut continues to rise exponentially and is dramatically outpacing available funding. The Governor’s FY 2025 proposed budget funds the Excess Cost Grant at the FY 2024 level of $181 million, which falls approximately $70 million short of the total financial resources it would take to meet special education program needs in the state.

Since towns and cities are largely responsible for the financial costs of providing education and delivering special education services for their students, unforeseen demands for special education services, often due to a mid-year enrollment, too often result in budget adjustments, supplementary appropriations, and other extraordinary measures to fulfill the local or regional school districts obligations. This is particularly problematic in smaller towns, where the addition of just one special-needs student can decimate a budget. Moreover, as special education costs continue to skyrocket, it is important to note the issues that outplacement poses to school districts. Since many towns lack the adequate resources to address the needs of special education children that may require a lot of individualized attention in the district, they often outsource such children to other districts which proves to be incredibly costly. This is an opportunity for the state to help facilitate the establishment of regional special education district centers of excellence, which will help mitigate the rising costs of special education, deliver more robust services and leverage school district resources.

CCM has long supported efforts to reform and adjust special education funding in Connecticut. Municipalities cannot continue to absorb these excess costs without further financial support from the state. To address this growing problem, two different task forces have been assembled that are currently looking at ways to streamline and improve special education throughout the state, which include the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) Education Governance Task Force and the legislature’s Task Force to Study Special Education Services and Funding. CCM is actively engaged in working with the ACIR Education Task Force and monitoring the progress of Task Force to Study Special Education Services and Funding. A variety of solutions have and will continue to be discussed including, but not limited to:

• Fully fund the Excess Cost Grant based on need as opposed to an arbitrary statutory capped formula.

• Increase the current level of state funding for special education, which is currently inadequate.

• Modify the Minimum Budget Requirement (MBR) related to special education costs so that expenditures above base student costs are not included in the calculation of the MBR if a student or students with special needs either move coverage out of the local or regional school district.

• Financial assistance to towns and cities to address non-budgeted mid-year expenditures related to special education costs.

• Lower the threshold for reimbursement from the state for students that require special education services from 4.5 times the cost of the average expenditure per student to 2 times the cost of the average expenditure per student.

• Reimburse towns at 100% and do away with town reimbursement based on town wealth factor.

• Establish Regional Centers of Excellence for special education.

The legislative process, both locally and at the state level, is vital to the effective engagement by municipalities. Their collective voice, through its facilitation of informed decision-making on pressing issues such as special education and the efficient delivery of services, serves as a unique and readily available way for members to engage with their communities and representatives. Thus, as discourse revolving around a solution to the special education funding problem in Connecticut persists, it is vital to remind our members to communicate their concerns and ideas to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in the legislative process. At CCM, we look forward to continuing to advocate for our members and to be on the legislative front lines as these policy needs and issues are debated.