A collective call for a “bold investment in our K to 12 learners” and “moral obligation to do right by all our children… that requires a new level of financial commitment from the state.”

NEW HAVEN, CT – On Friday, Mayor Justin Elicker and over fifty mayors, first selectpersons, and town managers from cities and towns across the state, released a joint editorial calling on Governor Ned Lamont and the Connecticut General Assembly to increase state education funding for Connecticut’s students. The piece was published in Hearst Connecticut Media Group newspapers statewide.

Citing the growing number of Connecticut’s at-risk and disconnected youth as well as the state’s stubbornly low NAEP scores, the group of municipal leaders urged the governor and state lawmakers to make a “bold investment in our K to 12 learners” and while “the state has made some progress in recent years, it is still falling far short.”

“At a time when there is a lot of division across the country, one thing we can all agree on in Connecticut is there is no more important priority to parents and to the future of our state than ensuring our children receive a high-quality education that puts them on a pathway for success in college, career, and life,” wrote Connecticut’s mayors, first selectpersons, and town managers. “We need to support our students and educators so they actually have the resources and support services to get the job done.”

The 52 municipal leaders who issued the op-ed reflect the broad diversity of the state, including those representing all political parties (30 Democrats, 16 Republicans, and 6 Unaffiliated); all population sizes; all geographies (rural, suburban, urban); and every county and corner of Connecticut.

The leaders note that while the costs of educating a child continue to rise, the base level per student contribution distributed through the state’s Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula has remained flat for over a decade at $11,525 per student.

Expressing frustration with this stagnant level of funding, city and town leaders write, “…who’s been picking up the bill? Property taxpayers and municipalities in the form of higher local property taxes. That’s not ‘education cost sharing’ by the state – that’s the state passing the buck,” They continued, “We’ve been doing our part and increasing our local contributions to our schools year after year, and now we need the state to do its part and increase its contribution to our schools.”

In light of these limited resources, municipal leaders highlighted teacher shortages, unconscionably high student-to-staff ratios of mental health professionals, and the need for the state to more adequately and equitably fund Connecticut’s highest-need students – students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities – who have more diverse and complex learning needs that require significantly more resources.

To address these significant funding gaps, the municipal leaders called on state leaders to take up the recommendations of the bipartisan 119K Commission’s Young People First report, which include:

• Increasing the state’s annual foundation amount by approximately a thousand dollars per student, and indexing the amount for inflation moving forward,
• Providing a financial weight for students with disabilities of 50 percent,
• Adjusting the current financial weights for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and for multilingual learners to 40 percent and 35 percent, respectively.

In total, this would represent a $545 million investment in Connecticut’s students, with the state’s 160+ school districts receiving an additional $3,000 to $59 million per district depending on district size and student population. Or, on average, an additional $1,120 per student.

Noting the state’s most recent $400 million surplus in its FY 23-24 general fund and an overall budget reserve fund of $4.1 billion overall, the leaders urged the state to invest in Connecticut’s youth, “As chief executives of our towns and cities, we appreciate the need for responsible budgeting, spending within our means, and having a rainy-day fund. But guess what? The state has the means, it’s raining on our students, and the forecast shows more storms are headed their way.”

The municipal leaders concluded, “… that’s certainly not too much to ask for each of our kids. Most importantly, it’s an investment that will pay dividends in the lives of our young people both today and for decades to come. We urge Governor Lamont and the Connecticut General Assembly – whom we know care about our youth just as much as we do – to join us and make a lasting investment in our young people and in our future workforce that will keep our state and local economy growing and moving forward.”

The op-ed was published statewide in newspapers that are part of the Hearst Connecticut Media Group including: Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, The Middletown Press, The New Haven Register, The News-Times, The Norwalk Hour, and Stamford Advocate, amongst others. The op-ed can be read it in its entirety here: “Opinion: CT municipal leaders unite to lobby Lamont for school funding”

The full list of 52 mayors, first selectpersons, and town mangers who issued the editorial are listed below:

• Bethany First Selectwoman Paula Cofrancesco
• Bloomfield Mayor Danielle Wong
• Branford First Selectman James (Jamie) Cosgrove
• Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim
• Bristol Mayor Jeff Caggiano
• Canterbury First Selectman Chris Lippke
• Colchester First Selectman Bernie Dennler
• Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves
• Darien First Selectman Jon Zagrodzky
• East Haddam First Selectman Irene Haines
• East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin
• East Haven Mayor Joseph Carfora
• East Windsor First Selectman Jason Bowsza
• Ellington First Selectman Lori Spielman
• Groton Mayor Keith Hedrick
• Guilford First Selectman Matt Hoey
• Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett
• Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam
• Killingworth First Selectman Eric Couture
• Madison First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons
• Manchester Mayor Jay Moran
• Meriden Mayor Kevin Scarpati
• Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim
• Milford Mayor Tony Giannattasio
• New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker
• Newington Mayor Jon Trister
• New London Mayor Michael Passero
• New Milford Mayor Pete Bass
• North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda
• Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling
• Norwich City Manager John Salomone
• Orange First Selectman Jim Zeoli
• Pomfret First Selectman Maureen Nicholson
• Portland First Selectman Michael Pelton
• Putnam Town Administrator Elaine Sistare
• Roxbury First Selectman Patrick Roy
• South Windsor Mayor Audrey Delnicki
• Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons
• Stonington First Selectman Danielle Chesebrough
• Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick
• Thomaston First Selectman Edmond Mone
• Trumbull First Selectman Vicki Tesoro
• Wallingford Mayor Vincent Cervoni
• Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski, Jr. 
• West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor
• West Haven Mayor Dorinda Borer
• Wethersfield Mayor Ken Lesser
• Wilton Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker
• Windham Mayor Tom DeVivo
• Windsor Mayor Nuchette Black-Burke
• Wolcott Mayor Thomas Dunn
• Woodbridge First Selectman Mica Cardozo