NEW HAVEN, CT – On Wednesday evening, educators, students, and advocates from New Haven and across Connecticut traveled to the State Capitol to advocate and meet with Governor Lamont and state lawmakers, urging them to increase the state’s per student Education Cost Sharing (ECS) foundation amount and to adopt an added 50 percent financial weight to the ECS formula for students with special education needs. In a nonviolent act of civil disobedience, ten educators and students – including six from New Haven – were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. In response to these events, Mayor Justin Elicker issued the following statement:

“It is unfortunate that it has come to this: teachers and students are now choosing to be arrested in order to bring attention to the education funding crisis that New Haven and school districts across the state are facing.

All legislative session, students, parents, educators, and municipal leaders have called, written, and met with state lawmakers; testified at public hearings; held press conferences and rallies; and are now engaging in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience calling on the state to more adequately and equitably fund public education.

The facts are straightforward: the amount the state contributes to educate each student has not increased in over a decade, while all the costs to educate a child have increased over the last decade. There is also no added financial weight in the state formula for students with disabilities whom we know have more diverse and complex learning needs. As a result, school districts across the state are facing program cuts and layoffs that will have a negative impact on our schools. Meanwhile, the state has accumulated a $4.1 billion rainy day fund with another $2.3 billion projected surplus at the end of this fiscal year.

The state legislature has taken and proposed meaningful steps in the right direction, but the state needs to do more – and, the state legislative session draws to a close, I continue to urge Governor Lamont and state lawmakers to revisit their budget proposals and act accordingly.”