It’s high time for Connecticut to stop lying to itself about the quality of public education in the state.  We are not the tops.  We do not lead the nation.  In fact, the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Performance (NEAP) found that both Texas and Florida outperformed us in fourth grade math.  We were just average in reading.  Just 37% of Connecticut’s fourth graders were at or above proficient in reading.  By eighth grade, the percentage fell to 35%. The Dalio Education Foundation found that 119,000 Connecticut youths were disconnected, in large part because public schools did not prepare them for the workforce. Connecticut leads the nation in special education outplacements.  Ask any special education director: the reason is simple.  They lack the resources to develop appropriate programs in district. Connecticut has 1,092 unfilled teaching positions and 1,267 unfilled paraeducator positions.  As other occupations have increased pay over the past two decades, educator pay has remained largely flat.  This has happened as the cost of living in Connecticut, and particularly in Fairfield County, has skyrocketed. The state funds local education primarily through a $2.36 billion Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant.  This appropriation covers less than 36% of the $13.3 billion spent annually on education in the state.  The vast bulk of the money (57%) comes from local property taxes.  This means that rich towns like Darien, Westport, and New Canaan can spend $23,000 to $25,000 per student, while poor cities like Waterbury, Bridgeport, and New Haven spend less than $20,000 per student.  Indeed, the average per pupil expenditure for districts with non-white majorities is $18,800, while the average for majority white districts is $22,200. Connecticut’s kindergarten through grade 12 funding has decreased 11% in real terms over the past decade.  There was great celebration in 2022 when the Legislature added $150 million to state education funding, but this sum barely made a dent in the $407 million real dollar decline in spending since 2016. It is well past time to fix public education in Connecticut.  There is only one way to deal with the appalling shortage of resources for Connecticut schools: provide more resources.  The sort of incremental increase that the legislature was able to eke out in 2022 is not the answer.   The answer is to make a real commitment to funding public education. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) recently issued its 119K Commission report to address the crisis of disconnected youth.  Foremost, at least in cost terms, among its recommendations was a plan to increase ECS funding by 22% or $545 million.  Sure, we can argue about the amount or whether the funds ought to be targeted to teacher salaries or special education.  Such arguments just divert us from the mission at hand, which is to properly fund public education in the state.  Those who care about the future of the state, those who care about our kids, those who recognize that quality education is the surest path to future prosperity should all rally around this proposal. There are many targets for earmarked funds – therapeutic programs instead of expulsion, training and recruitment of paraeducators, raising teacher pay, funding school-based health centers, among others.  Yet, when the legislature targets funds to particular projects, the result is often displacement of existing funds, meaning no new money enters the system.  So, the better path is to provide the money, without earmarks, to local boards of educations to use for the purposes they consider appropriate. It is certainly the case that ECS funds go primarily to districts with lower property and income wealth and with higher numbers of students in poverty, English learners, and recipients of free and reduced-price school lunches.  Wealthy towns can rely on property taxes.  What this means is that the new $545 million will substantially reduce the inequity in education funding that now bedevils Connecticut.  Appropriating this money will not just enhance the quality of education, it will make the system fairer. Getting this done will take active leadership by Gov. Ned Lamont.  Connecticut has a network of fiscal guardrails that make a serious initiative like this very difficult.  Strangely, in a time of burgeoning tax revenues, Connecticut cannot address the crisis in education because of these guardrails.  The governor needs to take the lead in getting Connecticut back in the game in education by proposing a budget that funds this increase and recommends the guardrail reforms needed to make this happen. The time is right to return Connecticut’s public education to its formerly excellent status.  The way to do it is clear. Andrew Feinstein is Principal Attorney at Feinstein Education Law Group in Mystic.