Caucus Holds Education Aid Forum

October 6, 2016

The Legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus held a forum on September 30, 2016 to discuss Connecticut’s public education funding. Lawmakers heard from experts familiar with the state’s Education Cost Sharing program (ECS). Over the past 39 years there have been three major lawsuits challenging the way Connecticut funds public education. In 1977 the courts ruled in the case of Horton vs. Meskill that Connecticut’s education funding was unconstitutional. In Sheff vs. O’Neill in 1996 the court ruled that school districts determined by town boundaries causes racial inequity and ordered integration of schools. Last month, in the case of Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding vs. Rell, a judge ruled that the current ECS system is “irrational” and “unconstitutional.” Rep. Butler discussed the history of these lawsuits with Alex Knapp, a former state representative and mayor who now lectures at Yale School of Law. (Video)