Education finance equity in Connecticut's public schools

Equity in school finance has been a priority of Connecticut education officials since the landmark case of Horton v. Meskill reached the Connecticut Supreme Court, which, in 1977 upheld a lower court decision that found school funding to be discriminatory and therefore illegal. A vote taken by the 1988 Connecticut General Assembly culminated an intensive two year process of improving upon the way Connecticut funds regular education programs to municipalities. In a process which involved many thousands of people across the state, Connecticut has revamped its method of funding public schools and set in place new guarantees of equal educational opportunity for each student. This report focuses on the birth of the new Education Cost Sharing grant program and challenges the claim of improvement in the area of equity for all students.