New Haven mayor, students demand more school funding at Capitol

Yahoo

19-03-2025

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Dozens of New Haven Public School students along with Mayor Justin Elicker boarded the 'Education Express' train from Elm City to the Capitol to testify before the Education Committee for a public hearing. They are demanding more funding for schools.
The students are testifying in support of Senate Bill 1511, 'An Act Concerning Disconnected Youth.' The legislation advances a number of recommendations from the bipartisan 119K Commission's Young People First Report, including increasing the state's foundation amount per student and indexing to inflation, while adequately funding high-need students. High-needs students are those who may have disabilities or be multilingual learners.
Rally held in New Haven to push for more education funding
Wilbur Cross High School junior John Carlos Serana Musser says a lack of funding in his school has disrupted his learning.
'Our building suffers from leaky roofs, resulting in closed libraries, classrooms, athletic facilities due to mold,' he said. 'We have benefitted from extraordinary, dedicated teachers, but all of us have had classes where we have spent months without a certified instructor.'
Jonaily Colon, another New Haven high school student, told News 8, 'We should be focusing on SATs and college (applications), not worrying about our school's facilities.'
Mayor Justin Elicker adds there are currently too few staff to meet students' needs. He says the school system has 46 councilors for 19,000 students, a ratio of one councilor per 412 students.
Elicker says the city is pushing for this legislation because the foundation amount currently allocated toward each student by the state is $11,525 dollars, which hasn't increased since 2013 despite inflation.
'I appreciate this bill's effort to address the critical issue of disconnected youth. However, I am concerned about certain provisions—particularly yet another proposed tweak to the equalization aid grant formula, which once again fails to consider the full range of financial stressors that hinder school districts' ability to support these youth, such as the high cost of transportation. As discussions continue, I urge the committee to prioritize using existing programs that already provide effective services, rather than spending more money to stand up new programs or start new data collection efforts,' Republican House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora said.
Elicker says New Haven wants to see that amount increased to at least $12,400 and indexed to inflation each year.
'The goal here is to bump it up and make sure it continues to rise because what costs haven't increased over the past 10 years?' he said.
The proposed legislation is still under consideration by the committee.
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