HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut’s big-city mayors called for more than $500 million in additional education funding Monday, but lawmakers said it is too early to say exactly how much will be available this year.

Both mayors and legislators said that education will be a high priority during the 2025 legislative session that started last week, but the final totals will likely not be decided until the end of the session in early June.

Gov. Ned Lamont said all sides need to participate in improving the public education system.

“We’re going to do something additional on special ed. We should,” Lamont said Monday at the state Capitol when asked by The Courant. “And also ask the towns and municipalities to think about how they can handle special ed and make sure these kids are taken care of. Don’t always come running to the state.”

Lamont added there would not be any cuts in the all-important educational cost-sharing grants that are sent to schools in all 169 cities and towns. The towns collectively receive more than $2 billion annually in the cost-sharing grants, in addition to other categories of education aid.

“I said at the [opening day] speech we’re going to honor the ECS formula that the legislature put in place some years ago, and we’ll do some things over and above it as well,” Lamont said. “Like doing something for special ed, over and above.”

A fiscal moderate, Lamont said that he believes that the state cannot solve all the local needs.

Part of the battle over fiscal moderation this year extends to the so-called guardrails that have become a major issue at the legislature. Liberal Democrats and various interest groups have called upon Lamont to loosen the guardrails so that there can be more spending for special education and other needs. So far, Lamont and Republicans have successfully pushed back against any changes in the guardrails, but top Democrats who control the legislature say there is a need for compromise this year, suggesting they would keep the guardrails largely intact but also allow increased spending for important needs.

Top Senate and House Democrats Monday unveiled Senate Bill 1 that calls for “increasing resources for students, schools, and special education.” The Senate Democrats traditionally list their priorities in order, and the designation of Senate Bill 1 highlights the high priority that the bill takes this year.

“We all know that we need to do all that we can to increase resources for our entire education system,” Looney said. “We need to work on preparation for quality preschool and day care, for our K-12 system, for higher ed, and for special ed. So there will be a focus on education throughout the entire spectrum of age, from childhood into early adulthood and college graduation. We know that over the last several years, we have invested quite a bit more in public education in various ways, but we need to increase that both in ECS and the other grants that we provide to municipalities. But at the same time, we also need to enhance accountability.”

In order to obtain broad-based support for additional spending, Looney said the legislature also must make sure that the money is “well-spent, well-planned, well-accounted for.”

When asked how much additional money is needed for education, Looney said, “Lots and lots. Specifics to be determined.”

A problem, Looney said, is that the legislature does not know the size of any potential cuts by incoming President Donald J. Trump and the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress that would have an impact on the state.

Regarding the amount of money needed, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff joked by saying, “Trillions.”

Concerning the request by the mayors, House Speaker Matt Ritter of Hartford said, “They tend to ask on the high end.”

State Rep. Lezlye Zupkus of Prospect, the ranking House Republican on the education committee, said that education funding needs to be properly balanced between the lower-performing and higher-performing schools. She added that Democrats were making the right move by placing emphasis on special education.

“I hope that as our conversations on the education committee progress this session, that those talks don’t lead to legislation that punishes high-performing districts by reducing their funding, or add layers of regulations that undermine the good work they are doing,” she said.

Zupkus added, “And we need transparency to ensure that tax dollars are being spent in an appropriate way that benefits those who matter most – the students. That’s why, last session,Republicans fought to budget more money to ease the burden on local special education programs while our majority party colleagues chose to funnel millions of ARPA dollars into an already bloated higher education system. This issue deserves action, and we’re ready to contribute to the development of reforms that balance the needs of students and the concerns of our property taxpayers.”

Affordable housing

Besides education, Democrats also focused Monday on increasing affordable housing across the state at a time when rents and mortgages are too expensive for many workers. With housing prices at high levels, many young couples cannot afford to buy houses because they cannot provide enough money for the down payment or cannot afford the monthly mortgage payments.

“We need to build more affordable housing, not only in the urban areas that do have affordable housing now, but also of course in the suburban and rural towns that in many cases have been resistant to that,” Looney said at the state Capitol complex. “One of the great challenges is that our cities need to get larger and they need to add more people in order to be healthy and more thriving. … The city of New Haven needs to get bigger. Hartford needs to get bigger. Waterbury and Bridgeport need to get bigger, as well.”

Ritter, a Hartford Democrat, said he hopes that 2025 can be “a year we can make some substantial progress” on affordable housing after various attempts in recent years.

House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, an East Hartford Democrat, has spent extensive time in trying to solve the issues related to housing.

“There is no silver bullet solution to this,” Rojas said, adding that he hopes the legislature can achieve “more than painfully incremental progress.”

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