CT celebrates major legislative wins again in 2024

Once again, throughout the 2023-24 legislative session, E4E-CT made waves when it came to education policy throughout the state. From fighting for adequate and promised funding for all public schools, to demanding a change when it comes to the teacher certification process, we had an incredibly successful year.

WHAT LED TO THIS?

Last year, we worked together to see a massive school funding win with $150 million being added to our education system. However, this funding was threatened at the beginning of the FY24 legislative session, so we continued fighting to keep these funds as we work towards fully funding education throughout all of Connecticut.

Additionally, the current educator certification process in Connecticut will be sunsetted at the end of FY26, and we prioritized working with educators this year to ensure their voices were heard and their needs are met when it comes to redefining the educator certification process in the state.

BREAKING DOWN THESE WINS

School Funding

As a result of our work as a part of the Education Justice Now coalition, we have achieved the following as the bill:

• Maintains $150 million in additional funding for K-12 education in FY 2025.
• Continues accelerated phase-in schedule for the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula.
• Partially implements student-centered funding for FY 2025 by funding—for the first time in state history—all public school students based on their individual learning needs.

Teacher Certification

Governor Lamont recently signed into law the teacher certification bill, which will put together a group of individuals including educators, admin, teachers, and more, who will research the best ways to update Connecticut’s archaic certification process. While these updates will not go into effect immediately, this is a major step towards a certification process that works best for our educators.

WHAT’S NEXT?

This year, we engaged with hundreds of teachers who took over 350 actions. These teachers signed petitions, took digital actions, met with key stakeholders, wrote opinion pieces, spoke with the media, and more, all to continue uplifting teacher voices in Connecticut.

Next year, we will build upon these activists and teacher leaders as we continue our work to ensure that all education is funded equally and that the teacher certification process is updated to best help schools in Connecticut.

Want to be part of our critical work moving forward? Sign our Declaration to become a member, sign our petitions, and get involved in a teacher action team. We must work together to ensure that we get the best possible education for students in Connecticut.