Join the Boston Fed’s New England Public Policy Center (NEPPC) and Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) at a virtual forum presenting new research that explores how much each Connecticut school district would need to spend to educate its students to meet a common student test performance target. It also looks at whether spending in each district is equitable and adequate relative to this predicted cost. Local stakeholders will discuss the Boston Fed’s research findings.

Despite multiple court cases and recent funding reform, there are still significant concerns about the equity and the adequacy in Connecticut’s public K–12 education funding. Connecticut districts with lower socioeconomic status, on average, have higher costs, lower cost-adjusted spending, and more severe spending inadequacy. While the state faces fiscal difficulties induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, it should remain committed to the investment in public education, which will affect Connecticut’s economic growth in the long run.

This event, which is free and open to all, will provide a forum for policy leaders, practitioners, and advocates to access the New England Public Policy Center’s new research and consider how the state can further advance equity and adequacy in education funding in a manner that is politically feasible.

The forum is one part of the ongoing efforts of the Boston Fed’s NEPPC to provide policymakers with objective analysis of important regional policy issues. The forum supports Connecticut Conference of Municipalities’ (CCM) efforts to ensure an equitable state-local-federal partnership in providing a high-quality public education experience for Connecticut’s children.