As schools look for help with skyrocketing special education costs, and flexibility to control those costs, lawmakers say they are listening.
Lawmakers are taking a fresh approach to special education costs with a new committee to find solutions.
The Select Committee on Special Education had its first chance to delve into the issue Monday, with presentations from the legislature’s nonpartisan offices of Legislative Research and Fiscal Analysis.
“We’re tasked with a big ask, special education, the reason it's priority is because it affects every single town,” Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox (D-Trumbull) said.
Local officials say they’re glad the legislature has created a committee for the sole purpose of special education.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
“Special ed is something that should be all of our concern,” Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents Executive Director Frances Rabinowitz said.
School districts are asking for help with both funding and flexibility to control costs.
They said the state has not increased Education Cost Sharing grants – the main source of education aid for towns – to keep up with inflation.
Local
Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Executive Director Joe DeLong said that forces towns to make up the difference through property taxes.
“That's something that’s important not only to people who have children in the school system but, frankly, it’s important to every taxpayer in the state,” he said.
Sen. John Kissel (R-Enfield) said lawmakers recognize the need for additional funding but also want to address some of the underlying cost drivers.
That’s why the committee is devoting its first few meetings to gathering information. A meeting Wednesday will feature recommendations from a separate task force on the issue.
“To grapple with that, we have to first figure out what the universe looks like and then we can address things and maybe make it fairer,” said Kissel, a ranking Republican on the committee.
Gadkar-Wilcox, a co-chair, said the committee will also hold meetings outside the Legislative Office Building to hear from members of the public.
Those meetings will likely happen in February but the committee has not yet announced the dates.
The committee is looking for long-term solutions, but Gadkar-Wilcox said she’s committed to presenting proposals to the rest of the legislature this year.
“We have a moral obligation to meet these needs of students, so we have to do better,” she said.
Kissel agreed and suggested the committee could become a permanent standing committee within the legislature.
