OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sHB-6618
AN ACT CONCERNING FUNDING ISSUES RELATED TO PUBLIC
EDUCATION IN CONNECTICUT.
Primary Analyst: SB 5/10/21
Contributing Analyst(s): JS
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
Education, Dept. GF - See Below See Below See Below
Department of Agriculture GF - Cost 250,000 250,000
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
Local and Regional School Districts See Below See Below See Below
Explanation
The bill contains several provisions affecting town and state
education spending.
Alliance District Funds. The bill allows the education
commissioner to allow a board of education to spend up to 10% of any
increase in Alliance District funds over the prior fiscal year in a way
that was not included in the Alliance District plan, as long as the board
(1) spends it for educational purposes only and not to supplant the
local share of education funding and (2) increases the local education
funding share for that fiscal year by the same amount. This change
would increase the local board’s minimum budget requirement (MBR)
in the following year by the amount the local share is increased.
Board Reserves. The bill also increases the amount that a regional
board of education can put into its reserve fund for capital and
nonrecurring expenditures from 1% to 2% of the annual district budget 2021HB-06618-R000648-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 3
for a fiscal year, which is procedural and does not result in a fiscal
impact.
MBR. The bill extends the MBR statutes to apply to all future years,
which affects town education spending levels. The bill also clarifies
that CRRSAA stimulus funds as well as school security infrastructure
grants may be excluded from MBR calculations in the fiscal year
following receipt of funds, which is potentially a savings to towns, to
the extent these grants would have otherwise been included.
CT Grown for CT Kids. The bill requires the Department of
Agriculture (DoAg) to administer the CT Grown for CT Kids Grant
Program to help boards of education develop farm -to-school
programs. This provision results in costs to DoAg of $250,000 in each
of FY 22 and FY 23, including 10% for administration of the grant
program.
Magnet School Transportation. Under the bill the Commissioner of
SDE is authorized to provide supplemental transportation grants to
regional educational service centers (RESCs) for magnet school
transportation for FY 21 and each following fiscal year. This results in
SDE making payments totaling approximately $5 million in FY 21 and
potential payments in future years.
Charter School Grants. The bill raises the state charter school per-
pupil grant from $11,250 to $11,525, which results in a cost of
approximately $3 million in both FY 22 and FY 23, and annually
thereafter.
Grant Caps. The bill caps certain education grants to local or
regional boards of education for FY 22 and FY 23, which results in a
savings to the state, and a corresponding revenue loss to local and
regional boards of education of approximately $69.9 million in FY 22
and $74.9 million in FY 23.
Open Choice. The substitute bill extends the Open Choice program
to Danbury and Norwalk and allows for up to 50 students from each 2021HB-06618-R000648-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 3
district to participate in the 2022-23 school year. This expansion results
in a total cost of $275,000 in FY 22 and $900,000 in FY 23.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation.