Legislators are hearing loud and clear from teachers, parents, and town officials that more must be done to support special education and they responded this week by approving an additional $40 million in funding for special education for this fiscal year. The House and Senate passed House Bill 7067 by wide margins through an emergency certification process.
“This additional funding is a critical first step toward addressing the severe shortages in special education services that our schools are struggling with right now,” CEA President Kate Dias said. “While these additional funds do not cover the full amount of special education excess costs, they do provide some much-needed relief to impacted districts.”
The State Office of Fiscal Analysis is projecting an operating surpluses of $356.4 million for this fiscal year—$58.6 million more than what had been originally budgeted as a surplus.
Senator Derek Slap said that special education is facing a crisis that must be dealt with now, not 18 months or two years down the road. The governor’s proposed budget does not increase funding for special education until the 2026-27 school year.
“It is a disaster for many towns,” Slap said. “They face impossible choices, very difficult cuts, cuts to services for children, and pretty soon, because they’re all setting their budgets in the next couple months, that’s going to mean property tax increases.”
Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, co-chair of the legislature’s Select Committee on Special Education, attended listening sessions around the state where teachers, parents, and community members shared the vital need for increased special education funding.
“This is not just about numbers on a spreadsheet—this is about real children who need support,” Gadkar-Wilcox said.
Given soaring special education costs and the uncertainty about future federal funding, House Speaker Matt Ritter said that schools are in urgent need of additional funds.
“We think it’s an important investment in our local boards of education who are seeing exponential growth in special education costs,” he said.
“This is a growing crisis,” Senate President Martin Looney said, noting that special education populations in some school districts constitute 18 to 30 percent of the student body.
“I don’t know if people understand how important this money is,” Senator Bob Duff said. “This funding will certainly improve the lives of students and help teachers and parents.”
In a statement released after the legislature passed H.B. 7067, Governor Lamont said that, while he has seen the importance of the right special education program in the lives of students and has committed to increasing special education funding in 2026-27, he doesn’t support the special education funding in the bill.
“Even while well-intentioned, the way this funding was hastily approved by the legislature is reminiscent of how budgeting was dangerously done in the past,” Lamont said. “These concerns, combined with expenses that are already pushing beyond the spending cap, are why I cannot support adding this significant expenditure this late in the fiscal year without a plan to cover budget overruns.”
“We strongly urge Governor Lamont to sign this bill immediately,” Dias said. “The heartfelt pleas from educators and parents cannot go unanswered for another two years. We cannot afford to wait while our classrooms continue to face teacher shortages and while special education students lose out on the services that they deserve and that the law requires.”
