The 2025 legislative session closed Wednesday at midnight, and some legislators chose to leave educators behind.
“While this legislative session made progress on student-centered priorities including universal preschool, resources for special education services, and school funding, CEA is deeply disappointed that critical bills to support and protect educators failed to receive a vote,” says CEA President Kate Dias.
One such bill, SB 1371 on Just Cause, would have ended arbitrary and politically motivated teacher terminations and protected educators’ right to speak freely.
“The bill had overwhelming bipartisan support—with 45 bipartisan co-sponsors and support from at least 95 House members—yet House leadership failed to call it for a vote,” Dias says. “In doing so, they turned their backs on the 54,000 public school educators in our state and on the broader labor movement at a time when workers are under attack and protections are needed more than ever.”
Teachers showed up in so many ways to advocate on behalf of legislative priorities this session. From attending CEA’s Breakfast with Legislators and Lobby Day to meetings in their local districts with legislators, emails, post cards, and phone calls—teachers made their positions on the issues loud and clear.
“Thousands of CEA members contacted their legislators, and we will not stop until our educators are treated with the respect and protections they deserve. Despite the setbacks of this legislative session, the strength of our collective voice has never been clearer,” Dias says.
Members’ emails, letters, calls, and meetings did help pass good legislation on a number of issues, including the following.
- Universal Preschool – Educator advocacy has paid off with the establishment of a universal preschool program and a new trust fund to support it.
- Education Cost Sharing Grant – The legislature increased the state’s largest grant to local public schools more than had been planned and included a protection against decreases in funding for school districts with declining enrollment.
- Teacher Retirement – The budget passed by the legislature fully funds the annual contribution that keeps the teacher pension fund solvent. An attempt to sweep funds out of the retiree health fund for the next two budget years was reduced to a cut in just 2026. This is a partial victory that still leaves a risk of insolvency in the health fund in years to come, and CEA will continue advocacy to ensure full funding of the retiree health fund in future years.
- Special Education – Legislators passed increases in funding for special education to help districts improve the services they offer, expand program offerings, and offset and control the volatile costs of private provider placements. Additionally, a state commission will study and recommend policies to address special education caseloads with consideration for intensity and frequency of services. Legislation also passed providing grants to individuals to pursue endorsements in special education and related training, improving the hearing process, and requiring an audit of the provision of CT-SEDS.
- School Indoor Air Quality – CEA’s leadership on school Indoor Air Quality resulted in the establishment of a permanent school HVAC reimbursement grant program under the Department of Administrative Services’ School Construction Projects Grant. CEA also successfully advocated for a correction in the effective date for the five-year school HVAC inspection requirement to ensure that districts get credit for HVAC evaluations they have already completed.
- Local Budget Transparency – Based on CEA advocacy, the legislature enacted laws requiring clearer reporting of school budgets, including reporting on actual expenditures. This legislation will help promote oversight of public dollars and how they support resources and staffing.
- Freedom to Read – Lawmakers passed legislation requiring libraries operated by boards of education and municipalities to adopt fair procedures for determining whether to remove a book from library shelves. This bill ensures that practices across the state are fair and consistent to prevent censorship.
Watch for your CEA Advisor later this month to learn more about the results of the 2025 legislative session.
