All Aboard Ed Express: NHPS Students, Mayor Testified At State Capitol

NEW HAVEN, CT — Wednesday morning, Mayor Justin Elicker, New Haven Public High School students, and other education leaders boarded a train to Hartford to testify before lawmakers at the Connecticut State Capitol.

The New Haven Citywide Student Council represents nine of the city’s 10 high schools.

In their testimony, Elicker and students urged legislative leaders "to significantly increase state education funding for Connecticut’s students and schools in the state budget."

They provided testimony before the Education Committee’s at its public hearing in support of SB 1511, An Act Concerning Disconnected Youth.

The proposed bill advances a number of recommendations from t.he bipartisan 119K Commission’s Young People First report. Those include: increasing the state’s per student contribution in the Education Cost Sharing formula, and indexing it to inflation moving forward. Also requested was more adequate funding for high-need students — students with disabilities, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and multilingual learners, who have more diverse and complex learning needs, according to Elicker.

This joint advocacy initiative builds on ongoing efforts throughout the 2025 state legislative session highlighting the need for additional education funding, as the state’s foundation amount remains stagnant at $11,525 per student and hasn’t increased since 2013, per Elicker's briefing.

Watch testimony here.

Also traveling with the mayor and High schoolers was: New Haven Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Keisha Redd-Hannans; New Haven Federation of Teachers Executive Vice President Jennifer Graves; New Haven Board of Education Student Representatives John Carlos Serana Musser and Jonaily Colón; and other New Haven Public School students.

Elicker's testimony:

TESTIMONY OF NEW HAVEN MAYOR JUSTIN ELICKER BEFORE EDUCATION COMMITTEE IN SUPPORT OF S.B. 1511, AN ACT CONCERNING DISCONNECTED YOUTH

Co-Chairs Representative Leeper and Senator McCrory, Vice Chairs Representative Brown and Senator Winfield, Ranking Members Senator Berthel and Representative Zupkus, and distinguished members of the Education Committee, my name is Justin Elicker and I am Mayor of the City of New Haven.

I appreciate the opportunity today to testify in support of S.B. 1511, An Act Concerning Disconnected Youth, and specifically for the 119K Commission and Young People First report recommendations to increase education funding to all districts, and particularly to high-needs districts, through updating Connecticut’s K-12 Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula – adjusting the foundation amount for inflation, increasing weights for our high-needs students (low-income and multilingual learners), and adding a 50 percent weight for our students with disabilities – to ensure more adequate and equitable education funding based on student needs. We also support S.B. 1, An Act Increasing Resources for Students, Schools and Special Education, applauding measures such as the Universal Preschool Trust.

Education is one of the most important building blocks of opportunity for our young people, and one of our most important levers to affect their lives. It unlocks future opportunities, job prospects, continued enthusiasm for learning, and long-term wellbeing for our students. Unfortunately, the lack of adequate and equitable education funding has significant impacts as well – with 119,000 young people across the state currently at-risk or disconnected from education or the workforce, and with 10,000 young people adding to that number every year.

We appreciate the hard work and commitment to our students the state legislature has demonstrated with the recent $40 million in additional Excess Cost Grant funding for special education. And our students need more support. They need adequate and equitable education funding that keeps up with inflation and ensures quality education, regardless of zip code and municipality.

The state’s per student foundation amount of $11,525 per student has not increased in over a decade since 2013, despite average inflation of 2.77 percent and the rising costs of educating our students.

Municipalities like New Haven serve a higher proportion of high-needs students, with 83 percent of our approximately 19,000 students considered high-needs students compared to the state proportion of 55 percent. Yet, New Haven spends less than the state average per student – $20,451 per student (in 2022-23) while the state average was $21,143 – and not for lack of municipal support. New Haven has increased its local contribution to our school district by 50 percent over the past five years ($45.7 million to $68.8 million), but the average New Haven home’s tax bill has also risen 20 percent over the past few years.

Without significant additional state investment, education funding costs will continue to shift onto our residents through increased local property taxes, burdening residents, particularly in municipalities where they are already cost-burdened.

Fifty percent of New Haven residents already spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs, while 25 percent are severely cost-burdened, spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing costs (DataHaven, 2023).

Without additional investment, staffing shortages will also continue in our high-needs schools. With $35 million in staffing shortages, we have 26 school librarians for 41 schools, 32 school psychologists for approximately 19,000 students (which would be a caseload of almost 600 students/psychologist), 46 school counselors (413 students/counselor), and 53 social workers (358 students/social worker).

Recently, a bipartisan group of 52 mayors, first selectpersons, and town managers across the state all signed onto an op-ed calling on the governor and state legislature to invest more in our students – they need our investment in their, and our, long-term future now. We urge you to take up the recommendations of the Young People First report and increase education funding for our students.

Thank you for your time and support.