Connecticut educators and advocates protested in front of Gov. Ned Lamont’s office on Wednesday to demand more school funding.
The protest was organized by the American Federation of Teachers Connecticut, one of the state’s largest teachers’ unions. The union said it wants the governor to allocate more money for education aid, especially for special education, before lawmakers finalize their biennial budget on June 4.
AFT CT wants Lamont to increase the foundation amount for the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant. ECS provides over 50% of the state’s contributions to public schools. They also want a change to the formula to better account for special education needs. Advocates say it will be a huge step towards improving Connecticut’s student learning crisis.
2025’s Connecticut Teacher of the Year, Julia Miller, said the state has the third-worst funding inequity in the country.
“We’re here today fighting for something that I don’t think we should have to fight for. We are one of the wealthiest states, yet the students who need the most have the least,” Miller said.
After a brief press conference in front of the state’s Capitol, protesters marched into the building. After meeting with the governor, local union leaders said Lamont wouldn’t commit to more funding.
“Governor Lamont was not able to commit to us today the necessary increases that we want to see that will fix the formula and that will prevent staffing cuts and layoffs across the state,” said Leslie Blatteau, President of New Haven American Federation of Teachers.
Ten advocates then participated in a sit-in in front of Lamont’s office, despite police officers' warnings that they would be arrested.
In addition to increasing public school funding, advocates at the protest said they also wanted to see other changes.
“We want our students to be safe, we want our students’ families to have the support they need, and we want our students to be able to go to fully funded schools,” said Blatteau. “We want to see a strong TRUST Act passed by this legislature and signed by the governor. We want to see SB-8, unemployment insurance for striking workers, passed by this legislature and signed by the governor.”
The TRUST Act passed the House on Wednesday. Advocates from seven organizations attended the protest.
