The Honorable Bob Duff
AGO 2017-3
No. 2017-03
Connecticut Attorney General Opinions
Office of the Attorney General State of Connecticut
April 19, 2017
The
Honorable Bob Duff
Senate
Majority Leader
Legislative
Office Building
300
Capitol Avenue, Suite 3300
Hartford,
CT 06106-1591
Dear
Senator Duff:
You
have asked whether certain potential changes to
Connecticut's Education Cost Sharing ("ECS")
formula would violate our state constitution. Specifically,
you ask whether our constitution requires that the ECS
formula measure a town's ability to raise property tax
revenue "using a ratio of ninety percent property wealth
and ten percent income wealth." We conclude that the
Connecticut Supreme Court has never specifically required
that or any other particular approach, but rather has
articulated general standards for state educational funding
as further described below.
Before
discussing your specific question, it is necessary to provide
some background regarding certain Supreme Court cases and the
ECS formula.
In
Morton v. Meskill, 172 Conn. 615 (1977)
(Norton /), our Supreme Court ruled that the
state's method of funding education was unconstitutional.
At that time, the state provided a flat grant of $250 per
pupil in state aid, and left the rest of the responsibility
for funding local public education to each district to
provide through local property taxes. The Court explained
that by relying primarily on a local property tax base
without regard to the disparity in the financial ability of
the towns to finance an educational program, the state was
failing to meet its constitutional duty to educate its
children. Id. at 649.
In
1979, in response to Horlon I. the General Assembly
adopted the original ECS funding formula. Following a
subsequent constitutional challenge, the Court held that the
formula was constitutional, and ordered further proceedings
to determine whether legislative changes to the system after
1979 undermined the new system's constitutionality.
Norton v. Meskill, 195 Conn. 24 (\9S5) (Norton
III).
The ECS
grant program created in response to Horton I has
been the principal method by which the General Assembly
appropriates funds to support local public elementary and
secondary education. The original...
