Connecticut districts spent $3.2 billion on special education in the 2024-25 school year, averaging $34,686 per special-education student compared with $22,721 per student overall. The state had 94,960 special-education students in 2025-26, up from 79,058 in 2020; the increase was reported as 23.3% over a decade. In 2024-25, 95% of the state’s 165 districts outplaced at least one student with disabilities. The figures come from Hartford Courant reporting on state data.
The state provides $221.1 million through the Excess Cost grant and $30 million through the SEED grant to help offset those expenses, according to the Courant. A UConn research brief found that 6.3% of Connecticut students attend separate schools, the second-highest share nationally, and called for investment in inclusive district programs to reduce unnecessary outplacements.
The scale of outplacement spending
A UConn Center for Education Policy Analysis, Research, and Evaluation brief reports that Connecticut districts spent $636,181,633 on outplacement tuition in 2022-23. Separately, a February 2026 joint report by Disability Rights Connecticut and the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate says districts collectively spent more than $75 million on the out-of-state placements it reviewed.
How the state grant is paid
The Connecticut State Department of Education’s Excess Cost Grant guide says districts receive 75% of eligible grants after reporting first estimated costs. That is an initial payment, not the final reimbursement rate, so it does not establish how much of a district’s eligible costs will ultimately be reimbursed or its final local share.
The state’s pending choice
Gov. Ned Lamont has not said whether Connecticut will opt into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit. Earlier in October, he said he wanted more information from federal officials before deciding, expected to know more within about a month, and wanted safeguards against discrimination against public education, according to CT Mirror’s earlier coverage of the proposed federal rules released October 2.
The program, created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump, allows individuals to donate to scholarship-granting organizations and claim a federal tax credit of up to $1,700. Donors and the organizations determine where the money goes, and a governor must opt in for the scholarships to be available in a state. Eligible uses may include private-school tuition or afterschool tutoring, as CT Mirror reported from the Connecticut conference.
Federal projections are not results
The IRS and Treasury project that by 2030 the program could support 600 to 700 scholarship-granting organizations and nearly $26 billion in annual qualified contributions. These are projections, not actual program results.
What opting in could mean for schools and families
ConnCAN executive director Steven Hernandez, who supports opting in, argued that Connecticut donors may claim the federal credit whether or not the state participates, and that opting out could send the money elsewhere, CT Mirror reported. He also suggested a trusted scholarship-granting organization could use funds for supplemental reading programs or intensive tutoring for students with dyslexia.
A different concern is how scholarships might affect public-school enrollment and funding. Chicago attorney Matt Cohen said some families see the credit as a way to leave public schools they believe have failed them. He warned that public schools could be left with a greater share of students with significant needs as enrollment-based funding declines, CT Mirror reported. That is a critic’s prediction, not an established effect of the federal program.
UConn professor Preston Green III raised a separate question about disability rights. He said private schools face fewer IDEA requirements than public schools and cited state voucher programs where participation means giving up IDEA rights, according to CT Mirror. Those examples do not establish what families would have to give up under this federal program. IDEA guarantees a free, appropriate public education, and private schools may refuse to admit students with disabilities in some circumstances.
Hernandez said the credit would not address the needs of students with disabilities, students living in poverty or students of color. Connecticut must confront declining enrollment and rising needs regardless of its decision, he said, with work required from the governor, legislature and Blue Ribbon Commission, according to CT Mirror’s conference coverage.
Possible uses and unresolved costs
Hernandez proposed that a trusted scholarship-granting organization could direct funds to supplemental reading programs or intensive tutoring for students with dyslexia. Separately, Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab researchers proposed in an opinion piece for The 74 that more than $1,000 per pupil could support additional services such as field trips, tutoring, homework help, assemblies and clubs. These proposals concern extras beyond services required by state law; required public-school services remain free and are ineligible scholarship expenses.
It remains unclear whether scholarship funds could help pay for private special-education outplacements. Michael Morton of the School and State Finance Project said scholarship organizations must avoid charging families for services they are legally entitled to receive at no cost. Districts, not parents, bear the cost of outplacements when a student’s needs cannot be met in-district. Morton said future IRS guidance could clarify whether scholarship organizations may help fund placements without making families pay for services covered by that entitlement, according to CT Mirror.
The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents and the state’s teachers’ unions have criticized the credit, citing oversight and equity concerns and the possibility of reductions to other federal education programs. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Fazio has called it a win-win and free money for the state, according to CT Mirror’s reporting.
