Gov. Ned Lamont’s Blue Ribbon Commission on K-12 Education Funding and Accountability has officially launched. The 23-member commission is chaired by Lamont’s deputy chief of staff, Natalie Wagner, and includes a mix of bipartisan state and local elected officials, union leaders, school adm inistrators and policy analysts. Its mission: to interrogate the entirety of Connecticut’s complex school funding system and propose reforms. The governor appeared in person to share opening remarks and lay out his vision for the group. “Think about how much money we’re spending, how we do that, and how we make sure it makes the biggest difference. I want money going to the classroom, I want money going to the teachers, and I want more teachers,” Lamont told the members of the commission. Lamont reiterated his longstanding assertion that the commission’s work wouldn’t sit “on a shelf somewhere collecting dust.” He wants its report, due in January 2027, to set the stage for the next legislative session, where the General Assembly will have the opportunity to tackle what has become a serious fiscal problem for the state. “We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars more on K-12 than we did before. … We’re still not keeping up,” Lamont said. He also used the opportunity to signal where his own education priorities currently lie. High on the list: special education, a topic he has brought up several times in recent months. “I would urge you to think about how the state should … help you take the lead on special education. A, in terms of funding. B, in terms of how we can better negotiate, make sure we have local solutions” instead of sending kids with special needs out of their home districts, Lamont told the commission. Sending children to specialized out-of-district facilities is a major financial burden for many local school systems. The state has a program — the excess cost grant — to cover some of those expenses, but it has significant gaps. A newer source of state funding, the SEED grant, helps pay for in-district special education services, but advocates say it doesn’t come close to meeting the need. Lamont also urged the commission to consider transportation and health insurance, two other major sources of financial pressure for districts. He said health insurance costs in particular have risen by as much as 40%. “There, we need some work,” Lamont said. “At a minimum, look at the Partnership Plan run by [State Comptroller] Sean Scanlon.” The Connecticut Partnership Plan allows non-state public employees — for example, people who work for municipal school districts — to get the same healthcare coverage as state employees and retirees. Lamont also included a plug for a topic he called “a personal favorite”: teacher apprenticeship programs. “Maybe their third year of teacher’s college in the Ivory Tower — that’s great, but maybe you want to be in the classroom, working with a master teacher,” Lamont said. Various school administrators have said teachers come out of university still needing significant training, which the districts that hire them often end up having to provide. The governor closed his remarks with a nod toward student mental health services. That “type of program, I think, is worth expanding … maybe that’s another way to get a young person there another shoulder to lean on,” Lamont said. A group of students from the Goshen Center School stopped in to see Gov. Ned Lamont’s Blue Ribbon Commission on K-12 Education in action on June 4, 2026. Credit: Theo Peck-Suzuki / CT Mirror Shortly after the governor’s comments, the commission launched into a detailed presentation from the consultant group Education Resource Strategies on the current state of play in Connecticut education policy. One notable statistic: By at least one measure, Connecticut has the highest funding disparity between high- and low-poverty districts of any state in the country. The ranking reflects a concern that dominated the recent legislative session: Schools in less affluent towns and cities aren’t getting enough money, and students often pay the price. The Blue Ribbon Commission will meet regularly through the rest of the year. Its final report is due Jan. 15. ...read more read less