At more than $2.1 billion, the Education Cost Sharing grant not only is the state’s single-largest program to support local school operations but it is, understandably, 10% of the entire General Fund.
Connecticut’s second-largest education-related expenditure — about 7% of the General Fund or $1.44 billion this fiscal year — is the required annual contribution to the teachers’ pension fund. That hefty pension contribution consumes resources that normally would be spent on school operations or other core programs in the state budget.
Keith Phaneuf – The CT Mirror
