Chapter 7: Connecticut

Despite a long history of supporting public education and the inclusion of a School Fund in its 1818 constitution to financially support public or “common” schools,² the Connecticut Constitution did not formally recognize the responsibility of state government to provide public education for the state’s students until 1965 when a new state constitution was approved by a referendum and adopted. The 1965 constitution, which remains the state’s constitution, amended Article Eighth to include the following provision:

While Article Eighth of the Connecticut Constitution formally recognizes the right of the state’s students to attend a free public school, it does not include any mention regarding the required quality of a public school, the level at which a school must be funded, or the mechanism(s) by which a school should be funded. The answers to these questions were left for the state legislature, and often the judicial branch, to address.