Here are the key issues to watch this year, including what to expect in the upcoming legislative session:
FEDERAL IMPACT
Throughout 2025, both K-12 and higher education in Connecticut faced a whirlwind of federal news, including Trump's overarching efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education; various executive orders; frozen funds; funding cancellations and threats; attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion; the immigration crackdown; and student visa revocations.
Looking ahead, state education leaders are bracing for more trickle-down effects of federal actions, in addition to the impacts of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Dias said the main question this legislative session, which kicks off Feb. 4, surrounds what the state is prepared to do to fill gaps if federal funding falls short.
But ultimately, there is only so much that the state could account for, she said. "We can't out-budget the federal government."
And the higher education world is dealing with its own set of challenges.
For one, a major endowment tax hike will hit the country's wealthiest universities, including Yale University, in July. Officials at the Ivy League school in New Haven say the increased tax — which could cost the school $300 million per year — forces them to cut costs, and have warned of potential layoffs.
Additionally, this month, Democrats leading the state legislature's Higher Education Committee said creating a new graduate student loan program — aimed at helping to fill the gaps created by the Trump administration's overhaul of federal student aid — would be one of its top priorities this session.
SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDING
"Funding's always, I think, the top challenge," said state Rep. Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, who co-chairs the legislature's Education Committee.
Financial support from the federal government is top of mind this year, along with funding decisions made at the state level that could impact everything from programs in districts to school meals.
This legislative session, Leeper said education funding will again be a focus of the Education Committee, including specifically adjusting the foundation amount of the Education Cost Sharing formula to account for inflation. The Education Cost Sharing grant — Connecticut's primary form of state funding for K-12 education — distributes dollars to towns based on a formula designed to provide equal educational opportunity, with more aid for poorer districts.
Education advocates say the inflation adjustment is long overdue.
"It's stuck in 2013 dollars and hasn't been adjusted for inflation in over a decade," Dias said. "And it's the vote of contention, where our legislators are very excited to be able to say, you know, they're fully funding education, fully funding the ECS formula, but they're fully funding it in 2013 dollars, so there's a flaw in that."
Supporters of the change say it could help districts struggling to keep up with rising costs.
Based on the current formula, an inflation-based foundation adjustment would give Connecticut school districts an estimated additional $213 million in fiscal year 2027, according to the School + State Finance Project policy organization.
But policymakers are aware that any proposed big changes to funding are limited by the state's fiscal guardrails, which constrain how much the legislature can spend in a given year, so it is yet to be seen just how much more money districts might get.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Schools across the country are navigating the rise in the use of artificial intelligence, and this year is likely to bring some notable developments.
"I think AI is already here, and I think also our schools are not prepared, like many other industries, on what exactly that means," Leeper said.
Currently, there is no uniform playbook for AI in Connecticut's K-12 schools. But the state Department of Education is developing comprehensive AI guidance for districts across Connecticut, including guidelines for AI curriculum, policies and professional learning that could be launched this spring.
That could mean more uniform approaches to AI use across Connecticut districts, solidifying this new technology in classroom instruction and fundamentally altering the educational experience in K-12 schools.
In addition, expect conversations around AI chatbots and safety regulations for children, and other guardrails to continue at both the national and state levels.
CHILD CARE AND PRE-K
Early childhood education was at the forefront of the 2025 legislative session, and work to expand access to early childhood care and education is pushing ahead.
Last year, Gov. Ned Lamont and the state legislature created the Early Childhood Education Endowment, essentially a trust fund that is expected to grow and expand free and lower-cost child care throughout the state in the years ahead.
And this year, hundreds more Connecticut families could access state-funded child care through the new spaces added to the state's Early Start CT program. In addition, the state will increase payments for child care providers to help raise the pay for staff.
The effort to eventually provide free or discounted child care for all Connecticut families will continue to roll out in the coming years.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Special education was a major priority during the last legislative session, and those conversations will likely continue this year.
Last year, the state legislature approved increases to the Excess Cost Grant — the state's main way of helping districts pay for special education costs — as well as new grants for school districts to strengthen services and other changes that aim to increase oversight of special education programs and reform how and what private providers charge districts.
Leeper said she expected there to be ongoing studies and recommendations surrounding the legislation passed last year, and that lawmakers would hear from the state Department of Education, school districts, families, students, advocates and other stakeholders about what is and isn't working.
Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said they would be pushing for more funding to the Excess Cost Grant, as well as continued conversations about reducing out-of-district placements, increasing district programming, and finding other ways to support students earlier to reduce the need for intensive support later.
"Special ed continues to be on my mind," Rabinowitz said. "It's grown by 53 percent in the last 15 years, and I'm not sure that if we keep growing at this pace, it's sustainable. And so I wonder if we might look at other ways to intervene with kids."
Work to improve special education in Connecticut is continuing outside the Capitol as well.
Just this week, the state Department of Education said it has begun taking action to address concerns outlined in an independent review of the special education system that identified "systemic issues."
OTHER NEW AND CONTINUING ISSUES
A number of other education matters will likely pop up in the Capitol and in schools across the state, including fresh issues and ongoing debates.
Expect to keep hearing about teacher recruitment and retention; chronic absenteeism; equity and achievement; school choice; dual enrollment and workforce readiness; school meals; new history curriculum for America's 250th anniversary; literacy; and multilingual supports throughout the year, as well as the following hot topics:
CELLPHONES IN SCHOOLS
Despite significant support, legislation aiming to restrict cellphones in schools statewide did not pass during the last session, but Leeper said phone-free schools would be a priority for her this session.
"We can control what's happening with our students while they're in the school building, and for those seven, eight hours a day, we can ensure that they are getting a distraction-free and focused education," she said.
HOMESCHOOLING
High-profile incidents of child abuse and captivity have put a spotlight on Connecticut's homeschooling laws and whether stricter regulations could have prevented such tragedies.
And while no legislation to change the state's laws came forward last year, Rabinowitz said she expects homeschooling regulations will be a major aspect of the upcoming session.
SCHOOL SECURITY OFFICERS
State lawmakers have pledged to pursue legislation to change the law around who can become an armed school security officer, after a CT Insider investigation found at least 10 school districts hired armed school security with track records of misconduct.
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