FAQs: Regional District Bonus in ECS Formula

As part of the state budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the Connecticut General Assembly made several changes to the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula, which is used to distribute approximately $2 billion annually in state education funding to local and regional public school districts. One of the changes made was to the formula’s Regional District Bonus, which directs additional state funding to towns that send their students to regional school districts.

The adopted state budget expands the types of districts eligible for the Regional District Bonus, and increases the amount of funding per student for towns that send students to these eligible districts. This document provides an overview of these changes to the Regional District Bonus, and answers some of the most common questions about this component of the ECS formula.