Chapter One

Overview

Towns were given the authority under state statute to establish regional school districts in the 1940s.¹ Currently, 17 regional school districts operate in the state, providing education to students in 47 towns. Figure I-1 (map) shows the geographic location and towns belonging to each of the districts. The majority of districts are composed of two or three towns, however district size can encompass as many as six (see Figure 1-2). It is important to note, some small towns choose to pay for their students to attend schools in other towns (called tuitioning-out), rather than join a regional district.

Twelve of the 17 regional school districts were established between 1950 and 1970, two before 1950, and three after 1970. The last regional school district was created in 1987 (Region 19), and includes the towns of Ashford, Mansfield, and Willington.

When a district is created, the member towns determine the grade levels that will be provided, although towns may later choose to add or withdraw grades. Thus, some regional school districts provide all grades (K-12), while others offer only certain grades (7-12 or 9-12), with towns operating their own schools for the lower grade levels. Figure I-3 classifies regional school districts by grade levels provided. Nine districts provide K-12, and comprise 20 towns, while five districts provide grades 7-12 and encompass 16 towns. The remaining three districts (11 towns) offer only high school grades (9-12).

If the regional school district provides only 7-12 or 9-12 grades, local school boards oversee the lower education grades directly provided by the town. Twenty-seven towns fall in this category. In addition, towns with local boards may have the same superintendent as the regional school, or may have their own superintendent for the local school system. For example,

Regional School District No. 1 serves six towns offering grades 9-12, while each town also has its own local school board for grades K-8.

Student population. There were 28,472 students attending regional schools as of October 2001. This represents only 5 percent of the 541,753 students enrolled in public primary, and secondary schools statewide. Figure I-4 shows the number of students attending regional school districts varies greatly from district to district. Based on 2001 student data, Region No. 11 is the smallest district with 418 students, and Region No. 15 the largest with 4,326 students. Nine of the school districts shown in the figure provide education from Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Region Nos. 6, 10, and 12-18 are K-12.

Over time, significant growth in student population can have a major impact on a regional school district's expenses, especially if capital expansion projects are undertaken. All towns bear the costs of capital expansion (after approval by a majority of voters in the district), even if the increase in student population is caused by a single town. Although a town's share of regional education costs are calculated on a per-student basis, if student population increases in one town require capital expansion, local contributions increase in all member towns because overall per-student costs rise due to the capital outlay.

The student population of regional schools increased 24 percent from 1993 to 2001. Region No. 19 grew 98 percent, followed by Region No. 8 with a 37 percent increase in students. Figure I-5 shows actual student growth for this time period by district. One district, Regional School No. 15 had a huge increase - over 1,000 students - with one town accounting for 76 percent of the new students. Nine other regional school districts each had increases of more than 300 students.

Financial Information

The program review committee examined a variety of measures related to revenues received by regional school districts. Figure I-6 shows total revenues received by revenue source (local, state, and other) from FY 95 through FY 01. As shown in the figure, total revenues grew from $212.5 million in FY 95 to $317.1 million in FY 02 - a growth of 49 percent (compared to a 16 percent increase in students over the same time period). On a per-pupil basis, costs rose from an average of $8,622 to $11,136 over the six-year period, up 29 percent per student.

When categorized by revenue source, local contributions comprise about 73 percent of total revenues. Although the local share grew over the six-year period, local revenues actually decreased as a percent of the total, from 76 percent in FY 95 to 73 percent in FY 01.

Figure I-7 shows the percent increase in local share from FY 95 to FY 01 by district. There was wide variation by regional school district - local revenue growth ranged from only 9 percent in Regional School District No. 14 to 68 percent in Regional School District No. 16.² In five districts, local revenue increased by 50 percent or more (Regional School District Nos. 7, 10, 13, 16, and 18) over the six-year period. These increases are most likely attributable to a combination of growth in student population (with the exception of Region No. 7, all had student increases of over 300 for this time period) and capital projects.

Figure I-8 shows total revenue received by each district in FY 01, categorized by the portion earmarked for educational or capital expenses. Regional School District No. 15, the largest with 4,326 students, received the most revenue, at $39.2 million, followed by Region No. 5 at $28.7 million. The smallest district was Region No. 11 with 418 students, which received $4.9 million in total revenues.

The committee also reviewed the sources of revenue and found:

• member towns in two districts (Region Nos. 9 and 15), contributed over 90 percent of total regional school revenue in their respective districts; and
• member towns in five districts (Regions 4, 5, 12, 17, and 18) contributed over 80 percent of their total regional school revenue.

Summary

Beginning in the 1940s, towns were allowed to establish regional schools to provide a cost effective means for greater educational programming choices to students. Within broad state parameters, many features of the regional school district are determined at the local level when the district is created. Thus, Connecticut's 17 regional schools vary widely in the number of towns belonging, grades offered, student population, and financial resources committed to operating the school. As will be discussed in the next section, the statute governing regional schools also provides for citizen input into their operation and financing.

¹ Regional School District No. 1 was created by Special Act in 1937 (Sp. No. 428).

² From FY 95 to FY 00, Region 14 had a 39 percent increase in local revenues. However, the state share increased from 16 percent in FY 00 to 34 percent in FY 01, while local revenues decreased from 75 percent to 56 percent -- explaining the small overall increase from FY 95 to FY 01.