ECS Cap

You asked (1) for a history of the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant cap, (2) how many years the ECS floor of 60% of a town's grant entitlement has been in place, and (3) how many towns received grants below 60% of their entitlement while the floor was in effect.

The first ECS grant cap was enacted in 1992. PA 92-262 capped annual increases in towns' ECS aid at 4. 35% regardless of their entitlement under the formula. In 1995, as part of creating an entirely new ECS formula, PA 95-226 also created a wealth-based cap formula of 2% times the ratio of each town's wealth to the wealth of the 153^rd wealthiest town. No town's grant could increase by more than 2% above its previous year's grant.

The 2% cap formula continued through 1998. In 1998, PA 98-168 raised the cap percentage to 5%, allowing town grants to rise somewhat faster. In 1999, PA 99-217 increased the maximum cap increase to 6% in FYs 00 through 03. PA 99-217 also eliminated the cap entirely starting in FY 04.

The General Assembly also provided special grants to capped towns. PA 01-1, June Special Session, gave each capped town a proportional share of $ 25 million for FY 02 and $ 50 million in FY 03. Each town's share was based on the difference between its capped grant and its “target aid” (what its grant, excluding any density supplements, would be without the cap).

In 2003, the General Assembly postponed the elimination of the 6% cap, previously scheduled for July 1, 2004, until July 1, 2005 (PA 03-6, June Special Session). It also distributed a $ 53 million “cap supplement” for FY 04 to capped towns.

In 2004, the General Assembly eliminated the 6% cap formula as of the originally scheduled date of July 1, 2004. It began instead basing annual grants on percentage increases in prior year's grants, in effect establishing a new kind of cap. PA 04-252 gave each town an ECS grant equal to its FY 04 grant plus 23. 27% of the difference between its FY 04 grant and its full entitlement, subject to certain constraints.

PA 05-245 established grants for FYs 06 and 07. In each year, it required each town to receive a grant equal to its FY 05 grant plus 2% plus an amount specified in the act (see Table 1 attached).

As noted above, PA 04-252 gave each town an ECS grant for FY 05 equal to its FY 04 grant plus 23. 27% of the difference between its FY 04 grant and its full ECS entitlement. The grants were subject to several additional constraints. Among them was a requirement that every town receive at least 60% of its full entitlement. This ECS grant “floor” applied only in FY 05 and affected only one town: Bloomfield. No town received less than 60% of its full entitlement while the floor was in effect.

TOWN	*FY 06*	*FY 07*
Andover	$ 74,122	$ 94,876
Ansonia	302,688	387,441
Ashford	51,389	65,777
Avon	7,634	9,772
Barkhamsted	28,385	36,333
Beacon Falls	81,484	104,300
Berlin	167,604	214,533
Bethany	15,356	19,656
Bethel	71,381	91,367
Bethlehem	11,710	14,989
Bloomfield	289,773	370,909
Bolton	24,814	31,762
Bozrah	10,272	13,148
Branford	13,206	16,903
Bridgeport	1,424,356	1,823,175
Bridgewater	1,032	1,321
Bristol	800,219	1,024,280
Brookfield	11,643	14,903
Brooklyn	58,234	74,539
Burlington	33,489	42,866
Canaan	1,840	2,355
Canterbury	42,051	53,825
Canton	52,972	67,804
Chaplin	16,392	20,982
Cheshire	73,486	94,062
Chester	5,908	7,562
Clinton	57,437	73,520
Colchester	137,018	175,384
Colebrook	4,022	5,149
Columbia	28,808	36,874
Cornwall	590	755
Coventry	74,735	95,661
Cromwell	34,594	44,280
Danbury	767,877	982,883
Darien	9,986	12,782
Deep River	14,990	19,187
Derby	58,772	75,229
Durham	32,987	42,223
East Granby	21,814	27,922
East Haddam	35,482	45,417
East Hampton	178,267	228,182
East Hartford	1,075,785	1,377,005
East Haven	162,625	208,160
East Lyme	63,078	80,740
East Windsor	123,858	158,539
Eastford	9,294	11,896
Easton	3,866	4,949
Ellington	77,686	99,438
Enfield	510,927	653,987
Essex	2,664	3,410
Fairfield	23,359	29,900
Farmington	10,575	13,536
Franklin	7,841	10,036
Glastonbury	61,039	78,130
Goshen	1,591	2,037
Granby	100,288	128,369
Greenwich	22,243	28,471
Griswold	92,084	117,868
Groton	225,418	288,535
Guilford	27,174	34,783
Haddam	38,925	49,824
Hamden	539,634	690,732
Hampton	11,882	15,209
Hartford	1,647,106	2,108,295
Hartland	11,869	15,192
Harwinton	23,116	29,589
Hebron	96,460	123,469
Kent	1,214	1,553
Killingly	132,363	169,425
Killingworth	19,788	25,328
Lebanon	45,025	57,632
Ledyard	102,091	130,676
Lisbon	33,528	42,916
Litchfield	11,100	14,208
Lyme	1,019	1,304
Madison	10,743	13,751
Manchester	285,672	365,660
Mansfield	85,248	109,118
Marlborough	26,542	33,974
Meriden	851,381	1,089,768
Middlebury	4,191	5,364
Middlefield	30,432	38,954
Middletown	423,247	541,756
Milford	95,307	121,992
Monroe	55,033	70,442
Montville	104,322	133,532
Morris	5,845	7,482
Naugatuck	250,759	320,972
New Britain	1,761,935	2,255,277
New Canaan	9,435	12,077
New Fairfield	38,903	49,796
New Hartford	26,246	33,595
New Haven	1,244,104	1,592,453
New London	200,114	256,146
New Milford	104,003	133,124
Newington	246,589	315,633
Newtown	38,031	48,679
Norfolk	3,388	4,337
North Branford	73,734	94,379
North Canaan	17,694	22,649
North Haven	28,589	36,593
North Stonington	25,695	32,889
Norwalk	84,356	107,976
Norwich	375,773	480,990
Old Lyme	4,327	5,539
Old Saybrook	4,502	5,763
Orange	7,227	9,251
Oxford	37,537	48,047
Plainfield	130,790	167,411
Plainville	95,564	122,322
Plymouth	81,654	104,517
Pomfret	25,598	32,765
Portland	65,024	83,231
Preston	25,277	32,354
Prospect	59,364	75,985
Putnam	70,790	90,611
Redding	4,517	5,782
Ridgefield	13,379	17,125
Rocky Hill	21,741	27,829
Roxbury	1,146	1,467
Salem	26,815	34,323
Salisbury	1,294	1,657
Scotland	12,437	15,919
Seymour	81,775	104,672
Sharon	1,022	1,308
Shelton	44,203	56,580
Sherman	1,569	2,008
Simsbury	153,342	196,277
Somers	98,721	126,363
South Windsor	279,994	358,392
Southbury	14,935	19,117
Southington	330,997	423,676
Sprague	22,893	29,303
Stafford	83,464	106,834
Stamford	56,988	72,945
Sterling	26,009	33,292
Stonington	18,311	23,438
Stratford	549,578	703,460
Suffield	178,863	228,945
Thomaston	46,253	59,204
Thompson	64,927	83,107
Tolland	133,177	170,466
Torrington	305,273	390,750
Trumbull	21,887	28,015
Union	1,960	2,508
Vernon	149,547	191,420
Voluntown	22,530	28,838
Wallingford	180,291	230,772
Warren	727	930
Washington	1,754	2,245
Waterbury	2,260,800	2,893,824
Waterford	7,738	9,905
Watertown	97,873	125,278
West Hartford	450,365	576,467
West Haven	353,156	452,039
Westbrook	3,019	3,864
Weston	6,015	7,699
Westport	12,367	15,830
Wethersfield	334,433	428,074
Willington	31,527	40,354
Wilton	9,728	12,451
Winchester	66,467	85,077
Windham	205,641	263,221
Windsor	142,900	182,913
Windsor Locks	252,548	323,262
Wolcott	293,139	375,217
Woodbridge	5,014	6,417
Woodbury	6,779	8,677
Woodstock	78,815	100,884


March 7, 2006		2006-R-0218
EDUCATION COST SHARING GRANT CAP AND FLOOR

By: Judith Lohman, Chief Analyst