What 2026’s Education Laws Mean for Schools in Connecticut and New York
Connecticut’s General Assembly closed its 2026 session on May 6, but most of the heavy lifting came in the 2025 session from a package of acts with several provisions phasing in on July 1, 2026. New York’s changes arrive less through standalone bills and more through the State budget and Education Department regulation. Here is what school leaders in each state should have on their radar.
Connecticut
Special education and out-of-district placements
Connecticut spends roughly $3 billion a year on special education, and the cost still falls largely on municipalities. For students placed out of district for special education, the sending district is responsible for holding planning and placement team (PPT) meetings and for paying the receiving district the difference between the reasonable cost of services and the State aid received for special education. Eligible districts can seek reimbursement from the State for excess costs.
In 2025, the State created a new per-student special education grant — the Special Education and Expansion Development (SEED) grant. Grant funds are tied to town wealth and the number of students with disabilities in a district, with limits on how the money is used and a penalty for misuse; the funds are also exempt from the minimum budget requirement.
It is a real step but thinly funded: the State put in $30 million against the roughly $191 million needed to fully fund it, so districts receive only about 15.7% of their full grant in FY 2026, per School + State Finance Project. The Excess Cost grant, which helps cover students with extraordinary needs, still reimburses only about 70.8% to 75.8% of eligible costs, though the FY 2026–2027 budget adds $40 million to it.
For charter and magnet leaders, the practical takeaway is budget volatility: with SEED only partially funded and Excess Cost reimbursement below full cost, districts and the towns behind them will continue to absorb the gap. Too often we see this translate to avoidance of payment, which wrongly affects placement decisions and service delivery.
The change with the longest reach is a new statewide special education rate schedule. The State Department of Education will set the rates private and public providers may charge school boards, and any contract entered or amended on or after July 1, 2026 must conform; from that date, “reasonable costs” means the scheduled rate rather than a provider’s actual costs (PA 25-67, §§ 3, 5, 24). Two related guardrails already apply: providers generally cannot raise special education charges mid-year (PA 25-67, § 2), and the state is developing licensure standards for private special education providers, due to the Education Committee by January 1, 2026 (PA 25-67, § 8). Read more about our special education advocacy for charter schools.
Charter school capital improvements and other 2026 updates
On the brighter side, the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant is fully funded for the first time for underfunded towns under its phase-in schedule, roughly $95 million more across FYs 2026 and 2027 than in FY 2025. Charter schools, however, continue to wait for full weighted funding, receiving an unchanged 56.7% of their need-based entitlement in FYs 2026 and 2027.
The FY 2026–2027 budget funds 23 state charter schools ($142.8M in FY 2026), including two new schools, makes charters eligible for the new District Repair and Improvement Project (DRIP) capital program while ending their HVAC-grant eligibility, prioritizes capital-improvement grants for schools at or above the state average accountability index (PA 25-174, § 147), and extends Paid Family and Medical Leave to non-certified charter employees.
Lawmakers approved four new charter schools and created a dedicated charter fund. The session also created a working group to study co-instruction teaching models in public schools.
Charter enrollment and turnaround programs
Connecticut sun set the Commissioner’s Network, allowing the legislation to expire, with no new schools added after July 1, 2025, though current participants finish their terms (PA 25-93, §§ 41–42; PA 25-175, §§ 4–5). Thus, new charters no longer must reside in towns with Commissioner’s Network schools or low-achieving (Alliance) districts, opening authorization beyond those districts. State charter enrollment remains capped at 250 students, or 300 for kindergarten through eighth grade, or 25% of the local district's enrollment, whichever is lower.
Paraeducator reporting
Effective July 1, 2026, school districts, regional educational service centers, charter schools, and certain academies must report to the Labor Department whether paraeducators have “reasonable assurance” of returning to work before the school year ends. This affects summer unemployment eligibility, so payroll and HR should build it into their year-end process. Consider setting up an Employment Compliance Audit with our employment and labor counsel, Alex Booker, to understand your employment picture as this major change takes effect.
A drafting note: Connecticut again passed much of this through omnibus bills that bundle school safety, employment, and budget provisions together. The full text is worth a read, because related changes can sit in unexpected places.
New York
Charter cap and funding
The statewide charter cap remains unchanged at 460; 2026 did not lift it. New York City’s obligations to provide co-located space or contribute to private facility rent for new and expanding charters continue, as does Charter School Transitional Aid for districts with a high concentration of charter enrollment.
Substantial equivalency (independent and nonpublic schools)
The Education Department tightened its substantial-equivalency oversight in 2025: stricter documentation timelines, more frequent site visits, and annual progress reports due June 1. Independent schools should confirm their substantial-equivalency posture and keep documentation current rather than assembling it under a review deadline.
DASA digital reporting
Beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, amendments to the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) call for private schools to adopt enhanced digital systems for reporting incidents of bullying, harassment, and discrimination. Schools should confirm their reporting tools and staff training will meet the new expectations before the year starts.
Data privacy on the horizon (2027)
A proposed update to Education Law section 2-d, anticipated in 2027, would broaden the definition of personally identifiable information and tighten requirements for third-party vendor contracts. Watch for a public comment period, and start inventorying vendor agreements now. Reach out to charter and independent schools counsel, Lauren Koster, for support.
What to do now
Refresh your compliance calendar for the new school year and assign an owner to each item.
Charter schools: confirm your authorization and enrollment-cap posture, and in NYC, your facilities entitlement.
Independent and nonpublic schools: shore up substantial-equivalency documentation and confirm your DASA reporting systems.
Inventory data and vendor contracts ahead of New York’s Education Law section 2-d changes.
Commonlight Legal works with charter and independent schools across Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. If you want a short read of how any of these changes touch your school, reach out at info@commonlight.legal or schedule a consult with us.
Connecticut funding figures are drawn from the School + State Finance Project. This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
