CT SB00199

Establishes a Special Education Predictable Cost Cooperative to aggregate special education costs at the state level and provide funding predictability to local and regional school districts while maintaining current state funding levels.

Creates a Special Education Predictable Cost Cooperative Implementation Committee consisting of the Commissioner of Education, Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, two gubernatorial appointees (a special education director and parent of a special education student), representatives from superintendents' associations, municipalities, regional education service centers, UConn's Actuarial Science Program, and the Connecticut School Finance Project.

Requires the committee to submit an implementation plan within 120 days that includes governance recommendations, actuarial analysis, capital funding strategy, implementation timeline, and legislative requirements, with the plan requiring approval by majority vote in both chambers of the General Assembly.

Establishes a funding mechanism combining community contributions from school districts (based on enrollment and prior costs, adjusted for district ability to pay) and state contributions (reallocated from existing equalization and excess cost grants) to reimburse districts for 100 percent of actual special education costs.

Directs the Commissioner of Education to implement the cooperative by regulation beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, contingent upon available appropriations and General Assembly approval of the implementation plan.