Rep. Elizabeth Burrows introduces H.199 to limit inter-district tuition charges and remove tuition from excess-spending threshold

Representative Elizabeth Burrows (Windsor-1) introduced H.199 to the House Education Committee on Feb. 19, saying the short-form bill would limit how much a public receiving school may charge a sending district, prohibit unaccounted-for extra fees, and remove tuition payments from the excess-spending threshold.

The measure, Burrows said, grew out of discussion during the yield bill at the end of last session. "It does three simple things," she told committee members: it "limits the amount of tuition that a public receiving school can charge a sending school," it disallows "extra extraneous fees that can't be accounted for," and it asks that "tuitions be removed from the excess spending threshold."

Burrows described how the Agency of Education sets an “allowable tuition rate” that is intended as guidance for public tuition. She said the allowable rate for the school year was $16,606, but that Springfield High School charged Wethersfield about $26,000 per student this year. "When public schools don't have a cap on what they can charge...the sending school...has to cannibalize its own local budget," she said, adding that in one case Hartland had to cut nearly $2,000,000 to remain under the excess-spending threshold. Burrows also offered an anecdote that her district had previously been billed an additional $10,000 fee when a high-school student enrolled with an individualized education program, which she described as a charge that "is not required" to be accountable.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about the scenarios Burrows described. The committee chair walked through an example in which a local K–8 district sends students to upper grades elsewhere and cannot control parental choice of receiving school; the chair noted that designation rules and identical tuition requirements for designated schools make designation infrequent. Committee member Josh said removing tuition from the excess-spending threshold "would be very beneficial to the sending school" because it would prevent districts from having to reduce other local services to cover tuition costs. Committee member Rob observed that a move to a statewide foundation formula, as proposed by the governor, could change or eliminate the tuition structure described by Burrows.

No formal vote was recorded during the introduction; the bill was filed as a short form (H.199) for further drafting and review. Committee staff or counsel were scheduled to walk through the short-form language without the meeting taking a formal vote.

The bill, as presented, seeks to alter how inter-district tuition is set and accounted for in local spending calculations; committee discussion focused on mechanics and local budget impacts rather than a final policy determination. If the committee advances H.199, future sessions would be expected to address specific statutory language, statutory definitions of "allowable tuition," and the process for enforcing limits or prohibitions on extra fees.