Constitution of Connecticut (2025 publisher edition) — Article EIGHTH

Publisher edition notice: The publisher identifies this compilation as revised to January 1, 2025. It preserves the annotated original 1965 text and all ratified amendments, alongside the Revisors' unofficial convenience version incorporating extant amendments. The latter does not supersede the original Constitution and amendments; later changes have not been independently verified.

Article EIGHTH Revisors’ compilation incorporating extant amendments; publisher convenience version.

ARTICLE EIGHTH.
OF EDUCATION.
(Free public schools.)
Sec. 1. There shall always be free public elementary and secondary schools in the
state. The general assembly shall implement this principle by appropriate legislation.
(System of higher education.)
Sec. 2. The state shall maintain a system of higher education, including The Univer-
sity of Connecticut, which shall be dedicated to excellence in higher education. The
general assembly shall determine the size, number, terms and method of appointment
of the governing boards of The University of Connecticut and of such constituent units
or coordinating bodies in the system as from time to time may be established.
(Charter of Yale College.)
Sec. 3. The charter of Yale College, as modified by agreement with the corporation
thereof, in pursuance of an act of the general assembly, passed in May, 1792, is hereby
confirmed.
(School fund.)
Sec. 4. The fund, called the SCHOOL FUND, shall remain a perpetual fund, the
interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated to the support and encouragement
of the public schools throughout the state, and for the equal benefit of all the people
thereof. The value and amount of said fund shall be ascertained in such manner as the
general assembly may prescribe, published, and recorded in the comptroller’s office;
and no law shall ever be made, authorizing such fund to be diverted to any other use
than the encouragement and support of public schools, among the several school soci-
eties, as justice and equity shall require.

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268 CODIFIED CONSTITUTION Art. X
INCORPORATING ALL EXTANT AMENDMENTS
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

Article EIGHTH Original 1965 text and publisher annotations; retained historical context.

ARTICLE EIGHTH.
OF EDUCATION.
(Free public schools.)
Sec. 1. 1 There shall always be free public elementary and secondary schools in the
state. The general assembly shall implement this principle by appropriate legislation.
1 Cited. 162 C. 573. Furnishing of education for the general public is a state function. 167 C. 368. Present system
of school financing, relying principally on local taxes, violates this section; nature of state interest in education.
172 C. 615. Option to town which lacks resources to implement higher quality educational program which is avail-
able to property-richer towns is illusory. Id., 645. Right to education is a fundamental right. Id. General assembly
mandated duty for financing elementary and secondary education. Id. History reviewed. Id. Not required to have
equalized pot of money per town. Id., 658. Cited. 175 C. 586; 182 C. 93; Id., 253; 187 C. 187; 193 C. 93. Legisla-
tive provision for financing education violated provisions of Connecticut Constitution (Horton v. Meskill, 172 C.
615). 193 C. 670. Cited. 195 C. 24. Free public education cited. Id. Cited. 197 C. 554; 210 C. 286. Not violated by
termination of emergency housing program; fundamental right to public education cited; violation of constitutional
rights cited. 214 C. 256. Cited. 228 C. 640. Legislature did not intend to create a right to special education for gifted
children under this section. 229 C. 1. Constitutional right to an education cited. Id. Cited. 233 C. 557; 236 C. 1; 237
C. 169. Plaintiffs have proved a violation under state constitution of their fundamental right to a substantially equal
educational opportunity free from substantial racial and ethnic isolation. 238 C. 1. Equal opportunity to a free public
education; fundamental right to education cited. Id. Town charter that allows for separate referenda for town’s oper-
ating budget and education budget and that allows voters to reject the budgets three times does not rise to the level
of a veto and does not violate state policy concerning education. 268 C. 295. This section entitles Connecticut public
school students to an education suitable to give them the opportunity to be responsible citizens able to participate

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Art. VIII CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT 181
fully in democratic institutions, progress to institutions of higher education or to attain productive employment and
otherwise contribute to the state’s economy; to satisfy this standard, the state, through the local school districts, must
provide students with an objectively meaningful opportunity to receive the benefits of this constitutional right. 295
C. 240. Plaintiffs failed to establish that the state’s educational offerings are not minimally adequate under this sec-
tion and cannot prevail on their claims that the state has not provided them with a suitable and substantially equal
educational opportunity. 327 C. 650.
Cited. 6 CA 309; 13 CA 1; 28 CA 306.
Educational provisions of constitution lays a basis for a suit by citizens for young beneficiary. 29 CS 199. Cited. Id.,
404. The Connecticut system of education violates Art. I, Sec. 20 of the Connecticut Constitution. 31 CS 377. This section
makes it the duty of the General Assembly to provide for free public education and this creates a fundamental correlative
right to education. Id. (Affirmed. 172 C. 615.) State function and duty to furnish public education formally recognized
in 1965. Id., 381. State has constitutional duty to furnish free public and elementary education and general assembly has
constitutional duty to enact legislation to carry out state’s duty. Id., 382. Disparities in expenditure per pupil tend to result
in disparities in educational opportunity. Id., 387. Constitutional duty to educate is duty of state not of towns. Id. Manda-
tory language that general assembly implement the principle by appropriate legislation makes it the duty to provide free
public education and create a correlative right to that education. Id., 389. Cited. 35 CS 55. Right to free public elementary
education discussed in relation to special education. Right not measured by physical or intellectual ability of child. Id.,
501. Cited. 40 CS 141. State constitutional mandate to furnish public education cited. Id. Cited. 42 CS 172; Id., 256; 44
CS 527. Public school student’s right to a free secondary school education was not violated by school district’s mandatory
dress code because code was rationally related to the purpose of eliminating disruption caused by varying manners of
dress. 47 CS 342.
(System of higher education.)
Sec. 2. 1 The state shall maintain a system of higher education, including The
University of Connecticut, which shall be dedicated to excellence in higher educa-
tion. The general assembly shall determine the size, number, terms and method of
appointment of the governing boards of The University of Connecticut and of such
constituent units or coordinating bodies in the system as from time to time may be
established.
1 The use of the word “excellence” was inserted with the expectation that the university would serve as a model
of excellence for the state system of higher education. Corrective action as to the act of the university senate if war-
ranted, lies within the provinces of the board of trustees from whom the university senate’s authority is derived, the
governor who appoints the trustees and ultimately, with the General Assembly. 165 C. 507. Cited. 175 C. 586; 233 C.
557; 238 C. 1.
(Charter of Yale College.)
Sec. 3. 1 The charter of Yale College, as modified by agreement with the corporation
thereof, in pursuance of an act of the general assembly, passed in May, 1792, is hereby
confirmed.
1 History of tax exemption. 71 C. 316; 92 C. 108. Cited. 169 C. 454.
(School fund.)
Sec. 4. 1 The fund, called the SCHOOL FUND, shall remain a perpetual fund, the
interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated to the support and encouragement
of the public schools throughout the state, and for the equal benefit of all the people
thereof. The value and amount of said fund shall be ascertained in such manner as the
general assembly may prescribe, published, and recorded in the comptroller’s office;
and no law shall ever be made, authorizing such fund to be diverted to any other use
than the encouragement and support of public schools, among the several school soci-
eties, as justice and equity shall require.
1 School moneys belong to school societies composed of all denominations residing within parochial limits of said
societies. 2 R. 461. Resolution of general assembly dividing school funds between two societies which had been created
by an act dividing a society, not unconstitutional. 40 C. 469–472. Whether statute could subject fund to loss from cause
subsequently arising, quaere. 81 C. 12. Town itself, and not its officers, must make good in case of loss of part of fund;
town must act as a fiduciary in relation to fund. 105 C. 317, 321. Unconstitutional to use School Fund for transportation
of private school children under section 10-281. 147 C. 374. Expresses concept of equality in public education. 172 C.
615. Cited. 195 C. 24. Not violated by termination of emergency housing program; fundamental right to public education
cited; violation of constitutional rights cited. 214 C. 256. Cited. 233 C. 557.

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182 CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT Art. X