Connecticut will not offer a third round of school air quality grants due to “funding constraints,” the state says, despite $138.5 million remaining in a fund intended for that purpose. Created in 2022 after years of advocacy to improve school air quality amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Connecticut’s HVAC grant program has so far distributed $178 million to local school systems for new ventilation systems and other improvements, allowing districts to update infrastructure that was, in some cases, decades old. Still, the money spent through the program represents less than half of what state lawmakers have allocated for it over recent years. Asked this week about the decision not to distribute more grants, a Department of Administrative Services spokesperson repeated Gilman’s assertion about funding constraints. A spokesperson for Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management said “additional allocations must be balanced with other capital needs” and said the state is constrained somewhat by a cap on bonding.
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/school-air-quality-grants-connecticut-19953292.php