“Sovereign immunity relates to a court's subject matter jurisdiction over a case.” Columbia Air Servs. v. DOT, 293 Conn. 342, 349 (2009). “[T]he sovereign immunity enjoyed by the state is not absolute." While "there are [three] exceptions," only the second – "when an action seeks declaratory or injunctive relief on the basis of a substantial claim that the state or one of its officers has violated the plaintiff's constitutional rights" -- Id. (internal citations omitted) is even arguably relevant. In the absence of a statutory waiver of sovereign immunity, a plaintiff may not bring a monetary action against the state without authorization from the claims commissioner to do so. Miller v. Egan, 265 Conn. 301, 317 (2003). With respect to this second exception, our supreme court has ruled that in determining the nature of relief sought, i.e., whether the relief sought is actually declaratory or injunctive, a court must look beyond the manner in which the plaintiffs have worded the complaint. See DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Law, 284 Conn. 701, 723 (2007) (“The plaintiff’s request for relief – an order that the defendant refund all sales taxes for which the plaintiff had submitted a claim for refund – must be characterized as a claim for damages.”) The plaintiffs here request that this inter alia, “declare that the existing school funding system is unconstitutional, void and without effect…” and “order defendants to create and maintain a public education system that will provide suitable and substantially equal educational opportunities to plaintiffs.” Docket No. HHD-CV05-4050526-S, #163.00 at 46. While these prayers for relief seem to sound in equity and do not explicitly request the court increase state education funding, a thorough and fair reading of the entire complaint makes clear that plaintiffs really seek an increase in state funding of education. See id. at 3 ¶ 4 (“The level of resources provided by the State's education funding scheme is arbitrary and not related to the actual costs of providing a suitable education.”); 37 ¶ 125 (“The unsuitability and inequality of trial,
Preschool development Grant, serving an additional 712 children. Pre-K FOF 49, 53, 7/15/16. Continued expansion is likely through the PDG, given that the present funding is for the first year of the 4 year grant and the fact that first year recipients will receive priority for continued funding. Pre-K FOF 53, 7/15/16. Meanwhile expansion will also continue through the Smart Start program. Pre-K FOF 51, 7/15/16. Additional expansion has also occurred through the slots offered by charter and magnet schools as well as those offered by school districts. Pre-K FOF 63, 7/15/16. Total state and federal spending for pre-K in Connecticut for FY 16 is $237 million, serving approximately 35,000 children for primary preschool experience and/or a subsidy to help pay for preschool. Pre-K FOF 62, 7/15/16. Most of this funding is focused on low income families. Pre-K FOF 13, 16, 18, 19, 31, 48, 53, 7/15/16; DTX 6449, FY 16 Preschool Funding. In addition, Connecticut also provided $1.1 million of quality enhancement grants for FY 16 for the School Readiness Program to improve the quality and comprehensiveness of the programs. Pre-K FOF 30, 7/15/16. The PDG was also supplemented with quality enhancement funds of $456, 411 to provide 112 slots for 3 year olds to ensure diversity of age because of the PDG's limitation to 4 year olds. Pre-K FOF 55, 7/15/16. This continued Connecticut's focus on providing access to both 3 and 4 year olds. Pre-K FOF 55, 7/15/16. Additional state funding also has been provided through the Minor Capital Improvement Grants totaling $1.7 million from 2013-2015 for individual state funded programs to improve existing facilities. Pre-K FOF 64-66, 7/15/16. Finally, the School Facilities Construction Grant program provides varying increases in reimbursement rates to any district or regional school district for building expansions that include space for an early childhood program or full day kindergarten programs and/or full day preschool programs. Pre-K FOF 67, 68, 7/15/16.