Several educators and at least one student were arrested for disorderly conduct after staging a sit-down in front of Gov. Ned Lamont’s office at the state Capitol Wednesday afternoon.

The apprehensions took place in the wake of a rally, organized by the state’s chapter of the American Federation of Teachers union. For over an hour Wednesday afternoon, chants of “Fund our schools!” echoed within and outside the building as dozens of union members, students and other community leaders called on the governor and lawmakers to increase assistance for school districts and boost support for growing special education costs.

The group is seeking provisions in Senate Bill 1511, a proposal to increase per-pupil funding in the state’s Education Cost Sharing Grant, to be implemented in the state budget.

“Our children should not be subjected to the reality of two Connecticuts,” said Leslie Blatteau, who serves as the president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers. “Our children in New Haven, New Britain, Bridgeport, Hartford, Meriden and rural parts of this state deserve the world class education we know students in other parts of the state get.”

Since 2013, the state has contributed $11,525 per student to education districts, with additional funding for students who come from low-income backgrounds and those who are multilingual learners. S.B. 1511 proposes raising that “foundation” amount by over $960, to at least $12,488 per pupil; It also proposes adding a 50% weight for students with disabilities who receive special education services.

Earlier this year, legislators passed emergency legislation to provide $40 million in supplemental aid this fiscal year to local schools to offset what many called a crisis in special education. The School and State Finance Project, a nonpartisan education policy group, estimated districts needed $108 million.

The governor has proposed sending schools an extra $40 million annually for special education, but that wouldn’t kick in until 2027-28 — two years from now.

The Appropriations Committee budget, released in late April, would maintain the extra $40 million in state payments in the next two fiscal years and add another $124 million in special education grants in each of the next two years.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, House Speaker Matt Ritter said he thought much of what educators were seeking was already in the committee’s proposed budget.

“I’d have to know what the argument is,” he said. “I mean we are doing the 50% weight, so if that’s the cause, don’t get arrested for that. We’re doing it.”

In response to Ritter’s comments earlier Wednesday, educators said the proposed budget was a step in the right direction, but that the state also has to also make up for decades of chronic underfunding.

“We will recognize that yes, the [Education Cost Sharing] formula is fully funded now, but still we are dealing with years after years of deficits before,” Blatteau said. “That’s hard to rebound from.” She said remedies would include the 50% weight for special education and an increase to the “foundation” amount.

“We shouldn’t have to wait another 10 years,” she said.

After a brief news conference outside Wednesday afternoon, Blatteau joined over 100 education advocates who marched into the Capitol and overtook two floors in the building. The governor then spoke with roughly two dozen of the protestors in a closed-door meeting in his office.

“Gov. Lamont invited members from AFT to his office today to hear their thoughts and concerns. Connecticut has the best schools in the country because we have the best teachers in the country. That’s why he has made historic investments and increases in education funding,” Julia Bergman, a spokesperson for Lamont’s office, said in a written statement Wednesday evening. “During the final weeks of session, he plans to work with the legislature that continues that progress.”

Following the meeting with the governor, Blatteau told her fellow protestors that Lamont “was not able to commit to us today the necessary increase that we want to see that will fix the formula and that will prevent staffing cuts and layoffs across the state.”

Blatteau’s comments triggered loud booing from the crowd.

Then Blatteau and nine other educators and students sat down outside the governor’s office, blocking the doors. After ignoring requests to leave the premises and threats of arrest for disorderly conduct from Capitol police officers, the ten individuals were placed in flex cuffs and escorted outside. They were met with cheers and chants from the crowd there as they were charged.

“I feel embarrassed by some of [Lamont’s] questions to the crew,” said David Weinreb, a magnet resource teacher at Elm City Montessori School in New Haven and one of the educators who spoke with Lamont Wednesday.

“He asked us ‘How are the kids doing?’ as if it’s a question that we hadn’t wrestled with or a thought about a ton every day,” Weinreb said. “I was disappointed in how out of touch he sounded and how confused he seemed to be in terms of processing what we were asking for.”

The demonstration Wednesday was just one of many ongoing efforts by education leaders and advocates during this year’s legislative session, in which they’ve called on the state government to increase funding for public schools. On multiple occasions, students have lent their voices to the effort, including bussing in from around the state and leading rallies of their own. Superintendents and mayors from the largest school districts in Connecticut have also held news conferences seeking more funding.

In January, education advocates called for $545 million in increased funding, a figure derived from an October report put out by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which offered recommendations for reengaging students who have lost touch with the education system.

In recent weeks however, education leaders and advocates have switched gears, saying their requests are simply to help maintain staffing.

“We’re bleeding staff left and right and class sizes are going to increase. We also have issues that we might not be able to fully schedule students because we don’t have enough personnel,” Norwalk Superintendent Alexandra Estrella told The Connecticut Mirror earlier this month.

“We just got out of a pandemic. The crisis has not ended yet. The resources have been depleted, and the need continues.”

CT Mirror reporter Keith Phaneuf contributed to this story.