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In the News
January 18, 2012
New Haven Register

 Connecticut lost ground in the annual ranking of state laws that govern charter schools, mainly because other states such as Maine and New Mexico passed more progressive reforms in the past year.

January 15, 2012
Hartford Courant

 When Gov. Dannel P. Malloy put education reform on the front burner for 2012, he caught a wave of public sentiment that has been building for a couple of years in every corner of the state. Everybody from superintendents and the state's largest teachers union to business leaders, advocacy groups, parents and political leaders wants to improve the state's public schools.

January 15, 2012
CT Now / Fox 61

"Major education reforms for Connecticut are planned for this year, and I'm here with Michael Sharpe, Director of Jamoke Academy, one of the fastest rising charter schools in Connecticut, in Hartford, [and] Patrick Riccards, the new CEO/President of ConnCAN..."

January 8, 2012
CT News Junkie

By Patrick Riccards, CEO, ConnCAN

Last week, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made a passionate case for why we all must commit to education reform in 2012. Speaking at his education reform summit, the governor made clear that school improvement is a team effort, requiring the involvement of all stakeholders.

January 4, 2012
Connecticut Post

About the only top slot the constitution state still clings to is "largest achievement gap in the nation."

So educational reform advocates say much is riding on Malloy's pledge that 2012 will be the year of education reform.

Malloy is hosting an Education Workshop Thursday at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. Many invited are convinced the policies that begin to take shape there may lead to legislation that can transform the state's failing schools and ultimately assist in growing the economy.

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In the News

Committee to examine education funding

February 4, 2010
New Haven Register
View source article

By Elizabeth Benton

The state Board of Education will convene a new committee this year to examine a comprehensive overhaul of state education funding, including money for magnet, charter and traditional public schools.

The ad-hoc committee will be asked to draft recommendations by September, in time to make formal recommendations to the state legislature for the 2011 session.

The board acted Wednesday to authorize Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan to draft an official charge for the group.

The board did not discuss potential members Wednesday, but suggested the panel should include state Education Committee co-Chairmen Sen. Thomas P. Gaffey, D- Meriden, and Rep. Andrew M. Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, as well as representatives from the multitude of groups that testified before the board recently on changes to charter school funding.

Fleischmann said Wednesday he had not been contacted regarding the committee, but said the school funding system must be revamped.

“It’s a bit of a crazy quilt that we have right now, and we should have a better designed system,” he said. “What makes sense is having dollars follow students so the state doesn’t end up with too many situations where it is paying more than once for the education of one child,” he said.

Public schools in Connecticut are paid for through a patchwork of state, federal and local funds, which vary significantly across the array of public schools, from charters to magnets to traditional public schools. Even within the sphere of magnet schools, funding differs based on the region of the state and type of magnet school.

Charter school advocates had pushed for reform this year, claiming immediate action was needed for the state to be eligible for millions of dollars in federal school reform grants.

The state board last week reviewed a proposal from charter advocates Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now that would have transferred state money from local districts to charters based on student enrollment. The board did not adopt the “money follows the child” proposal, and instead has recommended increasing per pupil grants to charter schools. That recommendation, which would cost the state an estimated $5 million in the upcoming fiscal year, will now go to the legislature for review.

School board member Theresa Hopkins-Staten said the ad-hoc committee will be asked to recommend a “balanced and coherent system” for education funding. She advocated particularly for a reduced role of local property taxes in education funding.

“It’s ineffective, inefficient and it hasn’t worked for many years,” she said.

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