Education Cuts Could Mean Fleeting Graduation Gains

In another example of how the mechanisms for funding our public education system are failing, Bridgeport is following in Norwalk’s footsteps in taking advantage of last year’s change in the law that allows school districts to charge tuition to students outside that district. As all municipalities look for increased funding, this has the potential to start a “tuition war” among school districts that will ultimately leave talented but disadvantaged children with less educational opportunity.

This comes one day after Governor Malloy, who hasn’t had much good news to tout lately, announced that high school graduation rates across the state had reached a record 87.2%. Numbers like that only highlight the failure of a relatively small number of schools servicing disadvantaged communities like Bassick High School in Bridgeport. And it implies that a small re-allocation of resources and talent to target these failing schools would create a greater equality in educational outcomes across the state. Sadly, these improved graduation rates may only be temporary as funding levels for education have been cut in this year’s state budget, forcing local municipalities to scrounge to make up the difference.