Judge Orders Connecticut To Totally Revamp Its Education System

Connecticut State Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher may have struck the most important blow for poor and underserved schoolchildren in decades. I have already written about the historic suit that has been brought against the state of Connecticut alleging that the state has failed its constitutional mandate to provide equal education for all students. Judge Moukawsher finally issued his ruling in this case and it was scathing.  He criticized the state for a “kind of spoof” when the task force set up to institute meaningful graduation requirements simple recommended setting up another task force. He lambasted a teacher evaluation system that ranked “virtually every teacher in the state” as proficient and exemplary even as thousands of students in poorer communities cannot read at even the most basic levels. The education funding mechanism in the state is totally out of whack. As the state faced a budget crunch last year, the city of Bridgeport, one of the poorer areas of the state, had its education budget cut by nearly $1 million while a relatively richer suburban district like Branford actually saw its funding go up by about $300,000. If that doesn’t indicate a totally broken system, then I don’t know what does. “An approach that allows rich towns to raid money desperately needed by poor towns makes a mockery of the state’s constitutional duty to provide adequate educational opportunities to all students,” Judge Moukawsher wrote. The judge ordered the Attorney General to return to court in six months with a plan for an almost complete overhaul of the educational system in Connecticut. The ruling is more than just making sure education money is more equitably distributed across the state. It is also about holding teachers, school boards, and the state responsible and accountable for more equitable opportunities in Connecticut education.

This decision is likely to create a firestorm as the state tries to craft a solution that will be satisfactory to the court. Teachers unions will fight evaluations; local school boards will fear a loss of control; richer districts will fight any effort to move funding from their districts to poorer districts. It could be a bloodbath but the legislature has a chance to create some bold solutions while blaming the court for the result, although it is doubtful they will do so. They will also be loathe to finally take on the ridiculous method of funding our public schools primarily through local property taxes. In a state like Connecticut with so much inequality, the only result of this system will be unequal results in educational opportunities. This decision will also be a shot across the bow to all those other states that are suffering the same problems as Connecticut.