Connecticut:
Back in Court

by Julie A. Miller

So far, the state has made the ratings mandatory only for the 398 schools that receive money from the federal compensatory education program. But last year it calculated the ratings for an additional 139 schools at the request of their districts, pushing the total number of schools receiving such ratings to just over half of all schools statewide.

Connecticut's biggest education battles continue to be waged in the courtroom.

Part of the attraction may be that Connecticut attaches no consequences to the ratings. All assistance is voluntary, and the state does not threaten to close or take over failing schools. "We are not a 'We've got the answer and we're going to give it to you' state," Sternberg says. "We hold a mirror in front of districts to help them see clearly what is going on with their schools and help them determine what to do about it."

The state's most direct intervention into a troubled school system--its much-publicized takeover of the Hartford public schools--has gotten off to a stumbling start. Former district Superintendent Patricia Daniel, hired in 1997 shortly before the state dissolved the city's elected school board, was forced to resign last May. Observers say she resisted the state-appointed trustees' reform efforts and failed to address the district's financial-management problems. The chief state attorney's office and local police are investigating charges of mismanagement and fraud that date back two years before she arrived. Matthew Borrelli is serving as the interim superintendent and finance chief for the district.

Indeed, the problems of Connecticut's urban schools continue to defy easy solutions. Many of those battles are being fought out in courtrooms.

In 1997, the state supreme court ruled in Sheff v. O'Neill that the racial isolation of the Hartford schools was unconstitutional. The 24,000-student district is about 95 percent minority. In response, lawmakers approved a package of initiatives in 1997, and expanded it last year, focused on helping Connecticut's big cities as well as other needy districts. The package totals about $90 million over two years. To help alleviate racial or ethnic isolation, it offers extra state aid to districts that accept students from outside their boundaries. It also includes a number of measures to improve the quality of city schools, such as money for early-childhood education.

Although urban educators applauded the effort, the plaintiffs in the Sheff case returned to court last fall, arguing that the state had not done enough.

In a separate lawsuit also filed in 1998, a dozen cities and towns charged the state with violating a 1977 state supreme court ruling, which held that Connecticut's school finance system was unconstitutional. The court had ordered state officials to create a more equitable funding system that is less reliant on local property taxes. The current plaintiffs contend that the state has not lived up to its mandate, even though urban systems now receive two-thirds or more of their budgets from the state.

"I think this is going to be as important a year or two down the road in changing state policy in education as Sheff v. O'Neill," says James Connelly, the superintendent of schools in Bridgeport, which is a party to the suit.

Last year, lawmakers pumped an additional $23 million through the state's main school funding formula to try to narrow the gap between rich and poor districts and provide money to repair school buildings. The suit seeks to force the state to fully fund the formula, which is weighted toward high-poverty and low-wealth districts. Other observers would rather see the legislature revamp the formula entirely.

Meanwhile, the state continues to implement the measures it has enacted so far in response to the Sheff case.

In the current school year, says Thomas Murphy, the spokesman for the state education department, the state is funding 15 magnet schools and 15 charter schools to increase the educational opportunities for students. It also has increased aid for "interdistrict cooperative programs" that involve about 80,000 children in initiatives ranging from weekend seminars to part-day, magnet-like programs.

Lawmakers also have pumped $60 million over two years into an expansion of early-childhood programs in 13 districts that serve a high proportion of low-income and at-risk students.

And the legislature added $20 million in new funds last year for an "Early Reading Success Program" to help at-risk pupils in grades K-3. Districts may use the money to reduce class sizes, expand after-school and summer school options, and increase the number of children served by all-day kindergarten. An accompanying mandate requires every district to draft a reading plan for grades K-3 and to justify decisions to promote children who are not reading at grade level. Prospective elementary teachers also must complete six class hours devoted to reading instruction.

Legislators also required that the state's school and district profiles include information on "efforts to reduce racial, ethnic, and economic isolation." Schools and districts will type the information into the reports over the Internet before the profiles are released. Districts also must explain how they are ensuring an equitable allocation of resources among schools.

Observers offer differing views on the adequacy of the legislature's efforts. "It's not to say that some good things haven't happened," says Frank Yulo, the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents. "But it barely scratches the surface of what's needed in the urban centers."

The plaintiffs in the Sheff case would agree. Their representatives maintain that giving more resources to the Hartford schools and giving some students opportunities to attend school elsewhere will not result in integrated schools. "We've consistently said 'a quality, integrated education,' " says Marianne Engelman Lado, a lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in New York City who has worked on the plaintiffs' case. "You can't trade one for the other."

Of course, truly integrating schools in a city where the student population is almost entirely minority would require drastic measures. The nonprofit Connecticut Center for School Change is promoting a proposal to combine the Hartford district with 21 surrounding systems to create a 100,000-student district that would be 34 percent minority.

In defense of the incremental approach, Murphy argues that it can lead to real integration over time, without acrimony and white flight from the public schools. He also points out that several years of stepped-up spending have made Hartford "one of the top districts in the state in terms of per-pupil spending, up with places like Greenwich," a well-heeled suburban community. That's probably why Hartford is not a participant in the school finance lawsuit.

While Connecticut has been cautious about imposing high-stakes accountability measures for schools, it has been a leader in adopting reforms meant to raise standards and improve teaching. In 1997, the education department drafted the third generation of its nationally recognized Connecticut Mastery Test to include more open-ended questions. The new tests are to debut in 2000.

At the same time, the state further defined its standards by drafting a new set of curriculum frameworks aligned to the exams.

Connecticut also has some of the nation's highest standards--and salaries--for teachers. The Education Enhancement Act of 1986 set a minimum salary for new teachers, earmarked state money to raise the salaries of experienced teachers, stiffened certification requirements, and required veteran teachers to earn continuing education credits. Prospective education students also must score 1000 or higher on the SAT college-entrance test or pass other competency exams.

"We have rigorous standards to get into teaching colleges and to get out," says Daria M. Plummer, the president of the Connecticut Education Association, a National Education Association affiliate. "Our teacher-candidates are in demand nationwide."

Five years ago, the state began phasing in portfolios of students' work to help judge how beginning teachers plan, conduct, and evaluate lessons. In the biggest expansion of the requirement so far, about 1,000 new teachers will begin compiling such portfolios this year.

© 1999 Editorial Projects in Education

Vol. 18, number 17, page 133