CtNewsJunkie
[Yet,]We build and defend dozens of different and duplicative school systems so we can educate kids based on arbitrary district lines. The gap between our black and white and rich and poor kids is the worst in the nation.
by Liz Dupont-Diehl
“I’m calling about my daughter, who’s going into ninth grade,” I told the guidance counselor. “I’d like to know about your class sizes and how many of your graduates go on to college.”
Hanging up the phone, it occurred to me that this was probably not what public schools are used to hearing. I was shopping for a high school for my daughter. Marketplace forces and customer service never had much impact on town school business or enrollments.
Connecticut is a state of fierce home rule and yawning public school inequality. We build and defend dozens of different and duplicative school systems so we can educate kids based on arbitrary district lines. The gap between our black and white and rich and poor kids is the worst in the nation.
Urban public schools are in a legitimate state of crisis. But blaming Sheff programs for their funding problems is a false choice, ignoring severe underlying structural problems and penalizing programs that work.
Within and around this system of school district barricades are dozens of inter-district magnet schools and transfer systems that offer lucky lottery winners a shot at some of the best educational opportunities in the country. Thanks largely to the Sheff v O’Neill case, Connecticut has embarked on a voluntary, regional two-way system of public school choice.
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