State legislators have sent a bill to the governor’s desk that delays the package of school reforms passed last year in the state’s bid to capture federal Race to the Top money.
The legislature’s budget office estimates the increased graduation requirements alone would cost up to $29 million to hire the additional teachers needed for the additional required courses and to develop the end-of-course exams.
When legislators passed the reforms last year, they were counting on $175 million in federal funding to implement them.
It is unclear whether Malloy will sign the bill, and has deflected questions whether he supports the delay. His budget director has said the state could wait to make this decision until next year since many costs do not begin in the upcoming fiscal year.
The State Board of Education in February reiterated its support for the reforms and asked state legislators not delay the changes.
Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.
