Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Op-Ed: State must do more to assure education equity

  • Other
  • by Jim Boucher and Elizabeth Horton Sheff
  • October 16, 2014
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

When the Sheff v. O’Neill case was filed, the goal was to bring equal educational opportunity to Hartford children who were forced to attend high poverty, racially isolated schools with inadequate resources, decrepit physical facilities, and poor academic outcomes.

Today, the Sheff case is still about equity – ensuring that Hartford children have the same educational opportunities as children in the best suburban schools and that all students have access to a quality, integrated education. No one ever said this journey would be easy, or that change would happen overnight.

Op-ed submit bugIt has been ten years since the state began to make significant investments to grow our region’s voluntary, two-way integration system. Students attending magnet schools and suburban schools through Open Choice have achieved high academic, career and social success.

But only a little more than 40 percent of Hartford children have access to these opportunities. Far too many students are still on wait lists at high performing magnet and choice schools. In fact, over 20,000 families ― the highest number yet ― applied for the fewer than 5,000 Open Choice and magnet school seats filled this school year.

The Sheff programs have helped improve educational achievement and narrow opportunity gaps predominant in the State of Connecticut. What we have accomplished here is often cited as a national model; though, locally, some remain reluctant to fully invest in our children’s constitutional right to a quality, integrated education.

To provide greater educational opportunity for more Hartford students, we need to stay focused on a broad definition of equity, one that emphasizes narrowing the educational opportunity gaps between Hartford and surrounding districts. Quality, integrated education must remain a central component of comprehensive reform strategies, both at state and district levels.

The Sheff Movement again urgently appeals to the State to expand access to quality, integrated education programming to all students still facing racial and economically isolated education.

For example, the state could improve equity by supporting additional investments to:

  • Expand and enhance magnet school options in Hartford and the Region;
  • Support creation of dual-language immersion magnet schools;
  • Open up additional Open Choice seats;
  • Align school construction spending with school integration goals;
  • Expand and cover the costs of pre-K magnet school tuition to all eligible students; and
  • Further improve the lottery system through measures including enhanced communication with parents.

Let’s be aware of the progress that has been made, and under what circumstances.

The 1996 Connecticut Supreme Court Sheff ruling was a ringing endorsement of the right of all children to a quality, integrated education, citing the existence of school district lines determined by town boundaries as a prime cause of racial and economic segregation.

Connecticut’s legislature, ordered to devise a remedy, opted to avoid the hard issue of tackling these district lines, and instead created a system of voluntary incentives and school choice. The current system’s achievements and challenges must be viewed in this light.

The Sheff plaintiffs and supporters have worked tirelessly since the court ruling in 1996 to convey that “each passing day” without access to quality, integrated education robs Connecticut’s children of their opportunity to become fully contributing citizens.  As co-chairs of the Sheff Movement, we organize parents and work with partners to ensure the Sheff remedies reach all the children and families who want and need them.

Hartford still struggles with a 55 percent child poverty rate, jobs leaving the city in large numbers, and income inequality in Connecticut that is the second worst in the nation. Connecticut’s achievement gap is a crisis and warrants immediate and strong action.

Jim Boucher

Jim Boucher

Elizabeth Horton Sheff

Elizabeth Horton Sheff

We maintain an unwavering commitment to Connecticut’s children, and are eager to engage in a collaborative effort to improve and expand our region’s integration system. We will continue to strive toward a collective commitment to eliminating the opportunity gap—a commitment that is rooted in a broad, regional vision of equity. Keeping our focus on this goal, we believe, will help to eliminate Connecticut’s achievement gap, and provide true equity to all of our children. We need the creativity, diverse perspectives, and vision of partners throughout the region to help us get there.


Jim Boucher has been a member of the Sheff Movement for 10 years, served two terms on Hartford’s City Council (2004-2012), and chaired the Council’s Education Committee.

Elizabeth Horton Sheff is known for her role as the named plaintiff in Sheff vs. O’Neill, the successful landmark civil rights lawsuit, and she served twice on Hartford’s City Council (1991-1995 and 1999-2001).

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Boucher and Elizabeth Horton Sheff

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Best of 2019: Key Dems press bill to increase minority recruitment at Coast Guard Academy
by Ana Radelat

The bill is a response to allegations of discrimination and a racially hostile environment at the school.

Navy cuts number of EB Virginia-class subs in new contract
by Ana Radelat

Electric Boat wanted the Navy to include 10 subs, and possibly 11, in the so-called "Block 5" contract. But the Navy agreed to only nine.

Electric Boat facing mounting challenges as sub work ramps up
by Ana Radelat

There continue to be concerns about EB’s ability to build the new Columbia-class submarine alongside its smaller Virginia-class attack subs.

Talk of gun violence, little else
by Paul Stern

In national politics last week there was talk of little else than gun violence, white nationalism and gun control following the fatal shootings of 31 people in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. There was little more than talk, too.

Politics and the ‘dark psychic force of collectivized hatred’
by Paul Stern

President Donald Trump insists he is not a racist, but 51 percent of Americans believe he is, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week. Certainly his “send her back” comments about Somalia-born U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and last week’s jabs at U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore did nothing to dispel that […]

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Enriching the already rich — it’s been the American way.
by David Holahan

There are supposed to be two certainties in life: death and taxes. Here's a 2021 corollary: As the rich get richer and richer, they pay less and less into the U.S. Treasury. It’s no joke, my fellow 1040 filers. A recent study by economists and the IRS found that the richest Americans —yes, those infamous one-percenters— have been cheating on their taxes to the collective tune of at least $175 billion a year.

Opinion There is no equity without standardized race, ethnicity and language data
by The Rev. Robyn Anderson

Over a year into a pandemic that has cost the lives of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color at rates that are unjust and preventable, we cannot allow ourselves or our state to continue to use the word “equity” without the data to show policies really are addressing injustice. We all know the disparities aren’t about race; they’re about racism.

Opinion Baseball is still a civil rights battleground
by Steve Thornton

For over 150 years, the baseball field has been a battleground for civil rights. Bigoted politicians like Texas governor Greg Abbott are still fighting the Civil War — on the wrong side of history.

Opinion Getting connected for Connecticut students
by Sabrina Tucker-Barrett

There is one key to ensuring the success of Connecticut students: we must keep them connected. Whether your children are in fifth grade or freshman year, they have or will continue to learn virtually in some capacity, which means unstable Wi-Fi during class, delays in homework submission or inability to research are unacceptable.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO