The CT Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/author/jrabe/)
Jacqueline won two first prizes from the national Education Writers Association for her work in 2012 – one in beat reporting for her overall education coverage, and the other in investigative reporting on a series of stories revealing questionable monetary and personnel actions taken by the Board of Regents for Higher Education. In 2016, she was a finalist in the EWA competition for single-topic coverage for her reporting on how schools are funded in Connecticut. Before coming to The Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. She has also worked for Congressional Quarterly and the Toledo Free Press. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College. She and her husband, son and two dogs live in Hartford.
The Connecticut House of Representatives gave final passage Wednesday night to legislation that opens financial aid in the state to “dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants brought here as children, only to find themselves priced out of higher education as they come of age. The bipartisan vote was 91-59. Continue Reading →
A pitch to consolidate administrative functions at the state’s dozen community colleges to save millions of dollars has been rejected by a regional accrediting body, raising the possibility of higher tuition or closing a campus. Continue Reading →
Democrats and Republicans offered sharply contrasting spending plans for the next fiscal year. While they shared some common ground involving municipal aid and health care for the elderly and disabled, major disagreements involving labor costs, higher education and revenue stand in the way of another bipartisan budget agreement. Continue Reading →
Democratic and Republican legislators offered competing visions for the next state budget Friday, but both effectively dipped into this spring’s unexpectedly high income-tax revenues to salvage key programs for towns and social services, drawing a sharp rebuke from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Continue Reading →
Legislation that would make some undocumented immigrants eligible for college financial aid will win enough votes to pass the General Assembly after years of unsuccessful attempts, legislative leaders predicted Wednesday. The state Senate passed the bill Wednesday on a vote of 30 to 5, and it now heads to the House. Continue Reading →
The Connecticut Juvenile Training School — the product of bid-rigging, outdated thinking and poor execution by the administration of Gov. John G. Rowland — closed Thursday as the last three young occupants left the sprawling detention center for home or private residential facilities. Continue Reading →
Updated at 3:05 p.m.
The state legislature voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to take a year off from penalizing municipalities that reduce school spending in reaction to cuts in state aid, a change the governor says would affect only two communities. Continue Reading →
Connecticut’s performance this year on the so-called ‘Nation’s Report Card,’ the country’s most comprehensive assessment of what students know, was remarkably the same as it was the last time the test was given two years ago. The average student’s performance and the gaping gaps in achievement between different groups of students were largely unchanged. Continue Reading →
NEW HAVEN — A lack of political will is preventing spending money on approaches that research shows work to improve outcomes for students, particularly desegregating schools, former education Secretary John B. King said in New Haven Friday.
Continue Reading →
Statewide, there has been little progress in stemming aggressive student behavior as student suspension and expulsion rates steadily decline. For this Sunday Conversation, we sat down with Tod Couture, a special education teacher from Enfield, to talk about school safety in a district that is focusing its resources on another safety issue: student assaults on teachers. Continue Reading →
New federal funding will help Connecticut’s Care4Kids child care subsidy program, in which enrollment has been down sharply because of budget constraints. Continue Reading →
Shortly after the governor imposed $58 million in midyear cuts to state education aid for 130 communities last November, the state informed superintendents their districts would lose even more state funding if they coped by cutting their own budgets by more than the administration has determined the law allows. Continue Reading →
While much of the focus – and funding – has been directed at protecting students from another active shooter, data on Connecticut’s public schools show no decline in a number of much more common safety issues schools face, such as fights and other physical confrontations. That lack of progress has fueled a debate over whether the state’s push to reduce student suspensions and expulsions – and instead provide students with supports so they can stay in school – actually is working to make schools safer. Continue Reading →
The state system of providing healthcare to nearly 14,000 inmates in state prisons is on a path to “inadequate staffing” and “untimely healthcare,” according to consultants hired by the state Department of Correction. The consultants recommend a transition to a “hybrid” model of care that relies more heavily on private providers. Continue Reading →
With the next fiscal year just four months away – and little hope for more funding for state colleges – the Board of Regents for Higher Education today approved a plan that rejects closing a community college campus and instead dramatically downsizes administrative staff. The move to consolidate a dozen community colleges is projected to save $28 million. Continue Reading →