Schools across the country are about to be held accountable for student attendance — attaching stakes to a measure that previously had much less significance and increasing the risk that schools will try to manipulate that data.
K-12
Posted inEducation
Trump education nominee pleads ignorance on voucher studies
At his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, Mick Zais, the nominee to be second-in-command at the Department of Education, said that he was not aware of high-profile studies showing that school vouchers can hurt student achievement.
Posted inEducation
Municipal aid: How does your town fare after the mid-year cut?
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Friday doubled cuts in state aid to cities and towns to help achieve big, unassigned savings ordered by the General Assembly in the recently passed bipartisan budget.
Posted inEducation, Money
Care4Kids resumes enrollment, but won’t reach previous highs
With the number of families receiving help to cover the costs of child care reaching record lows, state lawmakers this week celebrated an announcement that the state will start enrolling children on the wait list. However, opening the wait list does not mean that every applicant whose income qualifies them for help will receive a Care4Kids subsidy.
Posted inEducation, Health
State watchdog: Schools keeping too many students home without medical OK
An investigation by a state watchdog agency has found that “high numbers” of children have left public school for medical or mental health reasons – though only two-thirds of the absences had been authorized by the student’s health care provider, as required by state regulations.
Posted inEducation
500 kids fleeing Hurricane Maria’s wrath now in CT schools
Most of them – 85 percent – showed up in the state’s lowest-achieving districts, which already are grappling with high concentrations of high-need students.
Posted inEducation, Energy & Environment, Health, Money, Politics
House sends veto-proof, bipartisan budget to Malloy
With the final flourish of a veto-proof margin, the House of Representatives voted Thursday to give final legislative passage to an overdue, bipartisan budget crafted without the direct involvement of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
After 117-day marathon, Senate passes bipartisan budget
The Senate took a major step early Thursday toward ending Connecticut’s nearly 17-week budget impasse, overwhelmingly adopting a $41.3 billion, two-year plan that closes huge deficits without raising income or sales tax rates, imposes modest cuts on local aid, and provides emergency assistance to keep Hartford out of bankruptcy.
Posted inEducation, Money
Municipal aid: See how your town fares in the bipartisan budget
With more than three-quarters of overall state municipal aid currently going to the state’s primary education grant — the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant — it should be no surprise that it took the brunt of cuts this year. Various non-education grants will be cut next year to make up for restoring ECS funding in 2019.
Posted inEducation, Money
Education aid: Here’s what is in the bipartisan CT budget plan
The bipartisan budget that legislators expect to approve this week would cut the primary state grant that helps municipalities run their local public schools by $30 million this fiscal year – a 1.5 percent reduction. But it would replace that money and distribute it differently next year.
Posted inEducation, Money
Teachers would pay more for pensions, but big funding shortfalls would persist
After months of wrangling, legislative leaders settled on having public school teachers and other educators pay an additional 1 percent of their salary toward their pensions – a $775 yearly increase for the average teacher and school administrator. The increased contributions will barely make a dent in controlling the state’s pension costs, however.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Legislators must pass a budget fair to all public schools, including charters
Connecticut is known for many “firsts” and “onlys.” We can be proud of many of them. The first telephone book, the first hamburger and the only steam-powered Cider Mill in the U.S. just to name a few. But right now, we’re leading the nation in something else, and it’s not good. Worse, it’s to the detriment of our children. After a stalemate of more than 100 days, we are the only state in the nation without a budget. And for the children of Brass City Charter School in Waterbury, specifically the children we work for every day, this isn’t just unfair — it’s unacceptable.
Posted inEducation, Money
Caring for a steady influx of homeless, uprooted students
The Mirror sat down for a Sunday conversation with Shelimar Ramirez, homeless coordinator for Hartford schools and the person responsible for getting homeless and displaced children enrolled in school – sometimes 350 students a year.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
AG offers no assurances on legality of Malloy budget order
Attorney General George Jepsen offered a legal opinion Tuesday that questioned the legality of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to administer municipal aid in the absence of a state budget. But he offered Malloy and the legislature just one alternative — write a new state budget.
Posted inEducation, Money
Municipal aid hit will multiply as big grants are cut this week
The toll Connecticut’s budget standoff has taken on cities and towns will nearly quadruple this week as key education and general government grants will be reduced or withheld.