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In the News

Charter schools won't get federal jobs money

September 1, 2010
Connecticut Mirror

By Robert Frahm 

The state's allocation of federal stimulus money intended to save teaching jobs in cash-strapped school districts excluded charter schools, many of which serve students in Connecticut's poorest communities.

The experimental charter schools, along with the state's technical high schools and some public magnet schools, were left out under a formula used by the state to distribute the $110 million in stimulus funds approved by Congress in August.

Time to stop whining and make serious education reforms

August 31, 2010
Hartford Courant

By Rick Green

Maybe you saw what New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did last week after he learned about the bungling behind his administration's failure to win $400 million in the federal Race to the Top competition that rewards states that adopt aggressive education reforms.

Christie fired his education commissioner.

Bravo. At least we know what matters to Gov. Christie, a Republican making waves across the country. That's more than I can say for Connecticut, land of timid leadership.

Hot topic: Connecticut misses out on another school reform grant

August 31, 2010
New Haven Advocate

By Betsy Yagla 

For the second time, Connecticut lost out on millions of dollars in competitive federal grants for education reform. Connecticut was not one of the 19 finalists announced in July. Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced 10 winners, among them Connecticut’s neighbors Massachusetts ($250 million), New York ($750 million) and Rhode Island ($75 million).

Hwang to receive education award tomorrow at Fairfield U.

August 30, 2010
Trumbull Times

By Donald Eng

Conn. learns why it lost out on fed funds

August 28, 2010
New Haven Register

By Abbe Smith

In the most recent round of federal Race to the Top awards, Connecticut scored lower than every state it borders.

The state learned last month that it did not make the list of finalists, but didn’t get details about why it missed out on the $175 million it was seeking until final scores and reviewer comments were released this week.

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Home  >  Campaigns
Mind the Gaps

Our 2009 legislative campaign.

Mind the Gaps was ConnCAN’s highly successful 2009 legislative campaign, advocating for three commonsense school reforms—funding to grow high-performing public charter schools, teacher quality and education transparency—to help close Connecticut’s achievement gap. In 2009’s tough budget climate, ConnCAN asked legislators in Hartford to mind the gaps in student achievement – and they listened and took strong action.
 
The legislature passed two laws and increased funding for Connecticut’s public charter schools:
 
  • The most significant overhaul of Connecticut teacher certification laws in more than 20 years. This law improves teacher quality by doing three crucial things: allowing experienced teachers from other states to teach in Connecticut, keeping Teach for America on a path to growth, and removing roadblocks keeping excellent math and science candidates out of the classroom.
 
  • A law to open up stores of longitudinal student achievement data to nonprofits and universities who can then share it with the broader public.
 
  • In the midst of an $8 billion state budget deficit, more than $20 million of additional funding to expand the state’s high-performing public charter schools over the next two years, putting over 1,000 more students on the path to college.
 
For more information on the 2009 Mind the Gaps campaign, visit www.pleasemindthegaps.org

 

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