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The Future of K-12 Education in Connecticut — As we seek to recover, rebuild and renew our commitment to education, our students deserve more than a return to normal, they deserve to… Believe in Better.
Last year, ConnCAN worked with legislators and the Education Justice Now coalition to take major steps toward closing Connecticut’s immoral racial funding gap for the betterment of our students.
This year, we are eager to continue to work with families and advocate for an education system that is even better.
Our 2022 policy goals position us to work with policymakers and plot long-term plans that fix complex education problems in Connecticut. And, ConnCAN is collaborating with partners to think strategically about the education equity issues affecting families across the state.
The legislative session begins Wednesday, February 9th and I look forward to sharing more information and updates in the coming weeks!
Student-centered education funding reform
✓ Create long-term funding equity for all schools, including district, magnet, charter and vocational-agricultural schools
✓ Fully fund ECS by 2025 to ensure schools can continue to invest in their students after federal funding sunsets
✓ Ensure all school funding is student-centered and need-based
Minority teacher recruitment and retention
✓ Organize to Transform: Allow any certified teacher in the United States to have a fully transferable certification for Connecticut if they choose to relocate to our state
✓ Move Here, Teach Here: Support teachers to transition to understaffed shortage areas by offering an Alliance District signing bonus and smaller bonuses provided for high-performing districts
✓ Chip In to Fill In: Increasing post-secondary education scholarships for students from Alliance Districts entering the field, as long as a 3.0 GPA is maintained
✓ Support One to Become One: District cooperation for sharing specialized, shortage area secondary school talent to increase access to college/career-focused coursework
✓ Cooperate to Increase Academic Access: Reconstitute the Minority Teacher Task Force to develop long-term targets and goals
School improvement and transformation
✓ Revive and lead cross-sector Opportunity Gap Task Force to provide a center for equity work
✓ Audit Connecticut’s school improvement system for effectiveness in improving student outcomes
✓ Increase independent parent voice in school improvement efforts
✓ Publicly post long-term school improvement goals on the State Department of Education website for all districts and schools participating in school improvement grant programs (alliance, priority, etc.)
Transparency for Federal American Rescue Plan (ARP ESSER) dollars
✓ Build a grassroots community to hold districts accountable to their ARP ESSER goals
✓ Ensure districts report Budget-to-Actuals on all grants and post those documents to their website on a semi-annual basis