Stamford Charter School for Excellence applicant Charlene Reid listens to public comment in front of the State Board of Education in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. Photo: Brian A. Pounds | Buy this photo

By Wendy Lecker | Originally Published at StamfordAdvocate. April 4, 2014

This week, the Connecticut State Board of Education demonstrated how not to make public policy. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s appointed board trampled local control and democracy by ramming through resolutions that completely disregarded the parents, teachers and communities impacted by their decisions.

Last month, Republican legislators forced a public hearing on legislation calling for a moratorium on the implementation of the Common Core State Standards until the state could assess the implementation’s financial and educational impact.

Ninety-five percent of parents submitting testimony favored a moratorium on the Common Core, as did 91 percent of teachers, 95 percent of citizens not identifying as parents or teachers and 87.5 percent of local elected officials.

Unfazed by the outpouring of concern, the State Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution demanding the immediate implementation of the Common Core and its tests.

In even more arrogant disregard for Connecticut communities, the board approved four new charter schools: Great Oaks Charter and Capital Harbor Prep Charter in Bridgeport, the Booker T. Washington Charter in New Haven and the Stamford Charter School for Excellence in Stamford.

In 2011, the State Board of Education that voted to illegally take over the Bridgeport board of education — a behind-the-scenes intrigue in which SBE chair Allan Taylor and Great Oaks Charter applicant Meghan Lowney both played major roles. After our Supreme Court invalidated that unlawful vote, Bridgeport voters elected a legitimate board.

Testifying this week, elected Bridgeport board members and parents reminded the SBE that Bridgeport is woefully underfunded by the state. The more than $113 million state funding gap leaves Bridgeport’s 20,000 students suffering from shortages in social workers, teachers, high school electives, counselors and basic supplies.

However, the state will divert $85 million dollars over the next few years to charter schools in Bridgeport that serve only 1,600 children. The new charters would drain more than $13 million more from the public schools.

Bridgeport’s board of education and elected parent’s council passed resolutions calling for a moratorium on all charter schools in their city.

These local officials and citizens explained the duty to serve all children in Bridgeport. They noted the flaws in the charter applications, including the serious questions about the companies’ ability to serve students with disabilities or English Language Learners.

Yet the tone-deaf state board voted to force two more charter schools on Bridgeport.

The State Board of Education’s approval of a new charter school in Stamford was equally appalling.

Stamford’s elected board of education voted to oppose the Stamford charter application.

Stamford parents started a petition to oppose the charter school which garnered more than 800 signatures in 48 hours. The Bronx charter school company had a petition up for a month trying to drum up support for the charter, but could only muster 17 signatures.

At the SBE meeting, Stamford officials and parents were united in explaining that Stamford’s integrated schools have closed the achievement gap by double digits in the last seven years. By contrast, the Bronx charter operator has a large and growing achievement gap in its school and offered nothing new to Stamford. In fact, when asked by Stamford’s superintendent why she chose this city, the Bronx operator was unable to respond.

Despite the evidence, the state board voted to give the charter school company more than $4 million for a school of only 392 students while leaving Stamford’s 16,000 public school students underfunded.

While the SDE staff recommended approval of the New Haven charter because it had broad community support, no board member or staff acknowledged the massive community opposition to the Bridgeport and Stamford charters.

Apparently community input only matters if it advances the motives of the State Board of Education and Commissioner Stefan Pryor.

Reacting to the approval of the new charter schools, an outraged state Sen. Beth Bye, co-chair of the General Assembly‘s Appropriations committee responded, “Where do they think this money is going to come from?” she asked, noting that the state is not providing its public schools with sufficient funds.

As Bridgeport resident and former NAACP president Carolyn Nah testified, “all children” does not just mean all children in charter schools — it means all public school students. Something is wrong when political appointees in Hartford favor a handful of students, trampling the decisions of democratically elected representatives and parents who are in our schools every day, working to protect the educational interest of every child.

Wendy Lecker is a columnist for Hearst Connecticut Media Group and is senior attorney for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity project at the Education Law Center.