Mayor Bill Finch has released an education plan that includes greater pre-k access, school construction and summer jobs.
From the Finch campaign:
In his next four years, Mayor Finch has presented a four-pronged plan to ensure our kids get the education they need to compete for the jobs of tomorrow:
Preparing the Next Generation with More Pre-K Access:
In order to make sure our kids are able to graduate and access good paying jobs they need to start off on the right track. Mayor Finch, Superintendent Rabinowitz, and the United Way have partnered to ensure every kid in Bridgeport is prepared to enter kindergarten. Mayor Finch will continue to focus on improving the quality, accessibility and affordability of pre-K. He is committed to ensuring there will be high quality pre-K in every neighborhood in Bridgeport, similar to New York City.The Largest School Construction Effort in Bridgeport’s History:
A Yale Research study proves new school construction leads to higher test scores and higher public school enrollment. That’s why Mayor Finch has been building new schools and renovating current ones at a rate that the Park City has never seen before. Mayor Bill Finch will continue renovating and building new schools so that more than half of all students in Bridgeport are attending one of these schools.Enhancing high-quality afterschool programs:
A father of four Bridgeport public school kids, Mayor Finch knows the importance of investing in programs outside the classroom. That’s why Mayor Finch has expanded high-quality afterschool so Bridgeport kids have meaningful and enriching afterschool activities. The award-winning Lighthouse After-School Program serves nearly 3,000 children from pre-K to 8th grade during the school year and during the summer. Mayor Finch is committed to expanding Bridgeport’s afterschool programs by partnering with organizations across the city, including those that are faith-based.Creating Summer Jobs:
Through the Mayor’s Conservation Corps, Lighthouse Programs, City Parks and Recreation Department and a partnership with the WorkPlace, Inc., Mayor Finch expanded Bridgeport’s summer jobs program to over 750 in 2015. In the future, Mayor Finch will continue working to increase the amount of summer jobs that are available to Bridgeport kids. He’ll do this by working with existing and new businesses in the city, including Starbucks, which launched an effort to find jobs for 100,000 young people over the next three years.
For more see here.
How about fully funding our PUBLIC schools? How about not attempting to pass off in-kind services in lieu of allocating the actual MONEY that has been provided to the City to the PUBLIC Schools? How about telling your constituents WHERE THAT MONEY IS GOING? How about NOT providing CHARTER schools with funding unless all monies that were allocated to Bridgeport for the PUBLIC schools have been in fact, distributed to the PUBLIC schools?
Just a couple of suggestions. 🙂
Stealing Malloy’s thunder with universal pre-K. Anything else, Bill?
It never ceases to amaze me how an incumbent can make claims with so little facts.
Let’s take one example. Are summer jobs part of an education plan? I was looking for a listing of employers and the number of kids they hired. He mentions Lighthouse (with bloated administrative costs) and Parks and Recreation. Oh, he is “working to increase the amount of summer jobs that are available to Bridgeport kids.” Kids were not actually hired by employers. His ministry of public enlightenment crafted this statement carefully.
Bill Finch “created” hundreds of summer jobs for youth at Steel Point to prepare them for a life of long hours, low pay and mass transit.
What a liar but this is nothing new because this mayor has been telling lies to the voters for his entire seven years in office.
You want to fully fund Bridgeport schools, then tax yourselves. You (Bpt) only pay 15% now.
Did everyone see the News 12 piece about developing the waterfront from Knowlton Park to Beardsley Park??? Every 30 minutes. Very impressive. I know we cannot wait to see the mayor’s master plan. I like the forward thinking.
I hope to attend the debate this evening. Does anyone know where I can register?
Steve, there’s a link to register in the debate story I posted.
Thank you!
That’s supposed to be an innovative plan? Same boiler-plate stuff that has been kicked around here for decades.
School construction translates to better test scores if the school “systems” are strong and competent, under a strong, competent municipal government, and in a community that is socially and economically healthy and strong. We cannot claim such conditions here. In our overtaxed, underemployed, socioeconomically distressed, rudderless city, all our new schools offer our children is larger-scale physical plant, with more, expensive maintenance costs, more expensive bureaucracy/administration costs, and less community/neighborhood connection and personal attention. Once again, instead of addressing, critical, basic “system-level” and community-level needs, we politically partnered with regional/state connivers to distract attention away from the more difficult-to-address issue of Bridgeport’s grinding poverty.