Following a hearing by the Connecticut General Assembly’s Education Committee, a pro charter school organization has launched a campaign to oppose legislation placing a moratorium on new charter schools.
The Coalition For Every Child released an ad claiming the moratorium will limit public school choice for the more than 40,000 students who currently attend underperforming schools.
The Connecticut Education Association as well as other public school advocates assert new charters take funds away from traditional public schools.
Pro-charter groups such as the Coalition for Every Child argue it’s a question of more choices for parents and students attending low-performing schools. The organization led a rally on the New Haven Green last December in support of charter school choices.
More than 3,600 students are on wait lists for charter schools in Connecticut. The legislation would impose a two-year moratorium on approving any new charter schools in the state.
“This bill will only make matters worse for the thousands of children who attend underperforming schools,” said Kara Neidhardt, State Director for Families for Excellent Schools. “We need our legislators to step up and support great schools.”
I would like to thank all 12 Bridgeport residents who traveled all the way to Hartford and waited between 5-10 hours to testify in support of this Senate Bill. We knocked it out of the park and not a single Bridgeport resident spoke against the proposed moratorium.
At 11:00 PM, there were still 27 highly compensated charter school proponents in the room. This included national charter school representatives, Families for Ex$ellent Shysters, Northeast Charlatan $chools, and Can CON. Their leadership came to the microphone trying to discredit our testimony and came across as completely agitated and somewhat angry.
Three different legislators approached me after the hearing to commend us on our efforts and to offer their support.
A gentleman who showed up late, approached me after the hearing and told me he was watching us on CT-N and got in his car and drove to the hearing to support us. He has no charter schools in his community but is totally opposed to them.
The fact this campaign was launched today tells me they are worried.
The testimony on SB1096 starts at around the 9-hour mark. Just slide the start button to that timeframe.