Several Bridgeport residents including former school board member Maria Pereira testified in support of a Connecticut General Assembly bill to place a two-year moratorium on charter schools that education advocates say siphon funds from traditional school districts. See video from public hearing.
American Federation of Teachers Connecticut President Melodie Peters says:
“By calling for a moratorium on new charter schools, SB 1096 provides an opportunity to evaluate what’s been done and determine what we need to do before further investing in charter schools. Requiring the Commissioner of Education to review existing charter schools and develop a statewide charter school plan for this committee’s review is something that is both appropriate and long overdue.”
In case the above link doesn’t work, here is a URL to copy and paste to view the testimony:
www .ct-n.com/ctnplayer.asp?odID=11325
Of the hours of testimony, I watched some of it.
You might check out the following testimony:
(1) Rep Edwin Vargas of Hartford at 5:56:15
(2) Sauda Baraka at 9:20:40
(3) Scott Hughes at 9:59:30
(4) Maria Pereira at 10:02:00
(5) Jacqueline Kelleher at 10:35:15
(6) Dennis Bradley at 11:29:40
(7) Steve Holmes, last person to testify
Those who testified charter schools don’t take money from our city’s public education budget have lost all credibility with me. Please, don’t argue with me, go argue with the extremely knowledgeable, competent, and open and accountable CFO of the Bridgeport BOE, Marlene Siegel, about this. She’ll set you straight.
Go Maria and all. We need a screeching halt to depleting our public schools of resources. Thanks Pete Spain, for your easy-access information.