8/11/2019 Charter Network - Undo Cuts to Poorest-funded Students

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NEWS FROM THENORTHEAST CHARTER SCHOOLS NETWORK

For Immediate ReleaseThursday, January 10, 2013

Contact: Bob Bellafiore518-928-8471bob@stanhope-ny.com

Charter Network: undo cuts to poorest-funded studentsLargely urban poor students cut by $2 million huge funding gap remains

Despite having overwhelmingly passed historic education reform in 2012, the General

Assembly in December approved damaging spending cuts that will directly affect someof Connecticuts lowest-funded schools, the Northeast Charter Schools Network(NECSN) said today.

The $11.4 million in education spending cuts contained in last months deficit mitigationpackage includes a $2 million cut in funding to charter school students, or about $300per pupil, while leaving district school funding untouched in this round of legislativeactions. Charter students, who are primarily poor and urban, already are vastlyunderfunded compared with students in district-run schools.

Connecticuts electedleaders can best serve all school children and their families by

equalizing funding among all public schools students, regardless of whether they attenddistrict or charter schools, NESCN President Bill Phillips said. The General Assemblytook a major step in that direction last year by overwhelmingly approving fundingincreases that helped close the sizeable gap between charter funding and districtfunding. But the large gap that remained was made worse by budget mitigation stepstaken last month.

Phillips noted that the 2012 funding increases for charters were approved unanimouslyin the House and with only seven dissenting votes in the Senate.

Phillips said the General Assemblys decision to cut charter funding is baffling because

parents continue to demand to have the choice of charter schools for their children,particularly in urban areas. Furthermore, Phillips said, charter schools continue toperform well.

The budget cuts will hurt schools across the state, including the following:

At Park City Prep in Bridgeport, the effort to obtain a new facility is now in jeopardy.Bruce Ravage, Executive Director said, Our parents have been asking us for years to

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find a safer location for the school. With the additional funding, we were barely able tofund the new lease. Now, its too risky.

Park City outperforms twenty-two of the twenty-seven district-run elementary andmiddle schools in Bridgeport, state data show.

At Common Ground Charter School in New Haven, mid-year cuts could mean staffor program cuts. Because of the funding gap for charters we already run on ashoestring, said school director Liz Cox. At Common Ground, to absorb this cut isequal to the salaries for of our teachers for the remainder of the school year, or ourentire academic interventions program.

According to the state Department of Educations School Performance Index, CommonGround is outperforming seven of the nine district-run high schools in New Haven.

NESCN is a regional charter school organization that represents nearly 200 charter

schools in Connecticut and New York State.

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