Connecticut legislature fails to ratify settlement to desegregate Hartford schools
The Connecticut legislature has adjourned without voting on the latest settlement agreement designed to desegregate Hartford schools. As a result of its failure to ratify the settlement, the agreement becomes null and void, and the Sheff vs. O'Neill lawsuit heads back to court. When the last four-year-old settlement in the case failed to reach its desegregation goals of almost 30% of Hartford students to be enrolled in racially integrated schools by this year, the state and the Sheff plaintiffs reached a tentative agreement in late May that would establish new goals and extend the settlement. It calls for the state to spend more about $112 million over the next five years to subsidize magnet schools, charter schools, and other programs designed to increase integration. But some lawmakers say a lot of money has already been spent on those programs and Hartford schools are as segregated now as they were when the state supreme court first ordered the state to do something back in 1996. A recent study by Trinity College researchers reported that only 9% of the city's students attend schools that have enough white students to qualify as racially integrated under the Sheff agreement. "We're talking about $112 million of the public's money," says state senator Thomas Gaffey, co-chairman of the education committee. "We ought to take pause and do this right." Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they don't want further delays. "Time is wasting, and we can't wait around forever for the legislature to do something," says attorney Wesley Horton. "If the legislature won't let us deal with the state, then we will have to go to the judge." James Amann, speaker of Connecticut’s House, expects legislative leaders to decide whether to hold another special session on the settlement.
Boston Globe
By Associated Press
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Education Week
By Associated Press
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[Editor’s Note: The Trinity College report, which includes background and a timeline on the ruling, 678 A.2d 1267 (1996), and its aftermath is available below.]
[Trinity College "Missing the Goal" report]