Thousands Rally for Education Equality; New London Among Lowest Performing Schools

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About 6,000 students, parents, educators and others came together on the New Haven Green to demand that all students in Connecticut have the opportunity to attend excellent schools.

About 40,000 children in 63 persistently failing schools, according to the For Every Child coalition.

“Connecticut faces an urgent crisis: statewide, there are 40,000 students in failing schools,” said Scot X. Esdaile, Connecticut NAACP president. “Almost all are students of color. This is a civil rights issue. The time for bold change is now.”

According to a recent ConnCAN report, about 87 percent of the 40,000 students are black or Hispanic and 90 percent come from low-income households.

The coalition is combination of students, parents, educators, community members, faith leaders and other advocates. Other groups such as ConnCAN, Achievement First and the Northeast Charter School Network also helped organize the event. Some of the organizer groups are advocates of public charter schools or charter school organizations, but many speakers spoke about children in a variety of school settings, according to the Hartford Courant.

New London is an Alliance District, which is a group of about 30 of the lowest performing districts. The districts receive increased Education Cost Sharing to help fix achievement gaps.

New London received about $2.7 million for the 2014-2015 school year.

The money was used to hire middle school instructional coachers, teachers for gifted programs, tutors and others.

The 8,000 students who drop out of school each year represents a significant loss of revenue for the state. According to ConnCAN, the loss is $4 billion over the lifetimes of the drop outs in any single year. Money also flows into the prison system instead of the state economy as well.

“6,000 people made history today with a simple demand: provide a great school for every Connecticut child, particularly the 40,000 trapped in failing schools,” said Jen Alexander, CEO of ConnCAN.

Speakers at the event included parents, principals, students and politicians including Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch.

“We are here today to fight for every child,” said parent Tara Maxwell. “We are here to fight for the 40,000 children who are counting on us to fix this crisis.”