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Health & Fitness

NECSN Praises Lawmakers for Championing Public Charter School Children

Yesterday, Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed into law Connecticut’s biennial state budget (Public Act 13-247), capping off a very successful legislative session for public charter school students.

Gov. Malloy, a major champion of education reform, successfully worked with the General Assembly to fund the vast majority of last year's education reform package (Public Act 12-116) – despite declining state revenues. In addition to increasing funding to help close the per-pupil funding gap between charter and district schools, Connecticut lawmakers were able to expand an innovative district/charter partnership program to more than 30 districts and provide funding to offer more new charter school seats to the nearly 4,000 kids stuck on waitlists.

(Click here for an infographhic tracking the growth of Connecticut charter schools).

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“Gov. Malloy and the legislature continue to make strong and steady progress this session in ensuring that every child has access to a high-quality public school education. Their leadership has provided a lifeline to the 65,000 Connecticut kids still stuck in failing schools,” Jeremiah Grace, NECSN Connecticut State Director, said. “While we still have a long way to go in order to close Connecticut’s worst-in-the-nation achievement gap, we look forward to continuing to work with Gov. Malloy and the General Assembly on behalf of all public charter school children.”

Key education reform measures that passed during the 2013 legislative session include:

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  • Per-pupil funding increases for charter students: The budget includes per-pupil funding increases for public charter school students ($10.5K/pupil in FY14 and $11K/pupil in FY15 and beyond).
  • Over $11 million for eight new charter schools: The budget also provides more than $11 million in funding for the first new charter schools in five years, with four new state charter schools and four new local charter schools.
  • Innovative district/charter collaborations: The District Partnership law (Public Act 13-206) allows charters in 30 of the lowest-performing school districts to form collaborations with their host districts in exchange for sharing the charter's test scores. There is great potential in this law because it is entirely voluntary and there are a number of ways districts and charters can creatively design mutually beneficial arrangements.
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