CT Supreme Court To Hear Arguments In Bridgeport Schools Case
Plaintiffs challenge state takeover of school board.
The Connecticut Supreme Court will hear arguments on Thursday challenging the state’s takeover of the Bridgeport Board of Education. The plaintiffs argue that the state cannot deny residents the right to vote for their local school board.
Last summer, most of the members of Bridgeport’s Board of Ed, along with the city’s superintendent and mayor asked the State Board to intervene in the city’s schools. Within weeks, Connecticut’s Acting Education Commissioner had replaced Bridgeport’s elected school board with a state-appointed panel.
"What’s at stake here is something fundamental. The people of Bridgeport thought they had a right to elect people for their school board. The state took it away."
Lawyer Norm Pattis represents two Bridgeport board of ed members who oppose the state takeover. They, along with parents of Bridgeport schoolchildren and candidates who’d hoped to run for seats on the board, filed suit against the State Board of Education.
Pattis says Thursday’s arguments before CT’s Supreme Court will make state constitutional history. "These are matters of first impression, meaning they’ve never come up before the court before. We’ll be urging the court to respect the vote. That’s what we think this case comes down to."
One in three elementary school students in Bridgeport met the goal in reading and math on the CT Mastery Test. The district has been designated “low achieving” for seven consecutive years .
For WNPR, I’m Diane Orson.
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What I want to know is what
What I want to know is what law is in place (and when was it passed) that gives citizens of CT cities and towns the right to vote for local Board of Education members? Once that law is identified (and the Courts and lawyers must already know), it seems like a very simple matter to settle Does the law give the Local Boards the right to decide on a State/Education Commissioner takeover or does it require an election referandum and a citizen vote? Why not publish what the law says to cut down on the suspense. Most likely, some lawyers are making money (some on the State side at the taxpayers expense) on an issue that already has a clear answer if we just look at what the law on the book says.
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