The promised resolution of Connecticut’s landmark civil rights case, Sheff V. O’Neill, is nearly accomplished but some Hartford officials fear the remedy has exacerbated the segregation and inequity of Hartford schools.
The landmark 1989 civil rights case Sheff V. O’Neill aimed to address the disparity in education between Hartford students and their suburban peers by bringing about a new educational ecosystem, creating both the Open Choice program to bus Hartford students to suburban schools and the CREC magnet schools. The 2020 agreement promised to meet the demand for school choice by adding 2,737 seats for Hartford students in magnet programs and surrounding districts.
The Connecticut State Department of Education recently announced that the state has exceeded its first goal as part of the Sheff v. O’Neill settlement, meeting 96% of the demand from Hartford families seeking placement for their children in a school choice program.
Hartford Board of Education Chairperson Shonta Browdy said the CSDE’s celebratory announcement “seems to be a rather narrow victory to declare while the educational disparities that underlie the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling in the Sheff V. O’Neill case continues to persist.”
“This is a measure of success for the CSDE in its pursuit of being released from court oversight, not a significant indicator of breaking down the longstanding racial disparities in opportunity and outcomes in Connecticut’s educational system,” she said in an email.
In the Sheff V. O Neill Comprehensive School Choice Plan, “the state committed to meeting at least 95% of Hartford resident students’ demand for placement in an entry grade- including prekindergarten, kindergarten, sixth grade and ninth grade at one of the region’s interdistrict magnet schools, Open Choice districts or Hartford Region Connecticut Technical Education and Career System high schools,” according to the CSDE.
“This achievement represents more than a number—it reflects the state’s deep commitment to expanding meaningful educational choices for students and families,” said Education Commissioner Charlene M. Russell-Tucker in a statement.
“By increasing access to magnet schools, technical high schools, and Open Choice opportunities, we are assisting both Hartford and non-Hartford students learn, grow, and thrive in enriching learning environments.”
Even so, Browdy said the success in offering additional seats has been made possible “in part by the state financing incentivizing suburban districts to open seats to Hartford resident students.
“It is worth questioning whether this is the best use for these funds and also if it is another way in which funding disparities continue to be exacerbated,” she said. “The bottom line is that the state continues to fail in promoting and supporting equitable educational opportunities for the students of Hartford.”
The CSDE contends that achieving the “first benchmark of meeting entry-grade demand demonstrates continued progress toward the state’s long-term goal of meeting demand at all grade levels among Hartford-resident students seeking placement in an interdistrict choice program by the 2028-29 school year.”
But Browdy said there are “serious issues to consider about whether the strategies the state has been pursuing are in the best interest of Hartford families, students and communities.”
“The CT Supreme Court ruled for the plaintiffs in the Sheff V. O’Neill case almost 30 years ago, affirming the constitutional rights of students and finding the state in violation of these rights,” she said.
“In 1996, the plaintiffs in the case provided a document on “Guidelines for an Effective Plan for Quality Integrated Schools,” referring to guidelines specifying that urban schools will have programs, facilities and resources at least equal to the programs, facilities and resources of non urban schools in the region.
Browdy continued: “The narrow metric being celebrated today – meeting a certain percentage of application demand for specific grade levels in settings that have a questionable record of welcoming and serving our students – falls far short of that ideal.”
“HPS BOE and leadership are standing for strong and healthy local public schools in a context of school choice where all parents– not just suburban parents or those with particular privilege – are able to make choices freely and not out of desperation,” Browdy continued. “This is a true commitment to breaking down racial disparities and expanding access and opportunity for all students.”
Elizabeth Horton Sheff, a civil rights activist and named plaintiff in the Sheff V. O’Neill case, said in an email that while she is encouraged that the state reached the 96% benchmark, “the stated goal in the settlement has always been to meet 100% of the demand.
Elizabeth Horton Sheff speaks at a memorial ceremony for former Hartford Mayor Carrie Saxon Perry.
“That is why I look forward to school year 2028-2029 when the state is, as outlined in the 2020 settlement, obligated to meet 100% of demand from every family in Hartford who chooses to enroll in choice education,” she said.
“It is clear to me that the state will not meet this October 2028 obligation without collaboration and cooperation of all current magnet school operators,” she continued.
“To this end, I am hopeful that Hartford Superintendent Townsel will be around the table. And lastly – something that which must be said,” she said. “The 2020 Sheff agreement included a commitment of the state to create and implement a sustainability plan for all the gains made. This requires that state legislators allocate inflation-mindful funding needed in order to comply with the stipulated agreement.”
Carol Gale, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, said that Harford Public Schools has worked hard to deliver high quality education to its students “despite the lack of resources that our school district gets and despite in many ways the false competition that the Sheff case has set up between our district schools and magnet schools.”
“The Sheff case over time has taken more and more resources from Hartford Public Schools and brought those resources to magnet schools oftentimes in other districts,” Gale said.
Gale added that “every time we place a child in another magnet school the money follows the child and Hartford gets that much less.”
One remedy, Gale said, is to regionalize the school systems.
“Instead of some two hundred school districts across the state relying on property taxes,” Gale explained, a regional system would result in a regionalized structure, comparing it to other states that have a country structure that oversees schools.
