As the CT General Assembly moves closer to voting on the state budget, our 11,000 mostly low-income, Black and brown public charter school students, among at least 40,000 public school students, are severely underfunded. If the state’s budget committee does not equitably fund all public school students, many of our state’s students may have to defer their dreams. Read below to learn how you can help us continue to fight for our kids.
Thanks to our collective pressure, yesterday, the Education Committee passed a critical bill (Senate Bill 948) along to the CT Joint Appropriations Committee, recommending our state send millions of additional dollars to schools serving Black, brown, and low-income students, fund all public schools with a needs-based formula, and make our state a more just and equitable place to live. It’s up to us to make sure this step toward education equity remains a top priority for our elected leaders so it is included in this year’s state budget.
Your work helped us get us this far. In just three short days, you sent 468 emails and made over two dozen calls to your elected officials, resulting in a vote of 34 – 4 in favor of Senate 948. Let’s keep up the pressure.
We need you to email the Appropriations Committee right now — let them know education justice is not optional. Students need equitable funding and education justice built into the state budget. And they need it now.
So much is at stake: CT has a $20 billion dollar budget. Funding education isn’t expensive. Dreams deferred are expensive. Will you take action? Email today and help education justice become a reality.
We’re stronger because of you. We’re so close to education justice for our children. Will you email to help pass a budget that supports all public school children?
See our recap of the meeting on Twitter here and our statement on yesterday’s vote.
Thank you for taking action.
-The Connecticut Charter Schools Association Team