Letter to the Editor: Connecticut must fix school funding

Recently, several articles have been written in this newspaper about the New Haven Board of Education’s consideration of a proposal to charge tuition to neighboring towns whose students attend the city’s magnet schools. However, one question that has not been asked is, “Why is such a proposal necessary in the first place?”

The answer to this question is Connecticut’s school finance system, which is a maze of 11 different funding formulas that defy logic and are not based on needs of students or communities. Our state’s fiscal challenges mean we are no longer able to cover up the cracks in the system. Instead, we are faced with a school finance system that isn’t working for students, schools, and communities, like New Haven and its neighbors.

As Connecticut transitions to a “new economic reality,” our policymakers will need to make difficult decisions about our state’s top priorities and how to fund them in smarter ways. To solve our state’s school finance challenges, Connecticut needs to adopt one (not 11) school funding formula that is based on the learning needs of students and the schools that serve them.

— Katie Roy, New Haven

Read the full Letter to the Editor at http://www.nhregister.com/opinion/20160407/letter-to-the-editor-connecticut-must-fix-school-funding​