As the ball descended in Times Square, a lot of shoes have been dropping here: The State is resisting a major, lower-court school finance equity ruling even as the governor announces he will redesign education aid – and Hartford’s mayor is finding tough sledding as he appeals for regional support to forestall City bankruptcy.

There are a number of pieces to the current and coming budget puzzles:

• Brother’s Keeper? With the City facing a $23 million shortfall this fiscal year and a $50 million deficit in fiscal 2018, Mayor Luke Bronin has been meeting in suburban towns to press his case for regional support, but the reception has been chilly.
• Redesign Coming.  The $1.5 billion projected State budget deficit for the next fiscal year has prompted Gov. Dannel Malloy to call both for pension reform and a “fairer distribution” of education funds in sync with the local property tax burden, student need, and current enrollment.  Here are the full transcript of the governor’s State of the State address yesterday and the CT-N broadcast (the governor’s municipal aid and education focus is at the 15:13 mark of this video).
• Accountability Clause.  The governor also pledged to address inequities in school funding, such that no city will have to resort to bankruptcy, although he made plain that fiscal help “shouldn’t come with no strings attached.”
• Work to Do.  The governor noted the Hartford Superior Court ruling last year that found the State’s education funding formula unconstitutional.  Referencing Judge Thomas Moukawsher’s ruling, the governor asked, “Are we ensuring that all students, regardless of the life circumstances into which they are born, regardless of what city or town they live in, can receive a quality public education?  I don’t believe we are meeting that standard.”
• Fine Print.  At the same time, the State last month filed its Supreme Court appeal in that case, CCJEF v. Rell, arguing in technical terms that the lower court made mistakes when it found education funding to be irrational.  The plaintiffs also plan to appeal.  Here is a useful CT Mirror synopsis.
• Local Perspective.  Hartford Board of Education Member – and Trinity College Director of Urban Educational Initiatives – Robert Cotto, Jr., offered his personal perspective on the CCJEF v. Rell decision, here.
• Noteworthy.  The State also has signaled that it will scale back funds for school construction.

The Bottom Line

The necessity for fairer public education funding in our state, region and city is inarguable.

Factors underscoring the need for drastic change include Hartford’s lack of a tax base, concentration of poverty and need, opportunity to flourish as a regional hub, and unique potential to solve the split-personality segregation that is endemic in every American metro area.  We can get our arms around this problem here, if we muster the will.

Mayor Bronin’s appeal for regional cooperation – and the governor’s emphases yesterday – run smack into suburbs’ resentment over the smaller slice of the pie they receive when hard-pressed cities are prioritized.  That resentment has to be addressed.

More than at any time in memory, the General Assembly in this session will have to assert leadership at a very high level to address the school improvement deficit in CT cities – the foundation of the shameful state achievement gap that leads the nation.

While state and local leaders work together on fairer funding, a larger redesign of Hartford’s school system is needed in line with fairer funding and student enrollment trends.  Now is the time for Sheff negotiations to address squarely the lack of financial viability in the Hartford Public Schools – capped from accepting more suburban students who carry tuition with them, hemorrhaging more students every year from the system, paying tuition for them to attend CREC and suburban schools, and taking on more and more need every year due to poverty concentration.  The 2017 year must be the one to figure things out in Hartford – and not just for the next 12 to 18 months.

Two dozen candidates reportedly have tossed their hats into the ring for the permanent Hartford school superintendent position, which will be filled around the time the District confronts its annual budget crisis, this time replete with school consolidation decisions.  An extraordinary leader is required.

The 12 core competencies that the search committee has spelled out for the position are daunting; so are the demonstrable traits, past record, future vision, and depth and breadth of skills that have been laid out in the profile of the new superintendent.

Hartford Board Chair Richard Wareing said yesterday that the search committee recommendations will come “hopefully, sometime in March.”  But he also advised that there is a big difference between an internal candidate on hand to take the job and another wrapping up a tenure elsewhere, perhaps with a longer time frame in which to give notice.

While Hartford is about to hire its fourth permanent superintendent since 2006, it still is beating the rough national average of a three-year tenure at the top – but not by much.

“Everyone wants longevity – the Board, the community, the people who work for the school system, and the superintendent her or himself,” Chair Wareing elaborated.  “But there are lot of factors that make it hard to achieve – the difficulty of the job, political changes, a superintendent’s own changing professional aspirations.  It is hard to see into the future and plan for all eventualities.”

While we agree with Board Chairman Wareing, we also note one of the biggest factors in superintendent stability: effective governance.  This has to do with the role Board members and the mayor play to support education citywide – a conversation we started before the holidays and recapped here.

Here is the December 30^th Courant coverage of the search process.

In a related matter, the Courant argued in an editorial this week that CT school superintendents’ performance evaluations should be made public – as is the case in Hartford.

The Bottom Line

Hartford’s fourth school superintendent choice since 2006 will come soon – and it will be crucial to the fulfillment of the District’s commitments to its five-year strategic plan and the complex task of consolidating under-enrolled schools (while addressing those that are chronically low-performing).  If not squarely faced, these challenges will undermine school improvement efforts in the capital city for years to come.  Whether or not we have or can find a leader capable of leading our city – alongside our Board and mayor – remains to be seen, and is something we will weigh in on soon.

The Hartford Board of Education Tuesday hired Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez as the acting superintendent of the Hartford Public Schools.  A graduate of Hartford Public High, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez brings a deep Hartford understanding – and commitment – to the job of keeping expectations high and surmounting barriers.

In fact, that is her own story, Dr. Torres-Rodriguez told the Board Tuesday evening, pledging to keep the District’s commitment to hold high expectations for – and work on behalf of – each and every student.  Having arrived in Hartford as a nine-year-old from Puerto Rico with barely a word of English, she told the Board after it unanimously confirmed her appointment, no one ever should let the “narrow narrative” of demography, of the disenfranchised, of students of color, or of English learners – define either the students being served … or her.

Because her story surpassed hardships, she said, she has gone on to lead learning and change.  “And here I am,” she said.

Her journey from poverty on Park Street took her from a social and behavioral sciences professorship at Capital Community College to school social worker and freshman academy director roles; then school principal-ships at the CREC Public Safety and Great Path Academies.  At the CT Center for School Change, she coordinated and facilitated a leadership development program for turnaround principals, before taking on an 11-school HPS network in January 2015 as one of Hartford’s assistant superintendents of instructional leadership.

Dr. Torres-Rodriguez earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Central CT State University in 2008, building on her UConn master’s in social work and bachelor’s degrees; a journey she attributes to a relentless and personal commitment to continuous learning, service, and excellence.

Her record prompted Board Chair Richard Wareing to advise that he knows no educator with greater courage and determination – or who is better organized – than Dr. Torres-Rodriguez.

At the same time, the Hartford Board faces the most challenging times since the State takeover of the District in the late 1990s, Chair Wareing reflected, citing the significant budget issues that loom for the District – and the even greater ones sitting on the City and State horizons.

Introducing Dr. Torres-Rodriguez, he predicted, she will do a lot more than just hold the fort while the District searches for a permanent superintendent.  Speaking at the 3:30 mark of this video, Chair Wareing offered unvarnished views of the District’s imminent challenges.

The full remarks from Dr. Torres-Rodriguez are inspiring (at the 6:30 mark of this video).