Hartford Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto wrote Democratic leadership in the House and Senate Thursday to express her concern about recent drafts of the education reform legislation.
Recent drafts of the bill, which Kishimoto has seen, change how the state treats low performing schools in the Commissioner’s Network.
“These changes run contrary to the national educational reform agenda and do little to boldly address Connecticut’s place as the state with the nation’s worst achievement gap,” Kishimoto wrote.
“Hartford Public Schools has adopted a wide variety of successful school models, including charter schools, as part of its reform strategy and for which it has received broad national recognition,“ Kishimoto wrote. “Our work in Hartford serves as an example of turnaround success. Success, however, can only be achieved and maintained if we have the proper mechanisms in law to do our job.”
Kishimoto said recent drafts of the legislation she’s seen “eliminates the charter school option as a model for turning around low-performing schools.”
Another section, according to Kishimoto, would prohibit the Education Commissioner from choosing an entity such as a charter management organization to operate the lowest performing schools.
“Charter schools are public schools and those with proven achievement records should be seen as viable options to turnaround our historically low performing schools in this state,” Kishimoto wrote.
