April 30, 2013
State Rep. Jason Rojas, a member of the legislature’s Education Committee, issued the following statement on the announced court settlement of the Sheff vs O’Neill desegregation case.
“A new settlement in the Sheff v. O'Neill desegregation case that focuses on the expansion of the magnet school system will only exacerbate the growing two-tier system of public schools: One tier for most people and another for those who are lucky enough to win a lottery. Building and opening more schools carries enormous opportunity costs for many communities beyond Hartford. There is no doubt that morally we need to reduce the economic and racial isolation that exists in Hartford but where is the morality in providing very limited integrated settings during the day while allowing children to live and sleep in segregated neighborhoods?
“Here we are almost 25 years after the case was brought and hundreds of millions of dollars later and we have yet to reach the initial benchmark of having 41 percent of Hartford's minority students enrolled in integrated schools. How can this possibly be the best remedy we have to offer? As of 2010 East Hartford is over 80 percent students of color and 63 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch. Both those statistics are on an upward trajectory. At what point should I initiate on behalf of one my daughters Rojas vs Malloy? Manchester can’t keep up with maintenance and repairs of our schools but we’re going to build more magnets schools? How will the additional administrative costs of doing so benefit direct instruction? How much more can we spend on busing?
“While not ideal, Open Choice is the a wiser direction to move in and we should increase what we pay for students to participate in the program and let it serve as property tax relief for suburban communities that have declining school enrollment and increasing seats in their classrooms. Ultimately we need to look at housing policy because we are paying a gigantic premium, particularly those in higher income communities, to live like we do – segregated – and that’s not just a problem for Hartford. It’s a problem for us as a community, as a region, as a state and as a pluralistic society.”