This week, the parties in Sheff v. O'Neill reached an agreement to expand the state's inter-district integration remedy. An additional one thousand seats will become available in Hartford's magnet school program, for which students from the suburbs may apply. An extra 325 seats will also become available in the suburban districts for Hartford city students to fill. This extended and expanded remedy flows from the Connecticut Supreme Court's seminal decision in 1996 in Sheff, holding that the extreme racial isolation in Hartford's schools, and the state-drawn district lines that locked those students in, deprived the students of the state constitution's guarantee of equal educational opportunity. This inter-district program is the one the New York Times has been referencing in recent weeks as a model for New York to consider in addressing its own extreme segregation.
The Sheff Movement coalition is organizing two briefings this coming Monday. It offers this primer:
The Sheff school integration plan is one of the best things happening in Connecticut right now. Tens of thousands of children are benefiting and many more could benefit if the state took a more ambitious approach. The Sheff Movement coalition is disappointed at the slow progress represented by this one-year plan – but we are encouraged that the parties are committed to a new mediation process to set long term goals. We hope the governor can bring the same kind of ambitious vision to quality integrated education as he has shown in his plans for the state's transportation future.