What Defines a Segregated School? Debate Over Connecticut Integration Policy Heading to Court
More than two decades ago, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in favor of 11 Hartford families, stating that the state had a legal obligation to ensure that all schoolchildren have access to racially and ethnically diverse public schools. This week, civil rights groups and the state are returning to court to resolve a dispute regarding how to fulfill this duty.
Following the 1996 decision in Sheff v. O’Neill, Connecticut lawmakers quickly enacted legislation to establish a magnet school system in the predominantly minority city. The aim was to attract white suburban families in order to desegregate the schools.
Since then, policymakers in the state have grappled with an important but technical question: How many white students must attend a school before it can officially be declared desegregated?
The court delegated the task of negotiating a solution to segregation and defining it to the state and local civil rights groups. The current agreement with these groups, which expires on June 30, considers a school segregated if its student population is 75 percent or more black or Latino. Magnet schools that meet this threshold open their admissions to white suburban families, resulting in many achieving integration.
However, most of Hartford’s students still attend regular public schools that remain segregated, performing worse academically and receiving less funding than the magnet schools. In response, Governor Dannel Malloy is proposing to raise the segregation threshold to 80 percent in order to reserve more magnet school spots for minority students in Hartford.
Governor Malloy states, "The objective remains to enroll more Hartford students in high-quality magnet schools and ultimately address the unintended inequalities that have arisen from a well-intentioned desegregation program."
In opposition, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Children’s Advocacy, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund are requesting a judge to block this change, arguing that it will hinder future efforts to desegregate city schools. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the state is currently conducting an admissions lottery for integrated magnet schools based on the 75/25 standard for the 2017-18 school year.
Dennis Parker, director of the ACLU’s racial justice program, expresses concerns about the state potentially abandoning agreed-upon programs and the potential negative consequences for future desegregation efforts.
Over the years, the magnet school approach to integration in Hartford has proven to be both costly and politically contentious. The state has invested approximately $2.5 billion in the past decade to provide Hartford students with access to integrated schools, with most of the funds allocated to the creation of numerous new magnet schools.
Despite this significant investment, more than half of Hartford’s students still attend racially segregated schools. Each year, thousands of students who enter the magnet school lottery are rejected. In fact, most magnet schools accept less than half of the applicants, with some rejecting as many as 93 percent, according to an analysis by The Connecticut Mirror.
Robert Cotto Jr., a member of the Hartford Board of Education, observes that every spring, he receives complaints from parents whose children were not admitted to their preferred schools, even after multiple years of applying.
For those who do attend integrated schools, research demonstrates that they can experience long-term benefits even after graduation.
"Hartford has some outstanding magnet schools. They serve as examples of what successful integration can look like," explains Joshua Starr, former superintendent of Stamford Public Schools. "The question lies in what this means for neighborhood schools."
