CT Senate GOP Raise ?’s About State’s Hartford Schools Decision

Sen. Republican Leader Stephen Harding, Sen. Eric Berthel, Ranking Senator on the Education and Appropriations Committees, and Sen. Lisa Seminara, who serves on the Education Committee, issued the following statement regarding the State Board of Education granting the State Department of Education commissioner the authority to “take necessary actions to ensure the stability of fiscal operations” in the Hartford Public Schools.

“The decision raises questions that involve the state taxpayers’ money. Will state education department employees now be embedded in the Hartford district office or at Hartford public schools? Who is making the decisions? Who decides what ‘necessary actions’ means? Did Hartford request this? Will these ‘necessary actions’ include a complete review of district contracts? If so, what is the scope – and the timeline – of that review? Who specifically will oversee the review? Is the state education bureaucracy going to be taking similar steps for additional school districts? If so, which districts? And what, if any, input will the legislative branch have in any of this?”