Will the Teachers’ Union Crush Education Opportunity in Connecticut?

C onnecticut is a state of contradictions when it comes to education. On the one hand, it boasts some of the wealthiest schools in the United States, particularly in Fairfield County — also known as the “Gold Coast.” Conversely, the state suffers from one of the nation’s highest “education gaps” between high- and low-income households.

And while the state ranks among the most educated, Connecticut’s test scores dropped faster than the national average across multiple categories in a 2022 study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In short, there is educational inequality in Connecticut. Worst of all, the state’s low-income students have limited to no opportunities to escape failing public schools.

However, the Connecticut General Assembly is poised to join more than 20 other states, including New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida, in passing tax credits for “opportunity” scholarships — that is, unless the state teachers’ union quashes the proposed bill. Introduced by Republican representative Holly Cheeseman, H.B. 5101 would “establish a tax credit for donations made to nonprofit entities that provide educational access and opportunity scholarships.” This would benefit families below 250 percent of the federal poverty line, meaning that more than 150,000 children in Connecticut would be eligible for opportunity scholarships. Across the country, more than 305,000 students have benefited from a similar policy. The concept has a proven track record. More than that, in every state that provides tax credits for scholarship donations, demand has rapidly increased. For example, when Arizona enacted the policy in 2009, only 114 students participated; when last calculated in 2022, the number of scholarships awarded was at 1,345.

Detractors argue that opportunity scholarships would siphon money from public schools. However, the opposite is true. The scholarships do not rely at all on taxpayer money; rather, they are funded entirely with private money. In fact, as a result of every scholarship student who leaves a public school, the per capita spending for each student who remains would increase — or state residents’ tax burdens would decrease. Currently, per-pupil spending for each public-school student is $20,889.

Most important, low-income students would have the same opportunity that affluent students enjoy: the ability to attend schools that fit their individual needs. The students in public schools, meanwhile, would have more direct attention from their teachers, and the teachers would have fewer students to grade. Everyone wins.

So what is there to fear? For some reason, the teachers’ union adamantly opposes the concept. Last session, a provision for opportunity scholarships was in the 2023 budget. However, it was pulled at the eleventh hour after the union allegedly threatened to hold up the process, potentially thwarting the largest income-tax cut for middle-class residents in state history.

The union apparently fails to understand that the need for educational opportunity is great, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic. Since last studied, Connecticut has the second-worst reading and the fifth-worst math gap between low-income and non-low-income fourth-graders, as well as the third-worst math and 14th-worst reading gaps among eighth-graders in the country. Additionally, the state Department of Education’s annual accountability report showed that test scores in English and language arts, math, and science are still below pre-pandemic numbers.

The results are not due to a lack of funding. Sadly, Connecticut residents have the worst “return on investment” not only in relation to test scores, but also to the unfunded teacher-pension liability and the employment of 0.78 teachers for every non-teacher in the public schools, according to a study by the Heritage Foundation.

The idea that increased public spending will reduce the education achievement gap between high- and low-income students is unfounded. This was confirmed in the report Connecticut K-8 Educational Achievement Gap published by the University of New Haven’s Liberty Initiative, the Connecticut Center for Educational Excellence (CTCEE), and Yankee Institute in May 2023.

As the study noted, Litchfield County spending per student is the highest in the state, at $23,387; Tolland spends the least, an average of $16,972. The latter nonetheless ranks in the top three counties across all academic-performance scores. Despite the two counties’ having the widest disparity in per-pupil spending between districts, they have the narrowest achievement gap.

One organization focused on the need for opportunity scholarships is CTCEE. In three months after its launch on March 1, 2023, CTCEE received more than 900 scholarship applications across nearly half of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities. The testimonials from students and parents express their deep gratitude for a chance to find a school that meets their needs and, in some circumstances, a refuge from bullying.

So far, the organization reports that 100 percent of students who have received its scholarships are in good academic standing. Similar scholarship programs in Connecticut, including the Children’s Educational Opportunity Foundation’s, boast an 85–95 percent retention rate.

In other words, scholarship recipients do well and stay in school. At a time when chronic absenteeism in Connecticut has doubled from 10.4 percent in 2018–19 to 23.7 percent in 2021–22, the retention rate is a staggering positive — and a trend that should be encouraged by the state’s lead educators.

Ultimately, their reluctance to embrace opportunity scholarships forces one to question the priorities of those who lead the teachers’ union: Is it to teach children so they’re prepared to engage in the world and lead lives of dignity and purpose? Or, cynically, are union leaders afraid that if students opted for private schools, their coffers would receive less funding from local and state boards of education? As already explained, tax-credit scholarships do not diminish funds toward public schools. If a good education is the best way to break the cycle of poverty, then opportunity scholarships would be a tremendous step forward to help Connecticut’s low-income students achieve their dreams.

One can only hope that the General Assembly and the governor will give Connecticut students a chance.