Malloy sets sights on state's lagging schools

Hartford - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Monday proposed a $24.8 million program to turn around Connecticut's worst public schools, the most aggressive component unveiled to date of his education reform package.

Dubbed the "Commissioner's Network," the program is a system of state assistance and interventions for up to 25 of the lowest-performing schools over the next two years. It would implement various improvement strategies that have worked at other schools here and across the country, such as lengthening the school day or school year and increasing compensation to attract better teachers.

Malloy said that if a district has the "competency" and "willingness" to reform its failing school, it could maintain governance while partnering with the state Department of Education during the turnaround process.

If not, the state would take over and bring in a third party to operate the school, such as a university, a nonprofit organization or a charter management company. The goal would be to lift performance and return the school to local governance within several years.

"Education reform will only succeed if we take it on comprehensively and extensively and we stop nibbling around the edges," Malloy said in announcing the turnaround program at a Hartford elementary school. He was joined by Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor and others.

Earlier Monday, the Malloy administration unveiled a separate $21.6 million education proposal to boost funding for alternative schools in Connecticut. The plan also would provide incentives for local school districts to open new charter schools aimed at academically struggling students.

Both initiatives are part of the governor's education reform package that he is to outline in broader detail Wednesday during his State of the State address to open the new General Assembly session.

Other elements of the plan will address teacher certification and tenure and the state's Education Cost Sharing grant program.

Malloy would not tell reporters how exactly the state would pay for his education package but ruled out any tax increase or "revenue enhancements" for the current two-year budget that ends in mid-2013.

Pryor said the education department's new Turnaround Team has yet to identify which 25 schools would get interventions; they won't be chosen until after the legislation passes the legislature. Interventions will be based on "low student achievement and lack of progress," according to the department.

The state is in talks with Connecticut's two teacher unions about providing flexibility to implement improvement strategies at those schools, such as increased pay, the commissioner said.

Joseph Cirasuolo, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said the turnaround proposal is "a major step forward as far as we're concerned."

Malloy's alternative schools plan calls for boosting the state's per-pupil contribution for charter school students to $11,000, a $1,600 increase.

In addition, local districts would be required to contribute $1,000 for each of their students that enroll in a charter school instead of a traditional public school. Advocates say Connecticut is one of the few states in the country where per-pupil funding does not follow a student that transfers to a charter school from a traditional school.

Cirasuolo said he likes parts of the governor's charter school proposal but could see how the local $1,000 per-pupil funding requirement may be a challenge for some districts facing tight budgets.

The state would devote $5.5 million of the additional funding to opening new charter schools, including five additional state charter schools.

The proposal would give preference in the new school application process to institutions that would serve students with a history of low academic performance, behavior or social problems, special-education students or students learning English.

The state's largest teachers' union praised Malloy's effort to encourage charter schools to enroll such students.

Mary Loftus Levine, executive director of the Connecticut Education Association representing 43,000 teachers, said there is a lack of low-performing and special-education students in charter schools.

"The governor makes a strong effort to address this unequal situation by compelling charters to be held accountable for the education of all children, just as their counterparts, local public schools, always have had to be accountable," Levine said in a statement.

But the union is less enthused about the proposal that local districts contribute $1,000 in per-pupil funding for charter school students. "I express sincere caution at the governor's proposal to take funding from already strapped neighborhood schools and direct it to new charter schools," Levine said.

State education officials hope the Commissioner's Network turnaround program will qualify Connecticut for a waiver from federal No Child Left Behind requirements. To be eligible, a state must enact measures to improve their lowest-performing schools and reward successful schools, among other reforms.

For the reward component, Connecticut plans to give financial grants to schools that over a three-year period show the strongest performance and growth among students in traditionally underperforming groups, such as those belonging to low-income families and racial and ethnic minorities.

Those schools would then have to partner with a low-performing school serving a similar population.

j.reindl@theday.com