Imagine this: Bridgeport Public Schools are thriving, with universal all-day pre-K programs, paraprofessionals in every kindergarten classroom, and guidance counselors, social workers, and school nurses in every school. Students who need extra support are offered 1:1 tutoring from professional math and literacy coaches, while English-language learners and special education students access a wide range of services and best practices. There’s sports, music, art, and extracurricular activities at every school, and families feel welcomed and invited.

We can achieve this vision for Bridgeport’s children and change our future. But first, we need to understand why we’re nowhere near that reality.  

The past eight years

It’s April 2016 and City Council chambers at 45 Lyon Terrace is packed to the brim with hundreds of parents, teachers, students, and families. These Bridgeporters are there because earlier that month Mayor Joe Ganim had shockingly proposed flat-funding public schools. At that time Bridgeport schools needed $15.1 million to remain at current operating levels. The proposed cuts in education “are truly heartbreaking,” then Interim Superintendent Fran Rabinowitz said. “They attack the core of education for our students in Bridgeport.”

And they did. That year, Bridgeport Public Schools were forced to cut 47 kindergarten paraprofessionals, 26 home-school coordinators, 6 math coaches, and 5 guidance counselors. These are cuts from which we’ve never recovered. In 2017, due, in part, to another flat-funded education budget proposed by Mayor Ganim, the district lost another 18 literacy coaches. By 2018, the remaining math and literacy coaches were gone, as were school nurses, staff at the Family Resource Center, and more. By 2019, school board members were referring to yet another round of cuts as “disgusting” and students were almost forced to walk 2.25 miles to school before receiving a bus. 

In total, since 2016, Bridgeport Public Schools has cut over 243 essential staff and support positions. In his annual budgets, Mayor Ganim has offered our 20,000 public school students, on average, only a 0.6% increase in funding – and flat funded education in 5 out of 7 years. And by refusing to merely keep up with inflation, we have essentially cut over $26 million in value from our public schools.

Simply put, over the eight years of Ganim’s second chance as Mayor, he has systematically divested from public education. 

Whose voices does Mayor Ganim listen to?

This is unacceptable, but it doesn’t have to stay this way: 57% of Bridgeport voters say improving our public schools is extremely important. Yet when large and fast growing city departments like the police department and the city attorney’s office ask for a larger slice of the budget, – because under his leadership our tax base has remained flat- Mayor Ganim must pick and choose which slices to make smaller. And he’s picked education over and over again.  

The question is, why hasn’t Mayor Ganim listened to the voices of Bridgeport students and families? Could it be because they don’t fund his campaign? Last week, we learned that a whopping 93% of Ganim’s campaign donations come from special interest groups, the majority of whom live outside of Bridgeport. To whom is he truly accountable?

The sad truth is that the effects of this divestment are extremely disproportionate and reinforce the same race and class inequality already baked into Bridgeport’s society. Ganim personally has not been affected by underfunded and low-performing schools, but countless Bridgeport families and their futures have. The other sad truth is that it’s an election year, so Mayor Ganim will do his best to make it appear as if he cares, like he did in 2019 when he promised to convene a task-force to study the issue of education. Nevermind that his administration never implemented the education recommendations from his own 2015 transition team.  

Divestment from education has real-life impacts

Divestment from education has real-life impacts. According to CT Data Haven’s Town Equity Report, adults with high school diplomas have more employment options and considerably higher potential earnings than those who do not finish high school. In Bridgeport, 24% of adults over the age of 25 lack a high school diploma, statewide its 9%. Said another way 22,168 Bridgeport residents have not finished high school. 

And while his administration has touted building a new Bassick High School in a flood zone, almost a full generation of high school students have passed through Bassick’s current doors during his second go around as Mayor. In 2016, Bassick was designated a Category 5 Turnaround school. By February of this year, Bassick had applied for additional state assistance: the four-year graduation rate is just 67.5%, well below the statewide rate of nearly 90%.

It’s time to get our priorities Straight and vote with collective purpose

The flat funding of our public schools is incredibly detrimental to the health and well-being of our students, teachers and families and for the future economic growth of our city. Families with one of the highest tax burdens in the state deserve an excellent public school system. It’s time to get our priorities straight.

Bridgeport voters are ready for a new mayor who will make education their number one priority. Ganim’s had his second chance and it’s time to move on. When we vote with collective purpose, we can determine our own destiny. Our children and our city’s future deserve nothing less. 

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