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A Connecticut judge’s sweeping ruling Wednesday declaring vast portions of the state’s educational system as unconstitutional sent shock waves across the state.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher ruled that the state’s funding mechanism for public schools violated the state constitution and ordered the state to come up with a new funding formula. He also ordered the state to set up a mandatory standard for high school graduation, overhaul evaluations for public-school teachers and create new standards for special education.

“This is a very, very big deal,” said Preston Green, professor of urban education at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. “We are talking almost a total revamping of the educational system.”

The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed against the state in 2005. A coalition of cities, local school boards, parents and their children claimed Connecticut didn’t give all students a minimally adequate and equal education. The plaintiffs had sought to address funding disparities between wealthy and poor school districts.

“Nothing here was done lightly or blindly,” said Judge Moukawsher as he read the ruling from the bench in a Hartford courtroom. “The court knows what its ruling means for many deeply ingrained practices, but it also has a marrow-deep understanding that if they are to succeed where they are most strained, schools have to be about teaching and nothing else.”

The mayors of Hartford and Bridgeport, two Connecticut cities with some of the state’s highest poverty rates, applauded the judge’s ruling.

“This decision by Judge Moukawsher is a game changer for our children,” said Joe Ganim, mayor of Bridgeport.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said it was “one of the most significant Connecticut court decisions in decades” that “shines a bright light on the profound inequalities that exist between school districts.”

A spokesman for Connecticut’s Attorney General’s office, which defended the state in the lawsuit, said the office was reviewing the ruling and declined to comment further. The state is expected to appeal the decision.

The state allocated $4.23 billion for the state Department of Education for the fiscal year that began in July. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, defended the state’s educational system and said the state has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on education since he has been in office.

“These investments are working—students across the board are showing growth in math and reading on recent state tests,” Mr. Malloy said in a news release.

Judge Moukawsher also ordered the state to submit plans to address the issues he identified within 180 days. The plaintiffs will then have 60 days to make comments on the state’s recommendations.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano said the 180-day deadline is a tight time frame, citing the November election and the possibility the makeup of the Legislature would change.

In 2010, the state’s Supreme Court said the state constitution required the state to provide a minimally adequate education to the students. The high court didn’t weigh in on whether the state had met that standard, leaving it to the lower courts to make that determination.

Judge Moukawsher said the plaintiffs hadn’t proved beyond a reasonable doubt the state failed to give all children a minimally adequate instruction.

But the judge agreed with the plaintiffs’ other chief complaint regarding school funding. He said the state had “no rational, substantial and verifiable plan to distribute money for education aid and school construction.”

The state has disputed the point and said Connecticut’s distribution of school money was fair and rational.

Joseph Moodhe, an attorney for Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said that while the judge said didn’t set how much the state must spend on education, he didn’t preclude it from spending more.

“If the state can do it cost free I think everyone would be delighted,” Mr. Moodhe said. “But as a practical matter many of the issues that the judge has identified are going to require dedicated funding to address those deficiencies.”

The Connecticut Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said it was pleased the court acknowledged the disparities in low-income communities. “Unfortunately, the court declined to provide any remedy for the disparity in resources and revenue for students in the state’s poorest communities—the essence and heart of the...litigation,” said CEA president Sheila Cohen.

While Judge Moukawsher offered some praise to the state’s education system, his ruling delivered stinging rebukes to many elements of Connecticut’s educational policy. He dismissed the teacher evaluation system as “little more than cotton candy in a rainstorm.”

He ordered the state to submit plans to change that include proposals for hiring, evaluating, promoting, removing and compensating teachers and administrators.

Judge Moukawsher also ordered the state to overhaul its special education system as well as to produce a statewide graduation standard which could include a test or several tests that all students must pass to graduate.

If you have a child with a disability and have questions about special education law, please contact Joseph C. Maya, Esq., at 203-221-3100, or at JMaya@mayalaw.com, to schedule a free consultation.

Source-http://www.wsj.com/articles/connecticuts-school-funding-violates-constitution-judge-rules-1473273697