Connecticut to Appeal Decision in

Schools Funding Case

By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS

The State of Connecticut said on Thursday that it would

appeal a sweeping ruling in a schools funding case that
ordered it to re-examine virtually the entire education
system.
There are strong arguments that the trial court exceeded
its authority and the standards articulated by the
Connecticut Supreme Court, and so today we are asking
that court to review this ruling, Attorney General George
C. Jepsen said in a statement.
In the long-running case, Judge Thomas G. Moukawsher
of State Superior Court in Hartford found last week that
Connecticut was defaulting on its constitutional duty to
give all children an adequate education because the state
was allowing students in poor districts to languish while
those in wealthy districts excelled.
Judge Moukawsher gave the state 180 days to revamp
teacher evaluations and compensation, school funding
policies, special education services and graduation
requirements.
The ruling was met with enthusiasm by elected officials
in some of the states poorer cities, but others, including
the states teachers union, objected. Sheila Cohen, the
president of the union, the Connecticut Education

Association, in a statement on Thursday called Judge

Moukawshers decision broad and overreaching.
Advocates for people with disabilities were also troubled
by aspects of the ruling, which suggested that some
students might be too disabled for educational services,
while also calling for more equitable access to services.
Nancy B. Alisberg, managing attorney at Connecticuts
Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons With
Disabilities, part of a national network of civil rights
organizations, said she worried that schools could say,
Oh no, this child is too disabled, they wont benefit from
an education, so we dont have to provide them with
anything. It is, frankly, terrifying.
Ms. Alisberg added, I think it boils down to a belief on
the part of the court that there are certain students who,
based on the level of their disability, dont deserve an
education.
The state said in its appeal that Judge Moukawsher
demanded changes to educational policies that could be
enacted only by the Connecticut General Assembly.
This decision would wrest educational policy from the
representative branches of state government, limit public
education for some students with special needs, create
additional municipal mandates concerning graduation
and other standards and alter the basic terms of
educators employment and entrust all of those
matters to the discretion of a single, unelected judge,
Mr. Jepsen, a Democrat, wrote in his statement.
There have been dozens of school funding lawsuits across

the country. But this one, known as Connecticut Coalition

for Justice in Education Funding v. Rell, was set apart by
the extent of the changes the judge required, which went
far beyond dollars.
The coalition said it was weighing its options.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, has stood on both
sides of the case. When the lawsuit was filed in 2005, Mr.
Malloy, then the mayor of Stamford, spoke out in
support. Years later, he appointed Judge Moukawsher to
his current seat on the bench. Now the state is resisting
the judges decision.
Mr. Malloy said in a statement that he accepted the
attorney generals decision to appeal and hoped systemic
education problems could be addressed in the coming
session of the General Assembly, calling a legislative
approach always preferable to a judicial decision.
We hope that this moment marks the start, rather than
the stalling, of a statewide dialogue around finding a
better way to fund our schools, which ultimately results
in a better solution for our students and communities,
the governor said. We should act together, and we
should do it sooner rather than later.