The Connecticut State Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to intervene in Bridgeport's school district operations. A state appointed official will help lead the school system.
The vote comes after Superintendent Royce Avery announced in November the school district faced a budget deficit over $30 million.
The move also comes more than a decade after the state previously tried to take over the school district. State Department of Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker framed it as a partnership.
“By collaborating with the local Board of Education, district leaders, educators, school staff and students, and the broader community, we maximize our ability to ensure that every child has the support they need to reach their full potential,” Russell-Tucker said.
Avery replaced former school superintendent Carmela Levy-David, who resigned from her post amid controversy and a no confidence vote from teachers.
Avery and Bridgeport Board of Education Chair Jennifer Perez met with the State Board of Education’s Accountability and Support Committee earlier this month, to discuss steps the district was taking to address the budget deficit, including staff cuts and potentially closing down school facilities.
State officials emphasized calling it a collaboration, after a more far-reaching state effort was stopped by a state Supreme Court decision.
Avery praised the vote results.
"I am pleased with the outcomes of today’s Connecticut State Board of Education meeting and grateful for the confidence the Commissioner for the Connecticut State Department of Education, Connecticut State Board of Education, and Bridgeport Board of Education have placed in me and our plan to lead the district’s turnaround efforts as Interim Superintendent,” Avery said.
Democratic State Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, who represents parts of the city and is also on the state education committee, echoed Russell-Tucker’s comments, while cautioning that any changes need community input.
“We welcome the opportunity for additional state resources, which I think are very much needed in Bridgeport,” Gadkar-Wilcox said. “It's critical that the elected members of the board of education do retain control over the Bridgeport school system,” she said.
The vote also means the state education commissioner will have authority over selecting a permanent superintendent.
The district has long faced challenges with education standards and funding, according to a state research report from March 2012. In 2011, the Bridgeport Board of Education voted 6-3 in favor of asking the state to intervene saying the school board was not able to properly function.
The State Department of Education accepted the request and began replacing the school board with state-appointed members.
In 2012, a state Supreme Court decision found the state takeover to be illegal. The court agreed with several former school board members, who sued, claiming the state failed to offer mandatory training programs, per a state statute.
The current action noticeably stops short of that, and instead mandates training for current board members to improve operational efficiency.
Despite this, one former board of education member and now city councilmember, Maria Pereira, expressed skepticism towards the state commission, in a public comment made before the vote.
Pereira said the last time the state tried to intervene, it led to the appointment of Paul Vallas as superintendent. Vallas ended up leaving the position shortly after, due to controversies over his qualifications to lead the district, and his own political ambitions in his native Illinois, according to CT Mirror.
Pereira was the lead plaintiff in the 2011 lawsuit.
“You've constantly been in the national news around Bridgeport, not for positive things, but for negative things,” Pereira said. "So understand, we are mobilizing, we are preparing, and we will not accept it.”
The board is not being replaced, but the state would have still been given a lot of power over the district’s day-to-day decisions, including appointing its own superintendent, or a district improvement officer, who would have similar authority to a superintendent.
But while the state wants to partially take over the schools, some education experts claim state takeovers actually harm academic achievement and largely fail to improve local district’s finances.
Connecticut, according to a Harvard University study from 2021, instituted some of the most state takeovers of local districts, nationally.
