New London ―With the state legislative session starting early 2023, school officials advocated at a special City Council meeting this week for legislative priorities that would benefit city schools.

All city councilors were in attendance as well as Democratic state Senator-elect Martha Marx and State Representatives Anthony Nolan, D-New London, and Christine Conley, D-Groton to take notes and ask questions.

Board of Education Chair Elaine Maynard-Adams said the district is struggling with providing assistance and services not only to students and families but staff post-pandemic.

Maynard-Adams said the shortage in teachers and mental health professionals is affecting New London.

She said while the district has COVID-19 relief funds at the moment― approximately $16.5 million― the district will face a fiscal “cliff” when the temporary aid expires in 2024.

Superintendent of Schools Cynthia Ritchie said the district has ten listed priorities for the upcoming session. The first priority she mentioned was H.B. 5283, a House bill that would implement a student-centered funding system, or funding students based on their needs.

As it is now, educational funding in Connecticut is based on property taxes and the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) model, the formula by which the state distributes approximately $2 billion annually in state education funding.

This bill proposes to change what many call a “broken system” and disperse funds in a more equitable way, funding individual students based on their learning needs. While some districts would gain funding with the student-centered funding system, others would lose funding.

The bill is endorsed and written by the School and State Finance Project, a nonpartisan policy organization focused on ensuring equitable funding for Connecticut students.

Ritchie said it could speed up the funding schedule and fully fund all districts when the COVID-19 relief funds expire. The bill would also expand ECS weighted funding to students attending public schools of their choice, benefiting the city’s magnet schools.

New London schools could potentially gain $5.7 million in funding, according to a proposal from the finance project.

Conley said the funding system is a good idea, but there are neighboring districts that would be losing ECS funds.

“When we pick winners and losers, there are unintended consequences of really good bills... it becomes very hard for losing districts,” Conley said.

On another topic, Ritchie said legislation known as the “Right to Read” act should be more flexible. The act was passed last year and aims to improve kindergarten through third grade reading.

Every district by 2023 will be required to have in place a new reading curriculum and must choose from one of its five programs of teaching, approved by the state Department of Education.

Districts will have the option to submit a waiver to implement a different model that is not recommended, but it would have to receive approval.

“Out of all of the towns in Connecticut, only eleven of them have been using these programs and they have mixed reviews of data,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie said districts should be allowed the flexibility in determining their own core instructional materials to meet students’ needs. She said more funding should go towards training educators to teach students to read.

Nolan asked what he could do or advocate for and Ritchie said extending the deadline in February by which districts have to submit a waiver.

Ritchie also emphasized the need for multi-lingual learner funding. She said there are a lot of multi-lingual learners coming from a variety of countries, amounting to more than 30% of the student population.

“Our latest growing population of students are speaking Portuguese, that is the largest incoming group this fall,” Ritchie said, adding to the need for more diverse teachers.

Other priorities included funding for special education, prekindergarten programs and magnet schools as well as supporting alternative education pathways and addressing the teacher shortage.

j.vazquez@theday.com