BRIDGEPORT, CT — With classroom cuts looming and librarians already erased from the payroll, Bridgeport students flooded the Connecticut Capitol Thursday, pleading for lawmakers to spare their schools from collapse.
“This is giving our youngsters an opportunity to really step forward and say, ‘We too are affected by this,’” said interim Superintendent Dr. Royce Avery.
Bridgeport schools are confronting a $30 million budget hole. The Board of Education has already voted to cut 20 teachers, five assistant principals, and all 15 librarians. Another 45 positions were eliminated in December. Up to 2,400 students may soon lose bus service. On top of that, the State Department of Education has assumed direct oversight of district operations.
With lawmakers now drafting the next state budget, students from Bridgeport and six other urban districts—Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, Waterbury, New London, and Vernon—called on elected officials to deliver relief.
“Our favorite teachers are being cut,” said Christina Jackson, a student from Hartford. “Teachers that have worked in our district and done a lot for us.”
Legislators are considering added funding, particularly for rising special education costs. The Appropriations Committee approved a budget with $248 million more for special needs students—well above Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal—and a separate $26 million to protect dozens of districts from scheduled cuts under the state’s ongoing funding formula overhaul.
“These are the young people we often talk about when we’re talking about the future of the state of Connecticut,” said state Sen. Gary Winfield (D-New Haven).
But leaders from both parties warned that the money won’t stretch far enough.
“It’s a challenge,” said House Majority Leader Jason Rojas (D-East Hartford). “It’s all subject to the spending cap and budget and whatever room we have within it to do it.”
Republicans pushed back on calls to relax the state’s fiscal guardrails. “Unfortunately, some of that pain and prioritization is going to need to occur,” said House GOP leader Vin Candelora (R-North Branford). “But I do think it’s important to fund education – especially fully funding special ed.”
Back in Bridgeport, the city is offering a $3 million increase in Mayor Joe Ganim’s proposed budget. But Ganim said the state will need to do more to avoid irreversible damage.
“Very often we make the case,” Ganim said. “But to have the students make the case themselves, to be the faces of what may impact – and be able to be the voices of the effect of that impact – is very powerful.”
Lawmakers have until June 4 to pass a final budget. For Bridgeport, every day without an answer inches schools closer to crisis.
