Original article on the New Haven Register by Jill Harkins, Christopher Hartel, Kristen Clark, Alyssa Shields, Mikayla Benbow, Erika Wright, Kaitlin Pecora, Heidi Moeller and Denisse Aquino.
Last Monday in the Connecticut Post, Katie Roy of the Connecticut School Finance Project said when discussing Bridgeport School District’s drastically low per-pupil spending, “Policymakers need to hear specific examples about what is happening in the districts. ... Too many don’t realize the realities Bridgeport Public Schools face every day.”
To the policymakers reading, the reality is this:
In some Bridgeport schools, teachers are limited to two reams of paper per month. For a teacher of 120 students per day, this is 2 sheets of paper per student per week. A teacher who wants to read Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” on Monday can only print copies for one-fifth of his students and will have to forgo a printed homework assignment.
Classes lack frogs to dissect, novels, lab kits, classroom decorations and prizes, leaving teachers to decide between purchasing these supplies for their students out of pocket or going without them.
To read the complete article, visit the New Haven Register.