Can Connecticut Kids Read?

Not very well, it turns out. It’s time to pass tax-credit scholarships, which would provide a means for children to escape schools that are failing them.

*This article was originally published in National Review.

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Aleysha Ortiz has attended Hartford public schools since she was 6 years old, graduating this past May. This summer, she began studying part-time at the University of Connecticut-Hartford.

On paper, Ortiz’s education is a “success.” There’s only one problem: She can’t read — struggling with “even most one-syllable words,” according to the CT Mirror. Year after year, Ortiz advanced in grade level without mastering basic reading and writing skills. Over her twelve years in Hartford schools, she received no intervention or assistance from district officials. Eventually taking matters into her own hands, Ortiz used a speech-to-text function to complete her schoolwork.

Today, Ortiz has once again taken action, filing for “due process,” a legal procedure available to families of special students when they believe their rights have been violated.

Her lawyer, Courtney Spencer, has argued that Ortiz’s case is perhaps the “most shocking” example of a student falling through the cracks.

Yet Ortiz is far from the only student the Hartford schools are failing. According to U.S. News & World Report, only 22 percent of Hartford’s elementary students and 26 percent of its middle schoolers tested at or above the proficient level for reading. There was no data for high-school students. Meanwhile, Niche, an organization that examines school districts nationwide, provides similarly startling data — with only 21 percent of students across Hartford public schools ranked proficient in reading. For high school, that number drops to 12 percent. This means a shocking 70 to 80 percent of Hartford students are below reading grade level.

Statewide, the scores are marginally better overall, with the Connecticut Department of Education finding that 54.5 percent of third-graders (more than 19,500 students) are below reading-proficiency levels. This figure is worse for minority students; 68 percent of this group are not proficient.

Clearly, the status quo is failing tens of thousands of students. Yet Connecticut is a state of contradictions when it comes to education, boasting some of the most-educated residents and wealthiest schools in the nation, while concurrently suffering from the largest “achievement gap” between high- and low-income students.

In short, there is educational inequality in Connecticut.

Yet throwing money at less fortunate districts hasn’t solved it. According to EdSight, Connecticut’s official source for education data, Hartford — where Ortiz was “educated” — exceeds the state’s average, spending $22,167 per student compared with $21,143 statewide.

A better solution, then, is educational opportunity and access, providing a means for children to escape school districts failing to meet their individual needs. Under such a system, a student like Aleysha Ortiz might have had a chance to attend a school better attuned to someone with her particular educational needs.

One easy mechanism for states to consider is tax-credit scholarships, through which residents are incentivized to support scholarships for low-income students because they receive tax credits (rather than deductions) after donating to nonprofits that provide them. More than 20 states already have such a program, benefiting nearly 250,000 students.

Meanwhile, Connecticut was poised to enact tax-credit scholarships in 2023, until teachers’-union bosses caught wind, threatening to hold up the state budget process. Last year, the same legislation met with opposition at the hands of the same culprits.

Opponents argue that tax-credit scholarships would benefit unaccredited schools, siphon money from public-school classrooms in favor of private, religious institutions, and even promote segregation and inhibit academic achievement. Yet all claims are categorically false.

First, under Connecticut’s legislation, tax-credit scholarships could be used only at fully accredited schools. Second, tax-credit scholarships do not rely at all on taxpayer dollars. They are funded entirely with private money and do not take a penny from public schools. Meanwhile, the legislature could offset the tax-credit expenditure by decreasing and/or eliminating other credits, such as those for films and movies — a program that has suffered a cumulative loss of nearly $900 million from 2007 to 2023, according to Connecticut Voices for Children. Finally, the segregation accusation is nothing more than a baseless charge. Segregated schools remain — as they should be — illegal.

So who benefits from keeping students like Ortiz in failing school districts? Not surprisingly, the only vocal proponents of the status quo are leaders of the teachers’ unions — who too often view public schools as employment for adults rather than a means to educate our children.

The unions put their money where their mouth is. In 2022–23, the National Education Association spent more than $50 million on political activities, up $8.5 million from the previous year. Too many politicians are listening to them, rather than to their low-income constituents.

For all the grandstanding by the NEA and other teachers’ unions as self-proclaimed champions for student achievement through diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, they’re actually doing the greatest harm to low-income students (and often students of color) by restricting educational opportunities that Americans support and need. More than 150,000 children in Connecticut would be eligible for tax-credit scholarships under legislation advanced by Yankee Institute because their families are below 250 percent of the federal poverty line.

In fact, there is strong public support for educational options, with 71 percent of Americans — including 66 percent of Democrats, 80 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of independents — approving the concept, according to a RealClearOpinion Research poll. This has increased by seven percentage points since before the pandemic.

Conversely, satisfaction with public schools is trending in the opposite direction, with only 39 percent of parents approving of their children’s K–12 education, according to a report by Edge Research, “The State of Educational Opportunity in America.” This mirrors a 2023 Gallup poll that showed “record-low” satisfaction with public schools, at 36 percent. Moreover, only 43 percent of Connecticut parents are satisfied with their children’s schools.

Aleysha Ortiz deserved better — and so do millions of low-income students across America. It’s time for Connecticut to pass tax-credit scholarships in the next legislative session. Those committed to addressing inequality need to start with the educational inequality that traps poor children in failing schools and reserves educational access and opportunity for the children of the affluent. Only then do we offer low-income children a meaningful shot at a life of dignity and fulfillment that is every American’s birthright.

Carol Platt Liebau is the president of Yankee Institute, a Connecticut-based public-policy organization. Andrew Fowler is a communications specialist at Yankee Institute. He formerly served on the Milford Board of Education.