To the Editor:
Gov. Ned Lamont and his State Board of Education are meeting March 24, 2025, in the epicenter of a prime example of what happens when the wealthy ruling class attempts to deflect attention from their fiscal neglect of inner cities and all out class warfare.
What Bridgeport needs is a Governor, and a State BOE, that does not schedule a meeting within the center of a community about to have three or four school buildings shuttered up due to massive chronic under funding. We don’t need this meeting happening at the same time and date as the local BOE is meeting to continue to once again make cuts to your children’s classroom. Consideration for elimination at tonight’s Bridgeport Board of Education meeting is:
a) Kindergarten paraprofessionals once again; this will lead to one adult in the classroom for over 20 children–many away from home for the very first time.
b) 11 restorative practice positions that were added to assist our students in conflict resolution.
c) limiting overtime in the already stressed facilities department. A department that is already so short staffed it has led to the deterioration of the buildings in this very neighborhood. Buildings that are slated for consolidation and boarding up.
Once these cuts are voted for, and in place, we still have upwards of $24 million in cuts to find. What does that mean? This means that in order to deliver a single additional $1 in service the state must begin by giving us $24 million and one dollars.
So, what does Bridgeport really need? All roads lead to money. Ned Lamont and the State Board of Education know this, yet Ned Lamont chooses to come into our community and say, “I don’t want to give Bridgeport money. Money won’t solve problems.” Yes, it will. Ned knows this.
We live in a Connecticut where the Governor’s hometown, and its restrictive zoning rules, keep out those they deem undesirable, and protect their school system. Lamont’s hometown school system spends $27,093 per pupil, compared our hometown of Bridgeport, which spends $18,565 per pupil. If we were funded to the same per pupil amount as Greenwich, our students would enjoy the same quality education as their wealthy white peers; we could add $167 million in services. Instead of properly funding Bridgeport, they intend to keep us in our place through misdirection and false claims of gross overspending. Not even the best fiscal manager can run a school system that needs at least $420 million to effectively on less than $300 million.
So what do Bridgeport Public Schools need to succeed?
a) We need the same per pupil dollar amount as our wealthy districts so that our students could receive what their peers in Greenwich receive.
b) We need more special education personnel; kindergarten paraprofessionals in every single kindergarten classroom; math coaches; literacy coaches; increased maintenance staff; increased tutoring; stronger curriculum; increased social and emotional staff; smaller class sizes; higher paid teachers and staff; and about 100 things too lengthy to list on this handout.
So, I ask you, to ask tonight that Ned Lamont and the state legislature end the class warfare, and the deliberate underfunding of our schools. Underfunding that is designed to keep us in our place. I ask you as your elected official to demand the money our children deserve. I ask you to contact your state reps and Governor to support Senate Bill 1511.
—Sokolovic currently serves as the Finance Chair for the Bridgeport Board of Education