Agreement Reached in Connecticut School Desegregation Case On behalf of Elizabeth Horton Sheff and other Black and Latinx families, the Center for Children's Advocacy, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), American Civil Liberties Union, National Center for Law and Economic Justice, and Horton, Dowd, Bartschi & Levesque reached a new landmark agreement in Sheff v. O’Neill, the school desegregation case against the state of Connecticut that seeks to address the extreme racial and economic segregation between the city of Hartford and its surrounding suburbs. The new agreement adds over 1,000 new magnet school seats, including a new middle school at the Riverside Magnet School and new pre-kindergarten classes at Aerospace Magnet School and a Hartford host magnet. Nearly 600 of these 1,000 new seats are reserved for students from Hartford. Additionally, among other funding, Connecticut is furnishing $1.1 million for magnet schools to develop new themes to recruit more diverse student bodies, $800,000 to provide academic and social support for Hartford students participating in the Open Choice program, and an additional $300,000 as incentives for suburbs that agree to accept more Hartford students. “This agreement reaffirms the parties’ commitment to racial integration and moves the needle forward by expanding opportunities for hundreds of Hartford students,” said Martha Stone, executive director of the Center for Children's Advocacy. She has represented the plaintiffs since the case began in 1989. In 1996, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the extreme racial segregation between the predominately Black, Latinx, and low-income schools in Hartford and the overwhelmingly white and high- or middle-income schools in the surrounding suburbs violated the state’s constitution. Since the early 2000s, a series of agreements between the plaintiffs and the state have established nearly 40 inter-district magnet schools and a robust Open Choice program, which allows Hartford students to transfer to suburban schools. Today, over 44% of Hartford students attend a magnet or Open Choice school. The new agreement lasts until June 2022 and seeks to place 47.5% of Hartford students in integrated schools. After this agreement expires, the plaintiffs and the state intend to develop a long-term plan to ensure that every Hartford student has the option of attending a quality, integrated school. “When we advocate for quality, integrated education we are fighting to ensure that all students — Black or white, rich or poor — receive the kind of education that they deserve,” said Elizabeth Horton Sheff, the lead plaintiff in the case. “All students benefit from learning together. This is a question of social justice, not just education.” The agreement also adopts a new lottery system to ensure that the magnet schools have a diverse group of students from all income levels. It further requires more public reporting and transparency to help families make better decisions when applying to magnet and Open Choice schools. For example, the state is required to set up an advisory committee made up of experienced educators to provide guidance in the implementation of the Sheff programs. “This agreement is an important step forward.,” said Deuel Ross, Senior Counsel at LDF. “We look forward to working with state officials to develop a comprehensive, long-term plan to guarantee that all Hartford students receive an equal education.” Press Coverage:
Hartford Courant
CT Mirror
Attorney General's Press Conference | 
