Bridgeport Public Schools, the largest district in the state, has faced chronic underfunding, and new cuts to the city’s education budget will only further harm students. That’s why Bridgeport students, teachers, administrators, and supporters are at the Capitol in Hartford today telling lawmakers that Bridgeport schools need state support now.
During the last nine years, the district has had an average annual budget increase of only 1.5%, compared to 3.5% in neighboring Fairfield. Faced with a $67.9 million funding gap for the 2025-26 school year, the district has made drastic cuts. In the latest round of cuts, the district eliminated all 15 library media specialists, 44 paraprofessionals, and transportation for thousands of students.
“I want the legislators to understand that a child’s zip code should not determine their education,” said an Interdistrict Discovery Magnet School Teacher. “Our district desperately needs funding. We are the poorest district in the state, and we are going to lose paraprofessionals, we’re going to lose librarians, we’re losing assistant principals, and we can’t afford to lose any of those people.”
He says the district already doesn’t have enough ESL teachers, special education teachers, or paras.
“I believe we’re down 20 special education positions; we are down social workers, school counselors—and they’re going to get rid of more school counselors. We are already down all these essential personnel that we need to function,” he said. “A lot of our schools are noncompliant with special education law, because we literally don’t have special ed teachers.”
“I’m very concerned about what’s going to happen with our funding next year,” said a special education teacher. “We’re already working with a bare-bones budget. We’re losing paraeducators and caseloads are very high. We’re not able to service kids the way they deserve. We know right now that we’re violating the law in terms of students missing services, and we’re giving letters offering compensatory hours, but those hours will never get served for those students. I work with students from pre-K to second grade. Everyone knows that early intervention is the way to help special education students be successful. If they miss those hours in those early years, it’s going to be tough for them to ever recover from that.”
Two library media specialists who attended have both had their positions cut.
“School librarians are essential,” one said. “I teach pre-k to grade four and literally watch students grow year to year. In this era of disinformation, we are more essential than ever in teaching kids critical thinking skills, how to use vetted databases, and how to look for different resources to make certain that what you Google is actually real and true information.”
The other library media specialist is also the parent of two children who attend the school where she works.
“Librarians are essential for building critical thinking skills—but I’m also here because I’m really concerned about where this is going to leave my children’s education if we have overpacked classrooms with dysregulated students who have multiple issues and no social worker to respond to, no vice principal to help, and then no library to go to as a refuge,” she said. “It’s imperative that more people show up and tell city, state, and federal officials that we need this funding for an equitable education. Bridgeport has been underfunded for the last 50 years, and it’s just not fair to our kids. It’s a promotion of institutional racism.”
“I’m going to have almost double the class size next year and even less support, which is almost non-existent now,” a kindergarten teacher said.
She added that many of her students come from multilingual homes and fewer than half have attended preschool.
“I only had 15 students this year, which is why I’m guaranteed to have 25, which is the max, next year,” she said. When there is paraeducator support the teacher says it’s fantastic, but any paraeducator available is split between multiple classes and tasked with things like covering for the school secretary if the person in that position is absent.
“It’s vital that we’re all here together in unity today,” said Bridgeport Education Association President Jeff Morrissey. “We need lawmakers to pay attention and understand how great our needs are. We need state support to be able to effectively educate our students.”
Want to do your part to stand up for Connecticut schools? Join a rally in Hartford at the State Capitol on Wednesday, May 21 at 4 p.m. as teachers and education supports call on the state government to fight back against federal funding threats to our communities.
