Education advocacy group Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) released today the results of a poll conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group designed to assess Connecticut voter opinions directly after a ground-breaking ruling last month.

According to Danny Franklin, Managing Partner of Benenson Strategy Group, the poll results indicate a “core sense of urgency” that proves voters believe the Connecticut education system is “falling short of their expectations.”

Key findings from the poll of 600 state voters conducted earlier in the month include that only 18 percent of respondents believe that Connecticut public schools are "doing a good job educating Connecticut’s children” and that 57% of voters want the General Assembly to act now.

For those unfamiliar, on Sept. 7 Superior Court Judge Thomas G. Moukawsher delivered a 90-page opinion that declared many of Connecticut’s education policies as irrational, giving state officials 180-days to make changes.

Not long after, the state announced its appeal of the decision, an appeal that the Supreme Court decided to hear.

Franklin says the newly released poll results indicate that voters want change now—and don’t want to wait for the appeals process to end to get it.

Franklin also says that despite criticisms that Moukaswher over-stepped his authority (House Republican leader Themis Klarides said his ruling “was just beyond”), state voters mostly support his arguments for change; only 25 percent of voters said they believed Moukaswher went too far.

All in all, 75 percent of voters agreed that “Connecticut’s schools have been struggling for far too long, and real improvement is long overdue.”

They also agreed that in order for Connecticut to have a strong economy, it must have a strong education system “that prepares every student to succeed in college and in good careers.”

Related readings:

• ConnCAN’s Jennifer Alexander: 'We Didn’t Need a Judge to Tell Us to Do What’s Right’
• Results of Connecticut’s First Statewide SAT Exam Reveal "Sobering" Achievement Gap

Nicole Gorman, Senior Education World Contributor

10/25/2016