May 14, 2021 Dear Governor Lamont, Senator Looney, Senator Duff, Speaker Ritter, Representative Rojas, Senator Kelly
May 14, 2021 Governor Ned Lamont Representative Jason Rojas Office of the Governor House Majority Leader 210 Capitol Avenue Legislative Office Building, Room 4100 Hartford, CT 06106 Hartford, CT 06106 Senator Martin Looney Senator Kevin Kelly President Pro Tempore Senate Minority Leader Legislative Office Building, Room 3300 Legislative Office Building, Room 3400 Hartford, CT 06106 Hartford, CT 06106 Senator Bob Duff Representative Vincent Candelora Senate Majority Leader House Minority Leader Legislative Office Building, Room 3300 Legislative Office Building, Room 4200 Hartford, CT 06106 Hartford, CT 06106 Representative Matt Ritter Speaker of the House Legislative Office Building, Room 4106 Hartford, CT 06106 Dear Governor Lamont, Senator Looney, Senator Duff, Speaker Ritter, Representative Rojas, Senator Kelly, and Representative Candelora, We, the 104 undersigned clergy, stand in support of the Education Justice Now campaign and FaithActs for Education, which represents 6,000 committed voters and 11,000 congregants across the state. We are writing to urge you to end our state’s racist education funding system and give our children the funding they deserve. Specifically, we ask you to use your power as leaders to: ● Secure $10 million additional dollars for education across Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury, and New Britain in the current biennial budget; and ● In the next legislative session, pass antiracist legislation to close Connecticut’s racial funding gap by the time federal dollars run out. As leaders, you are called by God to “do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17). But when you fund education based on property taxes, draw lines to keep Black and Brown people out of districts with the best resources, and spend $639 million more on majority white districts, we ask you: How far is Connecticut from whites-only drinking fountains and segregated lunch counters? This racial funding gap is immoral, unjust, and unacceptable.
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