School Choice in CT – Students can soar via RSCO
- Today Online
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
• Commentary — this article first appeared in our monthly Today Magazine
By Bruce Deckert
Editor-in-Chief • Today Online and Today Magazine
Fans of ESPN will likely be familiar with a signature SportsCenter segment called Did You Know — and here’s a Did You Know moment courtesy of Today Online: Did you know that you have school choice?
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It’s true — all Connecticut residents have school choice.
One educational misconception is that inner-city families are the only state residents with viable school-choice options. However, suburban and rural families also can choose where their students receive a first-rate education, via the state’s Regional School Choice Office aka RSCO.
In 1996, the landmark Sheff v. O’Neill state Supreme Court decision focused on the demonstrated inequity faced by the state’s inner-city students. Yet nearly three decades later, the outcome is that all Connecticut students — urban, suburban, rural and otherwise — possess and enjoy school choice.
Does this news surprise you?
If so, you’re not alone — but to whatever degree the news is surprising, it is indeed the reality for families across the Constitution State. Further, it is the quintessential definition of good news. The Sheff-O’Neill decision has changed the landscape of education not only by leveling the playing field for urban students, but also by offering the same choices for students in the state’s suburbs and rural towns.
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Talk about a win-win outcome — sure to satisfy liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans and independents, and people of all nations and races across the human kaleidoscope of skin pigmentations. In other words, RSCO offers a solution that is a constructive and beneficial win-win for all human beings across the amazing state of Connecticut, whatever one’s political persuasion.
The Regional School Choice Office serves over 20,000 students statewide and brings together families from over 80 towns.
Is Connecticut’s universal and all-inclusive school choice initiative the best-kept secret in the state?
The answer might be debatable, but what’s indisputable is that all Connecticut families have coveted free will when it comes to where their children learn the ABCs — and so much more. +
• Further details and 2025 application deadlines – RSCO website •
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SCHOOL CHOICE — Timeline • History
1966 — Project Concern established
1989 — Sheff v. O’Neill lawsuit filed
July 1996 — Sheff v. O’Neill decision
1996 — Project Concern rebrands as Project Choice
1997-98 — Project Choice rebrands and expands as Open Choice
• The rebrand expands opportunities for students from Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven to attend schools in nearby suburban towns — and for students from suburban towns to attend special programming in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport — special programming refers to a specific theme at an urban neighborhood school
2003-2020 — Development of Open Choice
• A series of stipulations establishes a system of free, public, high-quality interdistrict educational opportunities in Greater Hartford — magnet, Open Choice and technical high schools — for Connecticut students
2008 — Regional School Choice Office established
• RSCO is established by the state Department of Education as a single resource for school choice information, application and placement
2022 — Settlement reached in Sheff v. O’Neill case
• Final settlement is agreed upon in the Sheff v. O’Neill case to support more educational, athletic and extracurricular opportunities for Connecticut students through RSCO aka the Greater Hartford Regional School Choice Office
This article originally appeared as a key component of the January 2024 cover story in Today Magazine, our monthly publication:
Featuring community news that matters nationwide, Today Online and Today Magazine aim to record Connecticut’s underreported upside — covering the heart of the Farmington Valley and beyond
• Today editor-in-chief Bruce Deckert is an award-winning journalist who believes all people merit awards when we leverage our God-given gifts for good — he previously served as an ESPN Digital Media editor and as a reporter and editor for the Journal Register Company in Connecticut
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