Civil rights attorneys in the long-running Sheff v. O'Neill case have challenged Hartford Public Schools’ paid contract to recruit students who are not in district-run schools.
The dispute, reported Thursday by CT Insider, centers on a deal with Memphis-based Caissa K-12. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the deal authorizes recruiting Hartford children out of the magnet and suburban programs built under the desegregation settlement.
A Contract Paid Only When Students Show Up
The school board voted in February to hire Caissa K-12, and the one-year contract dates to that month. The firm earns $935 for each student it recruits, with total payments capped at $500,000. Hartford is not charged if no students are successfully enrolled.
A planned ground campaign described by CT Mirror includes door-to-door canvassing, texts, emails and phone calls.
Plaintiffs say the pool of eligible recruits includes Hartford children already attending regional magnet schools and suburban districts through Open Choice. The attorneys, who represent the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Children's Advocacy, believe the campaign is likely to begin this month.
A Dispute Over the Contract
The dispute follows correspondence between the plaintiffs and the district.
Sheff attorneys have argued that the contract would authorize recruiting Hartford residents in Sheff voluntary interdistrict programs.
They say the campaign would disrupt permanent-injunction remedies, impede desegregation progress and hinder the state's diversity mandate. They contend the Caissa agreement violates the 2020 Sheff settlement. The contract's future remains unresolved.
What the Settlement Was Built to Do
The fight sits on a ruling that is now 30 years old. In 1996 the Connecticut Supreme Court held that extreme racial and ethnic isolation in the public schools deprives schoolchildren of a substantially equal educational opportunity and requires the state to take further remedial measures, according to the decision. Connecticut answered by opening specialty magnet schools and expanding busing to neighboring suburban districts, including Open Choice and CREC magnets.
A 2020 stipulated agreement called for a long-term comprehensive school-choice plan and strategies to provide a seat for every student who applies through the lottery. A 10-year agreement finalized on March 21, 2022, set a goal that 95 percent of Hartford students who want a school-choice program can attend one by the 2028-29 school year, the School + State Finance Project reports.
The choice system is large, and it is not a guaranteed seat. In one reported year, 49 percent of Hartford youths were offered a seat through the lottery. At least 9,000 Hartford residents do not attend city public schools.
Enrollment, Tuition and a Disputed Deficit
District officials have described the contract as a way to generate revenue during a budget deficit. A school board summary said more students in Hartford-run schools would bring per-pupil revenue and reduce tuition payments. The mechanism is specific. Connecticut funds the district as if a student who leaves still attends city schools, while Hartford pays receiving districts tuition and any required special-education services.
The enrollment picture the district has cited is a loss of more than 1,000 students in the previous year, with a stated aim of bringing 500 back, NBC Connecticut reported. Separately, the state education department reported that Hartford-resident participation in several school-choice programs rose by about 294 students from 2024-25 to 2025-26. Those figures measure different things and do not add up to a single trend line.
The size of the hole has also depended on who is counting. In April, school officials expressed concern about a potential deficit, while the state education department's preliminary analysis projected a small surplus. A state-commissioned review released June 4 found a $29.5 million deficit for the fiscal year, $7.5 million above the district's own projection, and tied it to district decisions and declining enrollment, the Hartford Courant reported. The assessments were not reconciled into one official number.
Warnings the District Has Already Answered
Opposition to the contract predates the current dispute. In February, Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said he opposed it. On March 23, the Connecticut State Department of Education warned Superintendent Andraé Townsel that certain aspects of the engagement were at odds with the board's obligations in the desegregation case, CT Insider reported.
Townsel's April 2 letter addressed the district's financial projections. The reporting notes Hartford Promise, a program that can help make college affordable, with eligibility that depends partly on attending an eligible high school beginning in ninth grade. That is a concrete term families would be asked to weigh, not a finding that the contract exists to steer them there.
The 95 percent choice goal in the 2022 agreement is aimed at the 2028-29 school year. Between now and then, a one-year recruiting contract capped at $500,000 remains contested.
