FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Duanecia Clark, Chief Strategy & Communications Officer
FaithActs for Education
646-522-7121
Statement on Governor Lamont’s 2026 State of the State Address
Hartford, CT – February 4, 2026 – Jamilah Prince-Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of FaithActs for Education, released the following statement in response to Governor Ned Lamont’s State of the State address:
“We applaud Governor Lamont for establishing a Blue Ribbon Commission on K-12 Education. This is an important step towards solving the shortcomings in Connecticut’s public school system – shortcomings that our leadership and members have documented extensively, including in our BET on Bridgeport policy platform.
But a ribbon without action is just another knot in generations of twists and tangles that trap our children in a failing system.
It is unfortunate – and frankly unacceptable – that at the start of Black History Month, the Governor’s budget fails to address what most Black and Brown students desperately need: fully funded schools.
The Governor has no problem declaring that ICE has no place in our schools. Can we agree that inadequate funding has no place in our classrooms? Why can’t he say the same thing about inequality?
Governor Lamont speaks often about his time as a teacher at Harding High School in Bridgeport. How could he have worked there and still he claim that Connecticut has ‘one of the best school systems in the country.’ For whom, Governor? The kindergarteners who started school when you took office are now in 8th grade – if they live in Bridgeport, Hartford, or New Haven, the state’s budget decisions still tell them they’re worth less than their suburban peers get, solely because of where, and to whom, they were born.
Mayors Arulampalam, Elicker, and Ganim are sounding the alarm. Speaker Ritter and House Minority Leader Candelora have called for increasing Education Cost Sharing (ECS) by $700 million over five years, indexed to inflation. That’s not radical. That’s common sense – to borrow the Governor’s own language.
Governor Lamont has a proven track record of moving people across the aisle. In this election year, when everything could change, now is the time for the Governor to join the mayors and representatives who are already leading on this issue, so he can be the education governor he claims he wants to be. We look forward to collaborating with the Governor’s office and the Education Committee throughout this legislative session to ensure this Blue Ribbon Commission leads to real change, not just more reports. And we implore the Governor to make tangible investments in our children, not in words and soundbites, but in dollars and cents.
Our children can’t wait another four years, and neither can Governor Lamont.”
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About FaithActs for Education
We are people of faith building power to get our children the education they deserve. We believe that every child deserves an opportunity to graduate from college, take care of their family, and fulfill their God-given potential. We build relationships, we build leaders, and we build power through community organizing and civic engagement
