Public Impact’s Persistent Pattern of Shoddy Analysis
Alternative title: Why Hassel with research, data and facts?
I was called up on this past week to review a new policy brief on reforming Connecticut’s education funding system – or Education Cost Sharing formula. The brief, titled Spend Smart: Fix Connecticut’s Broken School Funding System seemed simple enough on its face, but as I looked deeper, ended up being among the most offensively shallow and poorly documented reports I have ever seen.
Further, some of elements of the report which were stated as fact, but entirely unsubstantiated would actually lead to funding policies that significantly disadvantage some of the state’s highest need children. Even worse, this brief was accompanied by submitted legislation that included these ill-conceived policies.
But this post is only partly about this new brief produced by ConnCan, with an eclectic mix of authors put forth in