CASE STUDY

The Challenge

A new coalition of parents, educators, businesspeople, community leaders and concerned citizens is working to raise the organization’s profile in Connecticut and generate support for its goal of making high-performing public schools available to every child in Connecticut.

The Strategy

ConnCAN’s goal is to raise public awareness of the causes and consequences of Connecticut’s staggering achievement gap, the gap in academic performance between white students and African American and Hispanic students in the state’s public schools. Gaffney Bennett Public Relations contacted local education and State Capitol reporters at the state’s daily newspapers to introduce the organization and educate reporters on ConnCAN’s goals and legislative priorities. Once these relationships were established, GBPR consistently pitched stories on the success of Connecticut’s charter schools by profiling students, teachers and the special programs offered at these charter schools. Gaffney Bennett Public Relations also planned a press conference at the start of the legislative session, managed to attract media coverage at public hearings and provided our target reporters with updates on milestones and progress made throughout the legislative session. To assist with the legislative and grassroots outreach efforts, GBPR developed individual profiles of many of the state’s public charter schools for distribution to legislators, regulators and the media.

GBPR’s efforts generated a significant amount of positive newspaper, radio and television coverage for ConnCAN and its priorities in major print and broadcast outlets throughout Connecticut. As a result, ConnCAN began educating the public and legislators about the importance and value of charter schools in Connecticut, the causes and consequences of state’s achievement gap, and the success of public charter schools.

The Outcome

At the end of the 2005 legislative session, Connecticut’s General Assembly passed legislation that increased the per pupil amount of state funding given to the state’s Charter Schools, and for the first time would qualify Connecticut’s public charter schools for state school construction funding. Media Coverage of the state’s achievement gap as well as the quality of Connecticut’s public charter schools was an important part of this legislative success. Before June of last year, charter schools were not eligible for facilities funding under the state’s bonding program and they received no ongoing aid to help pay for rent or other facilities costs. The new legislation established a pilot program that would qualify one charter school for state bonding assistance; provide $10 million in aid to existing charter schools to help them pay for necessary renovations and repairs to their facilities. Finally, the legislation authorized a commission to study the long-term capital needs of the state’s charter schools. GBPR’s sustained media and public relations efforts were an important part of educating public officials and the media, as well as generating support for ConnCAN’s initiatives.