A Middletown mother of three has launched a new petition demanding Sen. Matt Lesser (D-Middletown) be removed from a minority legislative caucus — reigniting a two-year-old controversy over the last-minute removal of funding for a proposed charter school.
The Change.org petition, launched last month by Sh’keia Dickerson, a Middletown resident and public school parent, urges the Connecticut Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus (BPRC) to remove Sen. Lesser from its membership. It is the second such effort in two years.
A previous petition, launched in January 2024 by community advocate Gwen Samuel, reached its initial goal of 100 signatures and drew media attention, but the caucus did not take action.
“School choice is the only tool parents have to ensure our children aren’t stuck in failing schools,” one supporter said on the petition page. “Pulling the funding in the last minute is cruel and shows disrespect for Black and Puerto Rican families.”
The Midnight Defunding
The dispute traces back to June 2023, the final day of the legislative session.
Earlier that spring, the state’s Appropriations Committee had earmarked $200,000 for Capital Preparatory Middletown Charter School (CPREP) for the 2024 school year and $4.75 million allocated for the following year. The school, part of a network with a track record of serving low-income students of color and supporting college readiness, was set to become Middletown’s first charter school.
On the same day the funding was expected to move forward, the NAACP and its Middlesex County chapter held a press conference in support of the school.
Then, late that night — at approximately 11:48 p.m. — the funding was removed.
The change occurred in the closing minutes of the session, without a separate public vote or direct explanation to families who had spent months advocating for the school’s approval.
The NAACP sharply criticized the move, calling it a “back-door” maneuver and an “11th-hour” decision that limited educational options for Black and Brown students. The organization specifically identified Sen. Lesser and Sen. Jan Hochadel (D-Meriden) as responsible for blocking the funding.
Neither lawmaker has publicly detailed the reasoning behind the decision.
The Petition’s Author: ‘I Was a Functioning Illiterate’
Dickerson, who authored the new petition, frames her advocacy through her own experience in Connecticut’s public education system.
After graduating from high school in Portland, Connecticut, in 2003, she writes that she realized she was functionally illiterate — a reflection, she says, of a system that advanced her without adequately preparing her for life beyond graduation.
“I made a promise to myself that I would always fight for my children’s education — and for the children of families like mine,” she wrote.
Middletown currently has a single high school, which she describes as overcrowded and experiencing growing racial tensions. Nearby alternatives, such as Vinal Technical High School, draw students from 27 different towns, underscoring the limited options available to local families.
For Dickerson and others, CPREP represented a rare opportunity.
“When we learned that a new school might open in our city, many parents like me finally felt hope,” she wrote.
When the funding was removed, she said, that hope quickly turned into frustration.
“For parents like me, this decision felt devastating.”
Her petition calls on the BPRC to reconsider Sen. Lesser’s membership, arguing that the funding decision conflicted with the caucus’s mission to support educational equity and opportunity.
“This request comes from committed parents and community members who simply want fair access to an educational system that values all children equally.”
What Happens Next
The new petition has begun gathering signatures, with organizers encouraging supporters to sign at Change.org and share it more broadly ahead of a potential formal request to the caucus.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” Dickerson wrote, quoting Martin Luther King Jr.
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