This comparison was conducted in previous years to draw attention to the discrepancies between the state’s methodology, which significantly underreported the number of students who did not complete high school, and Education Week’s, which provides a more accurate accounting. After a sustained push by legislators and advocates, including ConnCAN, the Connecticut State Department of Education announced earlier this year that the overstatement of graduation rates will be rectified with the implementation of a new system that will provide more accurate data.

[…]

In the past, the Connecticut State Department of Education calculated graduation rates using a paper-based system that relied on students to declare that they were dropping out and on districts to fully report their dropout rates. The new tracking system announced by the Department but not yet fully implemented uses the same criteria as 49 other states and will follow individual students, even when they transfer schools. This new system will eliminate many of the inaccuracies and overstatements that existed in previous reports, bringing it into much closer alignment with Education Week’s graduation rate estimates. The improved analysis will be reflected in the count for the Class of 2009 and subsequent years.

The preliminary 2009 data released by the Connecticut State Department of Education revealed that while 86.8 percent of white students graduated in four years, that figure drops to 58.1 percent for Hispanic students and 66.2 percent for African American students. In all cases, the estimated percentage of graduates dropped significantly under the new and more accurate accounting.

District Name: Danbury School District
2007 CT-SDE Graduation Rate: 92.4 percent
2007 Education Week Graduation Rate: 72.6 percent
Gap: 19.8 percent

District Name: Bethel School District
2007 CT-SDE Graduation Rate: 100 percent
2007 Education Week Graduation Rate: 84.1 percent
Gap: 15.9 percent

District Name: Ridgefield School District
2007 CT-SDE Graduation Rate: 98.8 percent
2007 Education Week Graduation Rate: 91.3 percent
Gap: 7.5 percent

District Name: Brookfield School District
2007 CT-SDE Graduation Rate: 99.1 percent
2007 Education Week Graduation Rate: 87.9 percent
Gap: 11.1 percent

District Name: Newtown School District
2007 CT-SDE Graduation Rate: 97.5 percent
2007 Education Week Graduation Rate: 95.5 percent
Gap: 2.0 percent

District Name: New Fairfield School District
2007 CT-SDE Graduation Rate: 97.4 percent
2007 Education Week Graduation Rate: 88.9 percent
Gap: 8.5 percent

Norwalker Patricia Risley says she didn't sign a petition endorsing Easton Republican Tom Herrmann's request for a primary election for the 4th Congressional District seat.

Yet Risley's name appears on one of numerous petition candidacy pages submitted by Herrmann's campaign to the Norwalk Registrar of Voter's office. The matter has left Risley disappointed and her husband, Republican Town Committee Chairman Art Scialabba, filing a complaint with the state Elections Enforcement Commission.

"I did not sign for Mr. Herrmann," said Risley, who early Wednesday evening hadn't seen the petition page yet but assured that she didn't sign it. "It's dishonest and it's not what our Democracy is all about."

Late Wednesday afternoon, Scialabba stood inside the Registrar of Voter's Office at City Hall and reviewed the petition entry, as he had a notary sign the affidavit of complaint which he plans to mail to the Enforcement Commission.

[...]

The Herrmann campaign delivered 41 pages of petition signatures to the Norwalk Registrar's of Voter's office, asking that Herrmann's name appear on the ballot in an August primary election, according to Democratic Registrar Stuart W. Wells.

Scialabba and Risley live at 2 Acacia St. in Norwalk. On line four of one petition page delivered by the Herrmann campaign appears an illegible signature, followed by the barely legible printed name 'Patricia Risley', a birth date and street address of '16 Acacia St.' Scialabba notes that there is no such address -- No. 12 is the last address on Acacia Street.

Asked if the signature is his wife's, Scialabba said: "Absolutely not. You can read her signature." Scialabba compared the illegible signature to Risley's signature as it appears on her voter registration card in the registrars' office.

[...]

Scialabba said he was informed of the forgery by Republican Registrar of Voters Karen Doyle Lyons. She and Wells and their staff are responsible for verifying that petition candidacy signatures delivered to their office belong to Norwalk residents. For primary elections, petition signers must belong to the political party for which they are seeking a primary.

Doyle Lyons told The Hour that she recognized that the address next to Risley's name was incorrect. She contacted Scialabba and also the Elections Enforcement Commission.

Businessman Mark Greenberg, who calls himself the Tea Party’s candidate, said this week that he has collected well more than the 1,859 petition signatures needed to qualify for the Aug. 10 Republican primary in the sprawling Fifth Congressional District.

[...]

Mr. Greenberg, who said he had at least two dozen volunteers distributing petitions across the district in recent weeks, would at least face state Sen. Sam Caligiuri of Waterbury, who took about 67 percent of the delegates at last month’s convention, and former gubernatorial and congressional aide Justin Bernier of Plainville in the primary in the district, which stretches through 41 municipalities from Salisbury to Newtown.

[...]

Mr. Greenberg said Monday that he collected more than 3,000 signatures from Republican voters in the district in recent weeks and they have been sent for verification to the respective voter registration officials in the municipalities.

The challenger, who has said he would spend at least $1 million of his own funds through the Nov. 2 election, did not have his name placed in nomination at the GOP convention May 21 at the Hartford Convention Center.