Mark Ojakian, deputy secretary of Connecticut's Office of Policy and Management, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that members of a task force studying state-run technical schools feel strongly about keeping them under the direction of the state Department of Education, according to The Republic.

Ojakian added that even though the task force will continue to analyze how these schools would fare if they were turned over to local districts, the change would be unlikely. Last spring, Gov. Malloy included the shift in his budget proposal, citing that it would save the state millions of dollars.

There are currently 16 technical schools in the state with about 11,000 students. Stamford's J.M. Wright Tech is the 17th school, but it has been closed since the summer of 2009. It is scheduled to reopen in a new building in 2014.