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In the News
May 18, 2012
Fairfield County Business Journal
With new federal data showing continued, middle-of-the-pack performance by Connecticut schools, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy found the middle ground among competing interests for a landmark education law.
For once, teachers were not front and center in the debate.
May 8, 2012
Wall Street Journal
HARTFORD—In a sweeping education deal with lawmakers and teacher unions here, Gov. Dannel Malloy gave ground on some of his farthest-reaching proposals but contended the compromise was still a historic overhaul of public-school policy in a state that has proved resistant to change.
May 8, 2012
Hartford Courant
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Monday night that his administration and lawmakers had reached an agreement on "meaningful education reform" — an agreement that he said adds nearly $100 million in new education spending and will help the state regain its competitive edge.
May 8, 2012
CT News Junkie
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders celebrated what they called an “historic” agreement on a sweeping education reform proposal that believe will help Connecticut erase its largest-in-the-nation achievement gap.
At a 10 p.m. press conference, Malloy told a packed room of reformers and leaders of at least one of the state’s teacher unions that the bill the Senate is expected to take up later this evening is just a beginning.
May 7, 2012
The Hanging Shad
Say this for Gov. Dannel Malloy, love his policies or hate them, he has largely gotten what he wants in his first year and a half in office. He pushed through the largest tax increase in state history after inheriting a $3 billion-plus disaster of a state budget; he was able to wring desperately needed concessions out of the state employee unions (after first failing); he instituted the “First Five” job-creation program; and won hard-fought approval for the Jackson Labs economic development project..
Social Networking
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MT @jacquelinerabe U.S. Ed Secretary [@arneduncan] coming to Connecticut Tuesday. First stop New Haven. Second stop. State Capitol.
Talk to us on 
It's time to make better use of our precious education dollars.
There’s no sugarcoating it – this has been a tough year for Connecticut. The impact of our $3.5 billion deficit is being felt across the state as efforts to balance the budget continue. School districts are feeling the pinch, and leaders are making some tough decisions.
Some folks might feel that given these challenges, now is not the time to change the way we educate our students. We think they’re wrong. ConnCAN’s commitment to close Connecticut’s worst-in-the-nation achievement gap is stronger than ever, and that our state’s challenges give us even more of a reason to work toward that goal. That’s why in January, we launched the Get Smart Connecticut campaign.
The campaign called on our state leaders to staff smart (improve the way we evaluate and retain teachers) and spend smart (fix our broken school funding system). How did we do on our two legislative goals? Well, to put it plainly, we got bupkis. That’s right – the legislature did not pass any legislation to improve Connecticut’s teacher evaluation and layoff policies or to fix our broken school finance system.
We could look at that and say, wow, nothing happened, so let’s just pack it up and go home. But we have no desire to call it quits. In fact, we’re more motivated now than ever to push forward. Despite the fact that legislation on these two issues was not enacted, we’re proud that the statewide conversation about wholesale education reform has changed dramatically during this campaign. When we consider the public dialogue around fixing the education funding system and effectively evaluating teachers, we are incredibly hopeful.
The truth is, we have seen a sea change this year; it’s palpable and you can read our campaign report to find out why. Our campaign won’t come to an end just because the session is over. The goals we established in this campaign were huge, and the progress we made on them, in partnership with key legislative champions, allied organizations, and of course, advocates like you, is indeed quite significant. So we’re inspired to keep going, and your continued advocacy is more important than ever!
Teachers matter. It’s just that simple. We all know that a great teacher can make a huge difference in a child’s educational experience. Staffing smart is about changing the policies that determine how teachers are trained and supported. And it’s also about making sure that in those cases where we have to make tough decisions about who stays and who goes, only the best teachers remain.
We were focused on two elements of staffing smart this session: ending last-in, first-out teacher layoffs and improve teacher evaluation policies.
Learn more about Staff Smart:
- Voices from Connecticut and around the national call for an end to last-in, first-out layoffs
- A FAQ: Having a candid conversation about last-in, first-out layoffs
- Teacher layoff news from around Connecticut
As Governor Malloy said in his February 16 budget address, we all know Connecticut’s current school funding system is broken, and we need to fix it “once and for all.”
Under the current system, a child who lives in Hartford receives approximately $16,000 for her education. If she lived in Bridgeport, she’d receive $12,000, and in Ansonia, she would receive $10,000. At a vocational agricultural school, she’d get just under $10,000, and at a public charter school, only $9,400. What’s wrong with this picture? Same child, same educational needs, receiving vastly different amounts of funding for her education depending on where she lives and what kind of public school she attends.
It’s time for a new school funding system that funds every single public school student based on their learning needs at the schools they actually attend.
Learn more about Spend Smart:
From our blog
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