As a resident of Connecticut, I take tremendous pride in our great state. But I have noticed a lot of changes that make me worry about our future: businesses closing, good jobs moving out, jails being built to house kids we failed to educate, and the divide between haves and have-nots reaching record levels. Every time I followed one of these troubling trends to its source, I ended up at the same place: a school system that that has let down too many of our kids.

Here are the facts:

• We have the largest achievement gap – between upper- and low-income students and between white students and students of color – in the nation.
• Less than 25 percent of our low-income students read at grade level by the time they are in fourth grade – and students that are behind grade level by fourth grade are much more likely to drop out when they get to high school.
• Less than 15 percent low-income and minority eighth-graders perform math at grade level.
• Even our high-achieving students are not doing as well as they should – the top 10 percent of Connecticut eighth-graders in math rank just 18th compared to their peers in other states, coming in a full year behind their Massachusetts counterparts.
• On international tests, Connecticut students score lower than students in Hungary, a country with one-quarter of our income.

The source of each of these problems is simple: we stopped pushing for education reforms that would keep us on top.

Connecticut needs a leader who will take on the status quo and secure the changes needed to keep our promise to our children. That is why I am running for governor.

I know it’s possible to provide every child in Connecticut with a great education because there are schools throughout our state that are proving it can be done. But without a comprehensive, systemic approach to education policy, these gap-closing “islands of excellence” will remain the exception instead of the rule.

Here is my plan for getting Connecticut back on track and providing an excellent education for every one of our students:

Courageous Leaders at the Top

We need leadership in the governor’s office, at the State Board of Education, and in the State Department of Education who will always put the needs of our students first. We can no longer afford to just tinker around the edges, and that is why I will make recruiting bold leaders committed to fundamental reforms – in the tradition of New York City’s Joel Klein and Rhode Island’s Deborah Gist – a top priority of my administration. 

An Effective Teacher in Every Classroom

Research shows that teachers are the most important factor in a student’s academic success. That is why I am committed to ensuring that every child is taught by an effective teacher. Fulfilling this promise means building a teacher evaluation system that connects teachers to the results of their students. It also means recognizing that there are good teachers, adequate teachers, and bad teachers in every district and that school leaders and districts need to be empowered to reward good teachers, improve adequate ones, and remove bad ones so every child gets the quality teaching they deserve.

Money Follows Every Child

Connecticut has an antiquated, unequal, and unsustainable approach to financing our children’s education, and the results of this system affect nearly all aspects of how education is delivered. I will spearhead the development of a more equitable, transparent, and accountable funding system in which the money schools receive is based on the number of students they attract to their school and where funding is determined by a simple, consistent formula no matter where you live or what type of public school – traditional, magnet, charter, or technical – you have decided is right for your child.

A New School Creation "Marshall Plan"

The truth is that right now there are too many failing schools in Connecticut, no matter how you measure it. There are examples of great gap-closing schools dotted across our state, but not nearly enough to meet the challenges we face. If school choice is going to mean a real choice for parents, we need many more great public schools across our state. My “Marshall Plan” will give schools that have been failing year after year flexibility and support to turn themselves around as part of innovation “Red Zones.” If they continue to fail despite these efforts, I will close them down and replace them with innovative, high-performing new schools grounded in the models that have been proven to work in communities across our state.

Please note: ConnCAN (The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now) is a nonpartisan organization that neither supports nor opposes any political party or candidate for office.