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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..

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The ConnCAN Blog

Session is over. Now what?

Posted June 28, 2011 at 9:01am
 in

Back in January, we launched the Get Smart Connecticut campaign, calling on our state leaders to spend smart and staff smart. Late last night, the 2011 legislative session came to an end. No question, it’s been a bumpy road.

To be sure, the legislature made some modest gains on the education front during this session. But as an advocacy movement, we hold ourselves and our leaders accountable for meaningful policy change, the kind of change that will close our state’s achievement gap. How did we do on our two legislative goals? Well, we got bupkis. That’s right – the legislature did not pass any legislation improving Connecticut’s teacher evaluation and layoff policies or fixing our broken school finance system.

We could look at that and say, wow, nothing happened, so let’s just pack 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 discourse 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 that’s why this 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. When we look back at this session, here’s what we see:

Staff Smart
Governor Malloy said in his budget address that districts “should be given the flexibility they need to retain new, talented teachers.” Thousands of advocates from around the state called on legislators to take action to end last-in, first-out teacher layoffs. From signing a petition, to speaking at a press conference, to making phone calls, to sending emails, and to testifying before the legislature, you spoke out loud and clear. Editorials (including two by the Hartford Courant) and op eds from across the state called on the legislature to end last-in, first-out policies and improve teacher evaluations. The state and national media drew attention to the absurdity of conducting teacher layoffs with no regard for performance. Language to address last-in, first-out was raised in the Education Committee and on the Senate floor, and a number of legislators on both sides of the aisle went on record to say that Connecticut needs to think more critically about how we evaluate and retain our teachers. We asked more from you in the past five months than we have in the past, and in the final days of the session we asked you, for the first time, to stop the passage of a bill – a new proposal that would have severely weakened teacher evaluations in Connecticut. And your advocacy truly made a difference. We may not have been able to get legislation enacted, but we sure did get people’s attention. And we will work throughout this summer and fall to make sure we keep their attention when the 2012 legislative session begins.

Spend Smart
Just as he spoke about fixing the way we retain great teachers, Governor Malloy also made a point of calling out Connecticut’s broken school finance system in his budget address, saying it was time to fix it “once and for all.” Senate Bill 1195, the first and only comprehensive proposal to fundamentally overhaul the school finance system in years, was brought up for a public hearing in the Appropriations Committee. Hundreds of you attended the seven-hour long hearing and sent letters to your legislators asking them to take a stand and do something to fix the system. Over 80 teachers, students, parents, and community leaders provided inspiring testimony in support of this proposal. That hearing represented a critical step in setting the stage for what’s to come, by clearly defining the problem – a deeply irrational distribution of state funds that disadvantages students in all kinds of public schools across the state – and the framework of a student-based solution.

And just last night, in his end of session speech to the legislature, Governor Malloy said, “…much more needs to be done, and I hope education reform will be the focus of the 2012 legislative session.” We wholeheartedly agree with the governor, and we stand ready to partner with him to make it happen.

And so, while we had hoped for much more out of this session, we are excited to launch the next phase of our campaign. None of us can rest until every single child in Connecticut has access to a great public school.

We’ll be back in touch in the coming weeks to give you updates on the next phase of the Get Smart Connecticut campaign. I can tell you right now that your redoubled commitment to advocacy is more important than ever. So please make sure to keep reading the emails, keep writing back, and just let us know if you want to get even more involved. Together, we’ll make this happen.

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