Reform Alert--Remain Vigilant

REFORM ALERT

YOU MUST BE VIGILANT
AND COMMIT TO ACTING QUICKLY AS THE SESSION NEARS ITS END

Teachers cannot let their guards down. There is no final bill on the legislative table with 10 days left in the session. Top legislative leaders continue to negotiate with the governor’s staff and anything can happen.

We must be ready to act quickly. Collective bargaining for network schools, tenure, and evaluation are still at risk.

Your emails, letters, back home meetings, phone calls, texts, and testimony – plus the teachers’ voice, two-thousand strong rallying at the State Capitol this week – mean that teachers are very much on the minds of legislators. You need to build on that positive momentum and keep reminding your legislators that teachers want reform done right; but it cannot be done right without the input and the collaboration of those who are closest to the classroom—teachers.

You may have seen news reports about a new, revised education bill. You should question their accuracy, since no one—except a very select few top legislators—have seen an actual bill. Please be assured we will get information about any bill to you once we have accurate information and actually have read a bill.

We do know that our opponents continue to rally for the governor’s original bill—a dangerous experiment sure to explode. There are no indications that Governor Malloy will back down. In fact, this week he again warned municipal leaders to not expect increased funding unless the legislature sends him a “meaningful” education reform package.

School superintendents, business groups, charter school management companies, and Michelle Rhee continue to lobby ferociously to see the governor’s original bill enacted. For example, Joe Cirasuolo, executive director of the CT Association of Public School Superintendents, today expressed outrage that the legislature could go in a direction that requires so much negotiation with the teachers union in a network school that it could effectively block a turnaround strategy.

You are the most powerful counterforce to those groups that want to strip teachers of their rights and their voice in school improvement. Therefore, you need to keep reminding your legislators that teachers’ voices have to be respected—it’s our only chance to get reform done right.

You can call or email your state senator and state representative using the link and phone numbers below. 
www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/CGAFindLeg.asp

      Senate Democrats  1-800-842-1420           Senate Republicans  1-800-842-1421

      House Democrats  1-800-842-1902            House Republicans  1-800-842-1423

Phil Apruzzese                        Mary Loftus Levine
CEA President                        CEA Executive Director