Reform Alert

REFORM ALERT

We focus on 4 items in this edition of “Reform Alert”:

1) Major business groups are getting aggressive pushing the Governor’s Education Bill #24, which could be resurrected in the state legislature, while self-styled reformer Michelle Rhee joins them placing a large TV buy;

2) the need to thank legislators for positive action in the Appropriations Committee remains a priority;

3) teacher political activism needs to continue to get reform done right this year; and

4) a message recap for you to use as you reach out to your legislators.  

#1

Organizing is the strength of CEA and its members. We supplement our organizing and lobbying with prominence a) in media relations as well as b) paid advertisements. You can review news articles, CEA statements, and CEA news releases as well as our latest  latest ad at cea.org. Please know that we are now strategizing for a new advertising flight. Stay tuned.

We mention our media strategies as context as we share with you what big business and private groups, funded by millionaires, are doing in our state. CEO’s and other titans of industry don’t like Substitute SB 24 and are urging lawmakers to support the governor’s original plan. View full-page newspaper ads in the Hartford Courant and New Haven Register and watch TV commercials. Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of the Washington, D.C., Public Schools, is advocating support for Malloy’s reforms with TV ads presented by her group, StudentsFirst. Read more about Rhee and her unproven reform agenda from the California Teachers Association.

With these news items as a backdrop, we know you’ll agree that we must continue to stand tall and vocal as a counterweight to the wealthy and powerful interests who want to privatize education and run roughshod over teachers’ rights. Too many CEOs, hedge fund managers, and ultra-conservative and anti-union foundations want to gain a foothold in our public schools without spending much time in our classrooms.

#2

School reform legislation isn’t the only item wending its way through the legislature. Budget items, as always, are critical. The Appropriations Committee last week rejected the portion of the governor's proposed budget that would have forced retired teachers, who are on the State Teachers’ Retirement Board’s (STRB) Medicare supplement plan, to pay 26 percent more for their health insurance.
 

The Appropriations Committee also rejected the governor's proposal to merge the STRB into the Office of the State Comptroller. Under such a merger, STRB's authority to make key decisions, such as selecting the retired teachers' health insurance plan and hiring its administrator, would have been eliminated.

CEA members, both retired and active, lobbied their own legislators as well as members of the Appropriations Committee. Representatives from CEA also testified against these proposals at two separate public hearings. CEA continues its lobbying efforts on these issues, which now go to the House to await action, but our work is not done until the legislative session ends on May 9. We urge you to call or email your state legislators if they are on the Appropriations Committee (click here for a list of members) and thank them for voting for these changes to the governor's proposed budget.

#3

During this uncertain time, regardless of their committee assignments, we need you to maintain ongoing communications with your legislators, telling them to please get reform right. Click here to contact them.

Please be aware that after a number of committees have reviewed Substitute Bill 24, it will then go to the State Senate FIRST for consideration. Therefore, please be especially attentive to the urgency of your communications with your state senator, since he/she will confront education reform BEFORE your state representative.

Key phone numbers are below.

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

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

Again, thank you for all you do. We will continue to keep you updated on any new developments. We hope you will utilize all the resources available on www.cea.org and attend valuable forums, such as the Presidents Plus 2 meeting tomorrow night in Rocky Hill, for updates and timely information on education reform issues.

#4

Positive elements in Substitute SB 24

Please tell your legislators that you support parts of Substitute SB 24, specifically elements that do the following:

·        Create 1,000 new pre-K slots.

·        Provide funding for needy districts for wraparound services (social-emotional supports, family support, and physical health and wellness) and family resource centers.

·        Restore collective bargaining to enhance teaching and learning conditions.

·        Decouple evaluation, certification, and salary schedules.

·        Improve the teacher evaluation system by ensuring that evaluation plans will include collaboration, professional development supports to continually improve teaching, and the validation of a new rating system.

·        Enhance teacher standards by recognizing and requiring a master’s degree for the professional certificate.

·        Create a new distinguished educator designation.

Further improvements
Recognizing that this “Year of Education” reform may be the most important period in a generation, please remind legislators that they can improve upon Substitute Bill 24 with the following actions:

·        Encourage more parental and community involvement in schools.

·        Elevate the teaching profession by instituting in teacher dismissal proceedings a “just cause” hearing—one afforded other employees in the public sector.

·        Eliminate any reference to “money follows the child” funding since cash-starved schools cannot afford to lose resources.

·        Require accountability and certification for superintendents.

·        Ensure that charter schools serve the same academically diverse student populations as public schools.