The MEA NewsBlog

From CEA’s blog:

Teachers’ commitment to students and public education was a clear presence at the State Capitol today as Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed Connecticut’s new education reform law. What a difference teachers make when they advocate through political action.

This spring, legislator after legislator commented on the volume of communications they received from teachers. CEA President Phil Apruzzese said, “My thanks to all my colleagues. Whether you made phone calls, sent e-mails, sent postcards, or met with legislators back home or at the State Capitol, you made the difference. Our rallies in April, where 2,000 of you showed your spirit and character, were spectacular events that will go down in CEA’s history books.”

In a Hartford Courant article today, Senate President Don Williams is quoted as saying that listening to teachers made a big difference. “It was critical to resolving the differences,” he said, “and it made perfect sense because I think only teachers could have given input necessary to resolve it, because they are the ones in the classroom.”

The difference between the governor’s original bill and what was enacted is remarkable and the scope and timing of the new law ensures proper planning and implementation. Some changes will not commence until July 1, 2013, while the implementation date of others is in 2014.

After the bill signing ceremony, Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor said the “Initial bill was rough around the edges, but the legislative process polished it and helped create a better bill.”

Please extend your thanks to legislators, especially Senate President Don Williams, House Speaker Chris Donovan, and Education Committee Co-Chair Senator Andrea Stillman, for their leadership and tireless efforts in legislative negotiations. The Senate adopted the legislation in a 28-to-7 vote, while the House of Representatives voted unanimously for the measure. Teachers also appreciate the job that Education Committee Co-Chair Andrew Fleischmann did managing the House floor debate.

Please use the link and phone numbers below to contact your legislators who supported positive education reform and thank them.

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

Last week teachers rallied for public education at the State Capitol urging legislators to get reform done right, and as you can see from the picture on the right, Madison teachers were there. A big thank you to Mary Ellen Babik, Erin Smith, and all of those who attended, but our work is not done yet. The governor has vowed to veto the bill that came out of the Education Committee. Closed door meetings are still being held in the capitol as law makers continue to negotiate and shape this bill. Your legislators need to hear your voice, so continue to send e-mails, write letters, and most importantly, call them. Use the link below to find your rep’s contact info.

URGENT REFORM ALERT

A move to ban collective bargaining for teachers in low-performing schools is picking up steam fast in the State House of Representatives.

It’s urgent that you contact your state representative and ask him/her to oppose Governor Malloy’s proposal that would eliminate your rights and give unprecedented power to the Commissioner of Education so he can:

·       take control of Network Schools,

·       make teachers reapply for their jobs,

·       ban collective bargaining,

·       and turn public schools over to third parties, including for-profit companies.

This is critical to ALL teachers-those in both high-performing and low-performing schools.

If union-busters were to get their feet in the door with legislation affecting many urban and rural schools, statutes impacting all schools would soon follow.

With a week left in the session, call your state representative now:

www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/CGAFindLeg.asp

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

For a sample of some of the local news coverage of last week’s rallies, watch the video below…

From a recent correspondence from CEA President Phil Apruzzese and Executive Director Mary Loftus Levine:

This has been a historic week in our positive efforts to have lawmakers enact school reform that is meaningful to our students and our profession. The Education Committee’s adoption of an alternative to the Governor’s Education Bill #24—Substitute Bill #24—is a dramatic, positive reflection of your dedication to your students and your commitment to political advocacy. However, our work is not over. Please understand that Substitute Bill #24 is a work in progress, and your communications with your legislators must continue. Below are 1) an outline of critical elements in Substitute Bill #24, and 2) an overview of what you need to do next.

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 wrap around 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.

Next steps

• Substitute Bill #24 is before the Appropriations Committee; therefore, if your state senator or state representative is on the Appropriations Committee, please tell him/her to “listen to our teachers, and working together, we can get reform right.” Click here to contact him/her.
• 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.

Closing note

The legislature is often called a maze, and for good reason. There are numerous committees where bills can be sent to be changed and modified. There are legislative maneuvers to stall bills. And there are myriad amendments that can be made as an education reform bill is ultimately brought to the Senate, first, then to the House of Representatives. Finally, thank you for all you do and our best wishes for a great weekend.

Every day in newspapers, online and on radio and TV, we read and hear about attacks across the country against public education and teachers’ rights. While we know this is a busy time of year, we all need to stand up for public education and our profession.

CEA is holding eight important meetings across Connecticut in January. The subject is a powerful mix of “reform in a forum setting”—thus our title, “Reforums.” The reforums will focus on the issues that are important to you—from evaluation to tenure and everything in between.

You are invited to attend one of these free reforums. Come, share your ideas, and voice your concerns. Hear what we can do—collectively—to make positive changes. Together, we can move our ideas on education reform forward and stand up for our students and ourselves.

Attend one of these free upcoming reforums and find out how you can help Take Back Your Profession. Registration begins at 3:30 pm and the program runs from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

• Wednesday, January 18 — The Spa at the Norwich Inn, Norwich
• Thursday, January 19 — Georgina’s, Bolton
• Monday, January 23 — The Inn at Middletown, Middletown *
• Tuesday, January 24 — Inn at Woodstock Hill, Woodstock
• Wednesday, January 25 — Rocky Hill Marriott, Rocky Hill
• Thursday, January 26 — Crystal Peak, Winsted
• Monday, January 30 — Trumbull Marriott, Trumbull
• Tuesday, January 31 — Park Central Tavern, Hamden

Notice that January 23rd’s meeting has seen a change in venue. It was originally scheduled to be at The Brushmill in Chester. To register for one of these reforums, click here.

Download the PDF flyer and share it with your colleagues.

From CEA yesterday afternoon…

Education Committee Takes No Action On

H.B. No. 6324 (RAISED) EDUCATION. ‘AN ACT CONCERNING TEACHER EMPLOYMENT CRITERIA’

Teacher Seniority and Layoff Procedures Under Fire, Bill Dies in Committee

On Friday, March 25, the Education Committee had its last meeting to report out favorably on various education issues that it had public hearings on including Raised Bill 6324 An Act Concerning Teacher Employment Criteria.  CEA Legal Counsel Ronald Cordilico, who testified against the bill at the hearing on February 23, said if the bill became law it would be “a swift, surprising, and draconian act in view of a system that has provided stability of expectations over the years.” On Friday, the committee took no action on the bill and thereby killed the bill.

You Were Heard

As the committee and its leadership was considering this bill, they were hearing from the public school teachers of Connecticut.  Repeatedly, as members of CEA’s lobbying team had one on one meetings with the members of the Education Committee, legislators stated that they were hearing from their teachers on this issue.  Clearly, your involvement was critical to helping defeat this legislation.

Thank You!

Take about 60 seconds to watch this video, and see why teachers are worried about seniority rights (House Bill No. 6324) and evaluation fairness (Senate Bill No. 1160).  If teachers’ political advocacy does not convince lawmakers on the Education Committee to oppose these bills this week, then these bills will head to the full House and Senate, where these significant changes to our profession – and far worse – could be enacted diluting teachers’ rights.

Click here to contact your legislators about House Bill 6324.

Click here to contact your legislators about Senate Bill 1160.

Education Committee to Hold Hearing on a Bill That Impacts

Teacher Performance Evaluation & the Teacher Fair Dismissal Law

On Thursday, March 17^th, the legislature’s Education Committee will have a public hearing on Raised Bill No. 1160  An Act Concerning School Transportation, The Development of A Model Teacher Performance Evaluation System, And Teacher Tenure Laws And Cooperative Arrangements   This bill rewrites laws affecting teacher evaluation and the teacher fair dismissal law.  The bill was initiated by the American Federation of Teachers – Connecticut (AFT-CT).  It includes some issues of concern:

• It gives principals the power to commence the dismissal process on their own.
• It short-circuits the revision of teacher evaluation guidelines that was set in motion last year by the passage of Public Act 10-111,  An Act Concerning Education Reform In Connecticut, with CEA’s active  support and involvement.  CEA has been working collaboratively with other stakeholders to this end since last June.
• It creates rigid timelines for teacher remediation and termination.

CEA will be testifying about the issues that concern it at Thursday’s hearing.  Following the hearing, we will share with you any new developments.  We may also seek your assistance in contacting your legislators.

Education Committee Members Need to Be Contacted NOW

Your Rights Are At Stake

AT ISSUE

In the next several days, the Education Committee will consider whether or not to amend your collective bargaining rights as contained in the Teacher Negotiation Act. They will be voting on Raised Bill No. 6324. An Act Concerning Teacher Employment Criteria.

Self-styled “reformers” want to use the $3.6 billion budget deficit facing Connecticut to restrict the rights of teachers that are spelled out in the Teacher Negotiations Act and the Fair Dismissal Act. They want administrators be able to lay off experienced teachers and keep less expensive, less experienced teachers.

This is not about teacher quality. It’s about money— and it’s not fair.

These reformers show no understanding that teachers are evaluated every year. They have been suggesting to members of the public that competence has little to do with experience and ignore the fact that processes such as required annual evaluations provide assurance of satisfactory performance.

Tell members of the Committee you do not want your contractual rights changed. You didn’t cause this fiscal crisis and it should in no way be used against you. Ask them to vote against Raised Bill No. 6324.

AT ISSUE

The Committee will also be debating whether to allow the Commissioner of Education to grant certification waivers to administrators and teachers in charter schools. Raised Bill No. 1104. An Act Concerning Charter Schools, seeks to eliminate high-quality educator standards that are the underpinning of our profession for the convenience of some charter school corporations that believe they should set their own standards. If this passes, it would diminish the value of certification for everyone.

There are a great number of traditional schools in Connecticut that outperform charters at similar or greater levels of poverty. They are not asking for waivers. We want highly qualified and certified teachers in all of our state’s classrooms.

Let members of the Education Committee hear from you. Tell them not to relax standards or take away your rights. Let them know you want quality education for all students. Ask them to vote against Raised Bill No. 1104.

Contact Members of The Education Committee by downloading this document containing the state education committee member’s contact information.

As many of you know, CEA has been working hard on making your voices heard as the State Department of Education has been reshaping certification requirements for Special Education teachers, Teacher Leaders, and Literacy Specialists. On December 1, 2010, the State Board of Education voted to adopt the full set of proposed certification regulations, as submitted by the State Department of Education. These regulations will go into effect on July 1, 2015. Read a full description of all of the changes here.