Education officials chat with legislators

CABE Area 3 Director Laura Bush greets the legislators and school and town officials at Rockville High School on Feb. 2. Photos by Steve Smith.

Superintendents, Board of Education members and town officials from several local towns were invited to Rockville High School to meet with state representatives Tim Ackert (R-8th), Pam Saywer (R-55th), Claire Janowski (D-56th), Christopher Davis (R-57th) and Gregory Haddad (D-54th). The event was coordinated by Vernon Board of Education member Laura Bush, who is also the Area 3 director for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education and a teacher in Andover. Officials were able to voice concerns specific to their school districts before the legislative session begins.

Bush said she is excited about the legislature's focus on education. “I feel that education is on the road to transformation,” she said. “I feel that a lot of positive things are going to happen down the road.”

She added that at a CABE delegate workshop, there was much discussion about the similarities and differences between towns in the state, and that funding, bridging the achievement gap and maximizing resources were also discussed.

Bush brought up the subject of full-day kindergarten, adding that she believes more resources should be focused on the early years of education.

Vernon Mayor George Apel (a former member of the Board of Education) wanted to talk about collective bargaining, which he feels is a hindrance to school districts because the long process ends with three people who decide the outcomes.

“The system is really broken,” Apel said. “We have three people judging. The labor side – they pick a person. The board or the town – they pick a person - and then we have a neutral person. The votes always come out 2-1. Why do we bother with three? It's always the neutral person who decides. You're bargaining in good faith and yet you're left in the hands of people who don't even know your town and don't even know your financial situation, and yet we have to live with it.”

“Please do nothing,” Ellington Superintendent Stephen Cullinan said to the legislators. “Because, in effect, what happens is that most of the legislation that has happened has had unintended consequences.” Cullinan said a big issue for Ellington is magnet school tuition, calling it “greatly unfair,” and asking for the legislature to change the law.

“By a ruling of the state Department of Education in 2008, we are now required to pay for school tuition for [magnet] pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds,” Cullinan said. “Quite frankly, it is free daycare for a select group of families.”

Vernon Board of Education Chair Dean Houle said his district currently budgets around $450,000 for magnet school tuition.

“Just think of how much more we'd be doing in our district with that $450,000,” Houle said.

Andover Superintendent Andrew Maneggia urged legislators to avoid unfunded mandates. “Please do not implement any additional requirements for local school districts unless the resources accompany those requirements,” Maneggia said.

Sawyer, a former teacher and board of education member, said she understood the pressures on school officials, and added that higher education – particularly at community colleges – is also experiencing growing pains, but the local school districts need to speak up to get the improvements they want.

The legislators urged the officials (as well as citizens) to continue to contact their representatives in government, and to broaden the scope of how they do so. “The state of Connecticut will send more money to those towns that are failing,” Sawyer said, “and they take it away from you. You need to have your voice out there, advocating for what you need. Don't be shy about calling the legislator in the next district, or where your parents live, or where your sister lives.”

Haddad, who represents Mansfield, said that since his district includes UConn, he is glad that the legislature's education committee will be looking at student debt, and that he also encourages contact with representatives.

“I was a staff person at the state legislature for years,” Haddad said. “Legislators are hungry for conversations with people with boots on the ground. We are not experts on a lot of these issues. We have to seek out people who can help to inform us on what the real impact will be of the legislation that we pass.”

“Fill us in,” Davis said. “Even if it's a rumor, that will trigger to us, if we haven't heard the rumor ourselves, to start asking questions to figure out if that's the truth or what's going on, and how it's going to affect our districts.”

Janowski said now is the best time to send e-mail or call legislators, because the proposals are still being put together. She added that she often forwards e-mails from constituents, with her response, to the governor's office. “It just puts them a little bit more on the spot,” Janowski said.

“I would encourage you to make sure you don't just reach out to those who are already supporting your concerns,” Ackert said. “You have a huge network of people that work here, and parents that are concerned. Have them reach out, too.”

There will also be a “CABE Day on the Hill” event on March 14 at the Bushnell in Hartford, where school officials, PTA and PTO members, students and guests will receive a legislative briefing on the impact of pending legislation on their district, and have another opportunity to visit with legislators. For more information, visit www.cabe.org.