Community Corner

Teachers Union Goes on Offensive with New Ad

The governor's education reform plan is bashed in an ad by the Connecticut Education Association.

A new ad from the state’s largest teachers union criticizes Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s education reform plan while urging people to listen “to our teachers” instead.

The 30-second ad by the Connecticut Education Association began airing on March 17. Ten seconds in, the ad turns ominously dark when the narrator discusses the proposed reforms.  

“Governor Malloy’s plan doesn’t get it right: taking control away from local school districts and giving it the State Education Commissioner, allowing principals to decide which teachers are certified and siphoning tax dollars away from our Connecticut schools.”

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Malloy’s senior adviser critized the ad.

“It’s unfortunate that CEA has chosen to air an ad in which they intentionally misstate the facts in order to try and mislead people,” Roy Occhiogrosso told the Journal Inquirer. “The governor’s plan maintains local control, implements an evaluation system both teachers unions have agreed to, and increases funding for education by $128 million.”

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One of the main elements of Malloy’s plan for the best teachers, to restructure tenure so that it has to be continually earned and to provide more money to troubled schools.

Under his proposed $128 million education agenda, 80 percent would go to the worst districts. In order for the schools to get the money, districts would have to “embrace key reforms,” with tenure changes being among the items included in the proposal.


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