Educators Rally at the State Capitol

More than 1,000 educators turned out at the State Capitol on Apr. 24 to stand up for public education. Educators called on the legislature to enact a meaningful education reform bill—one that gets it right, one that promotes high-quality education for all students.

Members of both the Connecticut Education Association and AFT Connecticut turned out for the rally. A second rally is set to take place Apr. 25 at the State Capitol.

"This is about ensuring that every child gets a quality education," said John Stavens, a teacher in Bristol, CT, and Vice President of the Bristol Federation of Teachers. "Education reform is too important to not get right."

"Our two unions have worked hard with both the legislature and the Malloy administration to develop a bill that will help close the achievement gap," said Sharon Palmer. "We are confident that we will be able to reach an agreement on a bill that does just that."

"This will be a continual process," Palmer added. "There is no silver bullet when it comes to education. We need to keep working together to improve things and we must keep moving forward and utilize research and data to implement proven methods to improve education."

Educators held signs identifying many of those proven methods including: smaller class sizes, literacy programs, community schools and more.

With two weeks left in the legislative session, AFT Connecticut is awaiting changes to the education bill that have come from legislative leadership talks between the Malloy administration and the unions.

"It was great to see so many teachers coming out to support education reform that works," said Regina Milano, a teacher from West Haven, CT.

Senate President Pro Tempore Don Williams spoke to the crowd [1]: "We can't forget-that we cannot fix schools without listening to the people who teach our children."

Speaker of the House Chris Donovan said [2] "When all the politicians are gone it's going to be a teacher in a classroom with a kid and we want that to work. We want to make sure that you're part of the process and you're telling us what you need."

Education Committee Co-Chair Senator Andrea Stillman thanked teachers [3] for the hard work they do every day. "I know that all of you work so hard because you care about our children. We look to you for advice on what works in the classroom."

Executive Director of AFSCME Council 4 Sal Luciano called out the education reformers who want to privatize education. [4] "One of the biggest bait and switch games going on right now is the sustained attack on the U.S. public school system. Perpetrated by ALEC, the Koch Brothers, WalMart, disguised as concerned citizens and education reformers, hoping to persuade the parents of school age children, the only way their kids are going to get a decent education is paying for something they can already get for free. These same education reformers are the same ones who want to privatize the world."

"I am so sick and tired of workers being shot at by politicians," said Connecticut AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Lori Pelletier. [5] "We've got two weeks left in this legislative session. And our heroes like Senator Stillman, Senator Williams and Speaker Donovan need all of you. They need all of you to stand up every day. So from now until May 9, stand up! Stand up for education! Stand up for kids!"

AFT CT (American Federation of Teachers Connecticut) is committed to improving the quality of education for every child in the state. Education reform issues like teacher tenure, teacher certification, teacher evaluations, early childhood education, charter schools, school funding and more need input from all educators. PreK-12 teachers, paraprofessionals and school related personnel are working every day to improve learning and help students to grow. From urban schools in Connecticut, such as Hartford, New Britain, New Haven and Meriden, to suburban schools, such as, Bloomfield, Simsbury and Waterford,  to regional school districts, our members are working to provide quality education.

Thousands of teachers rallied at the State Capitol over two days to let the Governor and legislators know they want education reform done the right way.

AFTCT Pres. Sharon Palmer thanks educators for speaking out.