Education

Facing a $3 billion deficit over the next two years, Malloy appears poised to propose a budget that achieves balance without significantly raising state taxes. At the same time, Malloy's changes to education funding could result in property tax increases in some towns. Malloy's proposal has three main components: changing the Education Cost Sharing formula, creating a separate fund for special education and changing the minimum budget requirement for towns.

Students from New Light High School, an alternative high school in New Haven, met Thursday with Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, and Sen. Len Fasano, R-North Haven, to discuss their concerns and learn about the political process. Although the students remained largely quiet, their adult escorts – including teachers – brought up the issue of job opportunity and the fact that young people are leaving the state.

Gov. Dannel Malloy proposed a new way to fund Connecticut teacher pensions Friday with towns and cities contributing one third of the costs or roughly $407 million. "At a time when state government is making difficult cuts to services, we can no longer afford to exclude how we pay for teacher pensions from the conversations,” Malloy said in a statement.

In a series of impassioned speeches, community and organization leaders made the case for school choice and better options for parents living in Connecticut’s cities. Gwen Samuel, head of Connecticut Parents Union, hosted Creating Opportunity for Every Child as part of Black History Month. Samuel said school choice means “that, as a mother, I should have the right to do what is best for my children and all children. That is what choice is.”

Education reformers from across the country met with Connecticut lawmakers and concerned parents to discuss the impact of school choice and the need for education reforms in Connecticut. Yankee Institute, EdChoice and the Connecticut Parents Union hosted “Building a Child-Centered Education” at the Mark Twain House in Hartford on Monday, Jan. 23. Speakers made the case that parents should have options about what schools their children attend presented options for reform in Connecticut.

Connecticut teachers would be wise to avoid leaving the profession early if they hope to see a return on their pension contributions, according to a new study published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think-tank. According to the study, which looked at teacher pension systems in all fifty states, Connecticut public school teachers must work a minimum of 25 years before their pension benefit will equal more than they paid into the system, after adjusting for inflation.