Malloy begins education reform tour 

HARTFORD — In the spirit of the jobs tour that marked his first year in office, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy launched a statewide Education Reform Tour this week, reiterating his commitment to “fixing what’s broken” in Connecticut schools.Malloy kicked off the new tour Thursday, March 1, at the Center for Community Life in Hartford, with stops planned for Tuesday, March 6, in West Hartford; Tuesday, March 13, in New Haven; and Wednesday, March 14, in Windham. Additional dates were expected to be announced in the coming week, with the tour likely to be at least as long as the 17-city-and-town jobs tour that took place last summer.“I met with thousands of people and answered hundreds of questions. What I liked most about it — what I heard back from so many people — was that it allowed people to be connected to their government in a way that just hadn’t happened before,” Malloy said in a statement Tuesday. “I think that’s really important; the people pay for this government, so they should have the ability to talk directly to it, ask questions and get answers.”There has been no shortage of information coming from the governor’s office in recent weeks regarding education in Connecticut, including a controversial 163-page education-reform bill that called for changes to the way teachers earn and keep tenure in public schools. Malloy promoted the package in testimony before the General Assembly’s Education Committee on Feb. 21, offering tough words for Connecticut’s educators.“Our public schools once led the nation, and now Connecticut leads in achievement gaps,” the governor testified. “Education is the civil rights issue of our time. This is our opportunity. The time is now to transform the status quo. We must provide our children with the opportunities they so richly deserve if we are to revive our state’s economy and lead the country once more.”Malloy’s bill called for increasing funding to low-performing schools that adopt comprehensive reforms, increasing the access to and quality of early childhood education slots; expanding slots for public schools of choice including charter schools; removing red tape and other barriers that stand in the way of local school districts; repositioning the state’s vo-tech schools to promote job readiness; and improving teacher preparation.Malloy called Connecticut’s achievement gap “unacceptable” this week and called for state legislators to act on his plan.“We already know the consequences of inaction,” he said. “Let’s use the chance we have before us today to change direction once and for all.”Though some of the Malloy’s proposals have been met with skepticism, the Democratic governor has been applauded by members of the Republican party for some of his initiatives. Last month, House Republican Leader Lawrence Cafero said he approved of making reforms to tenure and to providing financial support to low-performing schools, as long as additional reforms are adopted.“We applaud the governor for putting on the table bold initiatives that, if they become law, would result in significant improvements in public education,” Cafero said. “We have long supported changing the teacher tenure provisions that currently make it impossible to make needed changes in our classrooms and undermine the learning process.Cafero said a proposal to spend $50 million on low performing schools is “a step in the right direction” but that additional changes are needed, including creating a new Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula for the state.Malloy said education reforms also make economic sense on multiple levels.“There has never been a time when education and jobs are more closely aligned,” he said. “I am determined to fix what’s broken in our public schools, so that every district is giving students the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century economy. If I have to go door-to-door to sell this package to Connecticut residents, then so be it.” To check the most up-to-date list of dates and locations on the Governor’s Education Reform Tour, visit https://governor.ct.gov/educationtour.