Gov. Dannel P. Malloy may soon be getting a wave of phone calls from teachers with the same message: check your ego.
With time running short for legislators and the Malloy administration to reach a deal on an education reform bill, one of the teachers’ unions stepped up the pressure and asked it’s members to call him and tell him to coalesce with their reform plan.
“Contact Governor Malloy and tell him to stop stalling on education reform. This is about education and children not egos,” the American Federation of Teachers Connecticut email that went out to it’s thousands of members Saturday afternoon.
Malloy proposed a controversial set of initiatives in February that imediately drew the ire of the unions and a two-day protest at the state Capitol.
Those negotiating the bill have until Wednesday at midnight to reach a compromise and get the legislators in both the House and Senate to approve it. The main sticking points during the negotiations seem to be what authority the state will have when taking over failing schools and what to do with the teachers’ existing union contract. Concern has also been raised about linking teacher evaluations to certification and tenure decisions.
On Friday, Malloy said calling legislators into special session is “absolutely” a possibility if a deal cannot be reached.