There is no honor in how the state has disrespected persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities(IDD). Their plight is dire. With the last rescission, the IDD population since 2013 has lost nearly $100 million from its agency — the Department of Developmental Services(DDS).
CT Viewpoints
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Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut needs a rational, fair, school funding system
Three weeks ago, in his sixth State of the State Address, Gov. Dannel Malloy laid out his five “budget principles” and called for a “more predictable, more sustainable, and more transparent” Connecticut budget that “prioritizes funding for core services.” Rightfully, one of the core services Malloy listed was public education. However, for Connecticut to prioritize education and achieve the governor’s budgetary goals, the state must fundamentally change the way it funds its public schools.
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Legislature must restore the confidence of business leaders
The most critical thing the Connecticut legislature can do to improve our economy is to restore confidence in business leaders that the state can manage, and sustain, its fiscal operations for the foreseeable future. In a recent CBIA survey, 88 percent of business executive respondents indicated state tax policy impacts decisions they make on investment and location decisions.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Secrets for successfully riding Metro-North
Each week, dozens of people ride Metro-North for the first time. This week’s column is to let both new and veteran commuters in on the secrets of a successful rail commute.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Will Hartford prosper with peanuts and popcorn?
I have lived in Hartford for all my 38 years. I am proud to be raising my four kids here. But I’m getting angry — angry that the city’s new Dunkin Donuts stadium won’t agree to be covered by the city’s Living Wage.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT uses ‘blunt tools’ for evaluating teachers, gets predictable result
Connecticut’s Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC) met last week to discuss a response to data that show teacher evaluation systems have identified very few people to dismiss, and assign high ratings to most teachers — a pattern which has been reported in many states across the country over the last five years. This shouldn’t be a surprise, because many states are using similar tools for teacher evaluation: a state-specific version of Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (here dubbed the Common Core of Teaching, CCT), or other generic teaching rubric applied to teachers regardless of grade or subject area. When we use the same, blunt tools, we can expect the same, nonspecific results.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
UConn should promote and finance academic, research superiority
In the wake of recent announcements of budget cuts to Connecticut’s Higher Education system, it seems that the state government may be forgetting about the important role our research university plays in the state. The University of Connecticut and other research universities are part of a grand bargain to have a substantial impact on society and the economy. Emerging theories in mathematics, medicine and music pave the way for future industries and opportunities for graduating students.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut legislators should support Vietnam Blue Water Navy veterans
A resolution has been proposed by State Rep. Theresa Conroy and State Sen. Catherine Osten to support the “Vietnam Blue Water Navy” in its fight to regain health and compensation benefits unjustly stripped from them in 2002. On Feb. 5 the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs once again betrayed the Vietnam Blue Water Veterans by declaring all bays and harbors in Vietnam offshore waters. That means that sailors who served in those ports which previously were considered inland waters will no longer be presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. In essence they have decided to possibly kill off another 10,000 Vietnam veterans.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT DEEP fells beloved bitternut tree; leaves bitterness in its place
In Hamden, west of Farm Brook Reservoir, is a meadow. Once the meadow belonged to dairy farmer Harold Hansen but the State of Connecticut, having engineered the reservoir as a watershed more than 40 years ago, came to oversee and maintain the property. Butting the northern section of West Rock Ridge, encompassed by hiking and walking trails, the meadow has been a refuge for many over the years. In one respect, the meadow is anathema to its place: a hilly pasture in a densely populated suburb of a densely populated city. Traverse the meadow in any season, though, and you feel as though you traverse as well our agrarian past. Haying grass still grows, stonewalls rib the woodland. There is silent, open space. And, at the heart of the meadow, high on the second of three slopes that fall gently east, as if placed just so by the hand of God, a bitternut.
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Connecticut charter schools not really getting a funding increase
Let’s set the record straight. Public charter school students do not receive a funding increase in Gov. Dannel Malloy’s proposed budget. They will still receive the same state per-pupil grant that they have received for several years. Put simply: all public schools are flat-funded across the board. A recent story by the CT Mirror suggested otherwise, and we want to ensure the facts are front and center.
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Keep Connecticut’s commitment to community action
As discussions and negotiations begin around the FY 2016-2017 midterm budget adjustments this legislative session, it is critical that the state continue its deep-seated commitment to Connecticut’s Community Action Agency (CAA) Network and antipoverty efforts. For more than 50 years, Connecticut’s CAAs, the state and federal designated antipoverty agencies, have provided basic human needs services such as food, shelter, heating assistance, and childcare to limited income individuals and families in all 169 cities and towns.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Police surveillance of citizens not new in Connecticut
Did you feel that shiver running up your spine? Then you’ve read about the Chicago Police Department’s use of sophisticated “Stingray” technology to spy on local citizens. Here in Connecticut, we’re no strangers to illegal police surveillance.
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State Sen. Beth Bye has no conflict of interest — or appearance of one
In his “Government Watch” column in The Hartford Courant last week, Jon Lender writes about a proposal by state House and Senate Republicans to “enact legislation stating that no member of the state Appropriations Committee can work for an entity that receives grant money or budget line items from the state.” Although it does not mention her by name, the proposal is plainly aimed at Sen. Beth Bye, the West Hartford Democratic who co-chairs Appropriations.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Let’s break the racial barriers to health-care access in Connecticut
As we celebrate Black History Month, we honor the commitment of civil rights, medical and political leaders, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Thelma Patten Law and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. who believed all people need access to health care to complete their education, plan their lives and protect their families. Far too many African-Americans continue to face unequal access to proper health care and education services. As a result, African-American women are dying at higher rates than their white counterparts due to breast cancer, cervical cancer, HIV and other illnesses that can be detected early.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
State budget do-over: The conversion of Dannel Malloy
In the waning hours of the 2015 legislative session, as the exhausted members of the General Assembly debated the budget during an all-night session, Democratic leadership pulled their rank-and-file members out one by one to promise, cajole, and threaten them into voting for the budget. Now, half a year later, we can see why so many Democratic legislators were reluctant to join their leadership in voting for the budget. All of the warnings came true – people and businesses are leaving the state at a faster pace than ever, revenues continue to lag behind expectations, and the state budget remains out of balance.