In recent years, Connecticut’s leaders have taken some much-needed steps towards ensuring every child gets a high-quality public education. As Congress takes up the latest iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), a bipartisan bill named the “Every Student Succeeds Act” that would repeal some provisions in ‘No Child Left Behind,’ we urge the state to continue progress on the policies that can push Connecticut closer to education equity.
Connecticut must continue push toward education equity
Posted inMoney
Connecticut’s courtship of GE goes beyond taxes
General Electric’s threat to leave Connecticut has morphed from a narrow complaint over taxes to a broader conversation with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy about economic stability in a state with a sputtering cash flow, high per-capita debt and worsening pension obligations.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Funding for humanities good investment for Connecticut
Once again, Gov. Dannel Malloy and the legislature are looking to close a budget gap by choosing among dozens of worthy, state-supported programs and services, and Connecticut Humanities is – once again — in a fight for its fiscal life. So why should you care? Here’s why:
Posted inMoney, Politics
Transportation financing precarious despite new revenue
Despite the recent infusion of sales tax receipts, Connecticut’s transportation program could be in deficit by mid-2018, according to nonpartisan analysts. And while Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration believes the Special Transportation Fund will remain in the black through 2020 — albeit by a razor-thin margin — nonpartisan analysts cite several problems, including surging debt and pension costs and downgraded expectations for fuel tax revenues.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Democrats’ deficit plan going to the legislature Tuesday
Leaders of the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives affirmed Friday they expect to vote Tuesday on a bill to mitigate state budget deficits, restore some cuts to hospitals and social services and offer modest tax relief to businesses.
Posted inPolitics
Rare bipartisan votes advance education, transportation bills
With the unanimous support of the Connecticut delegation, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a landmark education bill, and both houses of Congress approved a five-year transportation bill that will send billions of dollars to the state.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut’s assisted suicide issue is not going away
On Oct. 5, 2015, California became the fifth state to pass the law to legalize assisted suicide. This has been in the news recently when 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, who had terminal brain cancer, chose to go to Oregon and die. Oregon is one of the states that has legal physician assisted suicide. The question of […]
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT takes fewer taxes from corporations than individuals
I have recently had the privilege of serving on a legislative commission studying Connecticut tax policy. In doing some initial calculations, I observed that our state appears to derive a surprisingly low portion of its total tax revenue from corporate income taxes compared to some other states. Compared to a cohort of other states including New England and all of the east, Connecticut tax policy has looked, over time, substantially less to corporations for revenue and increasingly more to individuals and households.
Posted inEducation, Health
Helping children cope with tragedies that don’t make the news
“The truth is that right now, San Bernardino, Sandy Hook, they have to be mass to get our attention,” Nelba Márquez-Greene said as she introduced a mental health conference held in honor of her daughter. “Kids suffer from violence, experiences, all kinds of losses, every day. And we’re missing that because maybe their specific tragedy doesn’t make it on the news.”
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Transportation bill will boost CT road funds and help Amtrak
WASHINGTON — Congress was expected to approve a massive five-year transportation bill Thursday that would send Connecticut more than $3.5 billion in federal transportation money, bar the rental of cars under recall and commission a study that would determine an impairment standard for drivers who have smoked marijuana.
Posted inPolitics
Day after mass shooting, Senate rejects gun control measures
WASHINGTON — The day after California’s mass shooting, Richard Blumenthal Chris Murphy and other Senate Democrats pressed for largely symbolic votes on a couple of gun control measures. As most expected, they lost.
Posted inMoney, Politics
There’s a near deal — but it’s not bipartisan — on state budget deficit
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his fellow Democrats in the legislature’s majority said Thursday they believe they had reached the essence of a deal to mitigate state budget deficits and offer modest tax relief to businesses. Malloy announced he would call the General Assembly into special session on Tuesday in the hopes of adopting the package.
Posted inEducation
Contentious labor talks at CSCU draw a political audience
Proposed changes to working conditions at the state’s four regional universities drew protesters to a Board of Regents meeting Thursday, including faculty, students — and a key legislator who took a prominent role.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT Vo-tech school cuts were not the first
Just an addition to Jacqueline Rabe Thomas’ Dec. 2 piece about cuts to programs in the Connecticut Technical High School System: More than our sports programs have been threatened in recent years. Let’s not forget that in 2011, the CTHSS laid off all music teachers, art teachers, and deans of students. Our positions were reinstated shortly before the 2011 school year started, and thankfully most of us returned to teach that year.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Will Connecticut follow Massachusetts on Common Core?
Massachusetts, one of the leading states on education reform in the nation, in a monumental decision has abandoned Common Core testing. The Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, Michael Chester, in a stunning reversal, has walked away from the very test he helped to create. Now it remains to be seen if other states in the nation, including Connecticut, will follow Massachusetts, a state that is considered to be “the gold standard” in successful education reform.