By Robert A. Frahm

www.ctmirror.org

State Board of Education members angrily criticized lawmakers’ attempts to scale back a major education reform bill, saying today that the watered-down bill could stall the effort to fix the state’s worst schools.

“I’ve watched this process … with real dismay,” board Chairman Allan Taylor said of changes made last week by the legislature’s Education and Appropriations committees to limit a sweeping reform package proposed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

The revisions also drew criticism from Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor, who said that aside from reducing funding for the bill, the committees also stripped it of some of its key elements, such as provisions linking teacher evaluations to decisions on tenure.

In addition, Pryor said the reduction of funding in a proposal aimed at low-performing districts and the removal of specific strategies to help those districts could weaken the state’s chances for a waiver of some requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

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By James Lomuscio

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s education reform bill aimed at fixing Connecticut’s failing public schools—and its ramifications for high performing districts such as Westport—drew more than 100 teachers and parents to a legislative information session at Town Hall tonight.

Kathy Sharp. president of the Westport teachers’ union, makes a point at tonight’s Town Hall forum. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Teacher tenure reforms, evaluations tied to standardized tests, the bill’s impact on salaries and the fact that there was no teacher input into Senate Bill 24 topped the list of teacher concerns about the 163-page bill revised by the state Education Committee last week.

Present at the dais were state Sen. Toni Boucher (R -26), Rep. Jonathan Steinberg (D-136), Rep. Gail Lavielle (R-143), Kathy Sharp, president of the Westport Education Association, and Staples High School teachers Julia McNamee and Anne Lutz Fernandez-Carol.

Boucher, who sits on the state’s Education and Higher Education Committees, noted that the bill aims to close dramatic achievement gaps between high performing and failing systems, pointing out that over the years the state has fallen from the nation’s top spot to 16th place.

A panel including Westport teachers, state Sen. Toni Boucher, (R-Wilton) a ranking member on both Education and Higher Education Committees, state Rep. Gail Lavielle (R-Wilton), a member of the Education Committee, and state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport) tonight discussed proposed changes to the state’s education laws and how they would affect Westport at a public forum in th eWestport Town Hall Auditorium. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By James Lomuscio

Before a packed Town Hall auditorium of students, teachers, parents and administrators, Westport’s Board of Finance tonight unanimously approved the Board of Education’s proposed $100.2 million budget for 2012-13, an amount that jumped to $114.3 when debt service was added.

Don O’Day addresses tonight’s Board of Finance meeting.. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

In approving the budget, the finance board also finalized the overall Westport budget including municipal government for a grand total of $188 million.

Calling the school system “the crown jewel of our community” and the reason he and his family moved to town 16 years ago, finance board chairman Avi Kaner, a Republican, assured the crowd at the meeting’s outset that his board would not wield a heavy fiscal ax.

“Any thought that we will take an ax and make draconian cuts is not true,” said Kaner. “And while we want the best schools, we want them to operate efficiently.”

By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

www.ctmirror.org

UPDATE Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plans for education reform got a dramatic rewrite today by the legislature’s Education Committee, but the changes are only one step in a process that some leaders say will end with high-level negotiations by top lawmakers and the administration.

“The bill the Education Committee appears set to approve represents just one step in the legislative process.  Gov. Malloy has made it clear that he’s determined to begin fixing what’s broken in our public schools, no matter how long it takes,” said Roy Occhiogrosso, the governor’s senior adviser.  “In the coming weeks, members of this administration will continue to work with legislators and other key stakeholders until there is a bill that represents meaningful education reform.”

Occhiogrosso made that statement before the Education Committee voted 28 to 5 for extensive substitute language.

The version approved by the committee tonight after an all-day closed-door caucus would relegate Malloy’s teacher tenure reforms to a study to be completed by next year.

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Spring has sprung at Westport’s Learning Community Day School (LCDS) at 90 Hillspoint Road. The Spring Art Show created by students ages 2 through kindergarten celebrates nature, family, fairy tales and community. Above, student Ford Scherer admires a classmate’s artwork as his mom, Paige, looks on. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo