On Friday night, the Connecticut Education Association board of directors voted, on behalf of their 45,000 members, to endorse Governor Daniel Malloy.
With that move, the CEA joined the leadership of the American Federation of Teachers - Connecticut Chapter in throwing their support and money behind the only Democratic governor in the nation to propose doing away with tenure for all public school teachers and repealing collective bargaining for teachers working in the poorest districts.
It seems that the fundamental argument driving Malloy's supporters, at least one of whom I know and respect as a dedicated teacher, union leader and defender of teachers, is that the alternative to Malloy (a Foley administration) would be worse, which is debatable.
Over the past 30 years, I served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives under a Democratic Governor and a Republican/Independent Governor and worked with a variety of progressive and liberal groups, including unions, as we advocated for policy changes under two different Republican governors.
In each situation, the General Assembly played a very different role in the process, often successfully taking on or co-opting the Republican governor and proving that, with a backbone, the legislative branch of government can have an important and positive impact on public policy.
The role of the Democrats in the legislature was especially evident last week after Republican Tom Foley borrowed heavily from Malloy's education agenda and introduced his own pro-corporate education reform industry plan for Connecticut. Within hours, Democratic legislators held a press conference blasting Foley for his outrageous plan. The irony being that those same legislators voted for many of those same proposals and concepts when they were previously introduced by Governor Malloy.
But before we get to the "Foley would be worse" argument, teachers, parents and public school advocates need to ask the question of whether Dannel "Dan" Malloy does or does not deserves to be re-elected based on his record on public education issues. The fact is that no Connecticut governor in the last forty years has done as much damage to Connecticut's public education system than Governor Malloy and that includes a realistic assessment of disgraced Republican Governor John Rowland.
Over the past few weeks, education policy has finally become a top-tier issue with Connecticut's gubernatorial candidates. Malloy has repeatedly pledged to stay the course on his destructive education reform iniatives. Just last week Malloy told the Waterbury Republican-American, "What we've done needs to continue to be implemented and rolled out."
So what are the initiatives that Malloy promises to "stay the course" on? Here are the Top 5:
And the list of Governor Malloy's failure when it comes to public education goes on and on. Connecticut teachers, as well as, Connecticut's parents, students and those who support public education have a right to know the truth about Malloy and his record of failure. The truth is that Dannel Malloy's own actions have voided his right to continue to serve as governor in Connecticut.
The Connecticut Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers would have their members, and all voters, believe that Malloy deserves to be re-elected. On the issue of education ... Malloy deserves to be defeated. And if, on the other hand, Malloy, the CEA and the AFT want to claim that Malloy is the "better of two evils," then at the very least they have the obligation to tell the truth about Malloy's record.
Governor Malloy's failure on education issues is unprecedented. His policies have rightfully earned him the title as the most anti-teacher, anti-public education democratic governor in the nation.