Education funding a major priority, group says

NEW HAVEN » The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education has a pamphlet of its legislative priorities — but what the organization also wants in 2015 is time.

“We don’t need any new initiatives during this session,” said Patrice McCarthy, deputy director and general counsel for CABE.

McCarthy and Executive Director Robert Rader, speaking at an editorial board meeting with the New Haven Register Friday, said educators need time to put existing mandates and directives in place this year.

Educators are continuing implementation of the new

Common Core standards and associated SBAC testing and other mandates — and CABE wants teachers to have time to do that before the state looks at more mandates and proposals.

“Give us time to sort this out, to internalize it all,” Rader said.

But that doesn’t mean educators want the state to shirk off its own responsibilities when it comes to funding and the state’s achievement gap.

As Gov. Dannel P. Malloy prepares his budget for presentation to the General Assembly, McCarthy said CABE is asking for education to be funded “at least” the same as this year — and not be subject to any cuts or reductions as the state works out a deficit.

Money is a chief concern the educational organization hears most about from its members, the CABE leaders said.

“I’d say the biggest thing we always hear is we don’t have the resources,” Rader said. “The state wants us to do this and how are we going to do this without the funds?”

They acknowledge Connecticut is “lucky” in that education has been funded at an increasing rate compared to a majority of other states.

Specifically, CABE wants the state to fully fund the special education excess cost grant and to maintain funding for the grant given to each municipality for education, keep up funding for Common Core implementation, school safety and security.

The organization also is asking the state to reexamine proposals for changing high school education — or to at least hold off as teachers and educators work out the existing changes that are being made.

The CABE leaders also spoke of support for local school districts using “personalized learning” in classrooms. Personalized learning sets up a structure to focus on “interest of the child and the leaning style of the child.”

On school safety, McCarthy said it has been approached in a thoughtful and deliberative way and rather than in a “let’s put up barriers everywhere” way. The state has been supportive of schools making choices, she said.

But an area not yet fully dealt with is the lack of mental health services for children and young adults, McCarthy said.

“We are hearing from school administrators that they are seeing at much younger ages students exhibiting much more severe behaviors that indicate the need for mental health services,” McCarthy said.

CABE will not endorse or suggest a candidate for Connecticut’s new education commissioner while the state looks to fill the position, though they did send suggestions for criteria to the state. Among their chief requests for a new commissioner is that the person have a background in public education. A big criticism of former Commissioner Stefan Pryor was his lack of classroom and public education experience. Pryor left his position in Connecticut to become Rhode Island’s first commerce secretary.

The CABE leaders also spoke of support for local school districts using “personalized learning” in classrooms.