Fasano sought to thwart educational equality

Republican leader in the Connecticut state senate Len Fasano claimed in his recent op-ed (June 26, “Fight racism, don’t destroy a country”) that he and his party are dedicated to “ending educational inequality.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. When Fasano and his party took operational control of the legislature in 2017, far from trying to “end educational inequality,” Fasano passed a budget that launched an all-out attack on educational equality and public education. That Republican budget eliminated the $37 million Roberta Willis Scholarship that helps 15,000 of Connecticut’s low-income and minority youth attend college; cut $23 million from grants for the state’s poorest school districts, while redirecting millions to schools in the wealthiest communities; and eliminated $150 million in dedicated funding designed to close achievement gaps in poor school districts, substituting block grants instead.

Fasano’s budget increased “educational inequality” by slashing half a billion dollars from Connecticut’s public colleges and universities, including cuts to the University of Connecticut system that UConn Board of Trustees Chairman Larry McHugh called “the worst attack on public education I have seen in 34 years.”

Then-UConn President Susan Herbst warned that Fasano’s cuts “would decimate the university for years to come.” Instead of supporting public education, Fasano’s budget attacked our public school teachers by slamming them with a $95 million “Teacher Tax,” equivalent to a $1,500 tax increase on every Connecticut teacher. And he did so without offering even the pretense of negotiating with the teachers’ union, an unprecedented attack on teachers’ right to bargain collectively.

In an incredible act of hypocrisy, Fasano claims he wants to “address health equity and make health care affordable.” Yet on the very day that his op-ed appeared, his party was demanding the U.S. Supreme Court rule the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, an action that. if successful, would result in more than 20 million Americans’ losing their health insurance in the midst of a pandemic that is sickening more than 40,000 every day. Sen. Fasano needs to be reminded that here in Connecticut, the ACA, which he wants to eliminate, prevents for-profit health insurance companies from discriminating against, or denying health coverage, to more than half a million non-elderly residents. According to a study by the Urban Institute, the ACA reduced Connecticut’s uninsured rate by nearly half, created new consumer protections benefiting nearly 1.9 million residents with employer-sponsored coverage, and nearly 600,000 on Medicare. It also achieved a 61 percent reduction in uncompensated care delivered to uninsured patients, and provided millions of dollars to Connecticut to foster public and private-sector innovation in health care financing and delivery.

In 2011 when legislation (HB 921) was introduced in the Connecticut General Assembly to establish the state health insurance exchange, Access HealthCT, as part of the ACA, Len Fasano voted “no,” as did the majority of his fellow Republicans.

Thankfully, they failed to block that crucial innovation, which today provides health insurance to more than 100,000 Connecticut residents, and has proved one of the best-run state exchanges in the nation. The truth is that Fasano and his Republican buddies have done everything they could to prevent Connecticut citizens from achieving “health equity” and receiving “affordable health care.”

Fasano claims a set of policies that “truly sets out to fight racism or injustice would not include the removal of American history as a serious solution.” What he’s saying is that he opposes the removal of statues glorifying the Confederate traitors who fought to preserve slavery and destroy the United States of America. In this, Fasano stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Donald Trump, who called the marauding Neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville protesting the removal of the statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee “very fine people.”

In my town of Greenwich, there is a plaque honoring the 69 men, including six African-American soldiers, who gave their lives in the Civil War to defeat the traitors and cleanse slavery from our land. Plaques such as the one in Greenwich can be found in virtually every town in the state, commemorating the sacrifices of more than 5,000 men who gave their lives in that great cause. But Len Fasano wants to honor the enemies of freedom whom our soldiers fought against.

Fasano has announced he is leaving the General Assembly. He will not be missed.