Malloy vetoes school discipline bill

Governor also rejects polling location measure

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed two more bills Thursday, bringing his total to four rejected pieces of 2018 legislation.

In a lengthy letter, Malloy said he vetoed a bill that would change the process for removing a child from the classroom after an alleged incident. Members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus urged the rejection.

“Black and Hispanic students in Connecticut are suspended at more than double the rate of their white peers,” wrote Rep. Christopher Rosario, DBridgeport, and Rep. Brandon McGee, D-Hartford, chairmen of the caucus. “Mandating additional disciplinary action in schools will only worsen the existing disparities and fuel the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Malloy gave it a thumbs down because the bill’s language was too vague. It gave a teacher too much discretion in removing a student and created barriers for returning a student to the classroom without providing for ongoing learning, he said.

“This bill creates too great a risk that students of color and those with disabilities will be disproportionately affected by its new removal powers,” Malloy wrote.

Late Thursday, the Connecticut Education Association panned Malloy’s veto and said it would ask the Legislature to overturn it.

“In a recent federal survey, 43 percent of public school teachers agreed or strongly agreed that student misbehavior interfered with their teaching,” a prepared statement reads. “Public Act 18-89 focuses on serious disruptions in the classroom that cause

physical injury; the bill protects the safety of students and teachers, and encourages appropriate supports and interventions to help students who might otherwise wind up in the criminal justice system.

“This veto undermines safe schools and the opportunity for students to get assistance before school issues become criminal justice issues,” said CEA Executive Director Donald

Williams.

Malloy also vetoed a bill that would allow a town clerk to decide the location of a municipality’s polling place if the two registrars of voters cannot agree. A town clerk is another partisan elected official, he wrote, and giving the official tie-breaking powers could give one party an edge — or a perceived advantage — in the election process.