It looks like Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will get a state school reform bill passed this year after all — though not as sweeping a plan as he’d hoped.
At 10 p.m. Monday, two nights before of the chaotic midnight end of this year’s state legislative session, the governor and leading Democrats announced a compromise that will enable a version of school reform to pass.
That had seemed in doubt until then because of a revolt against Malloy’s plan by one of the Democrats’ key constituencies, the teachers unions.
The news is a big relief to New Haven. If passed, the plan would allow Malloy to go ahead with sending $100 million to some school districts to help close the achievement gap. New Haven has counted on millions of dollars in that money for the upcoming year.
The state Senate proceeded to pass the compromise plan 28 – 7 at 3:45 a.m. Tuesday. The House is expected to follow suit. Click here to read a chart from the governor’s office detailing all the major changes. Click here to read Jacqueline Rabe Thomas’s CT Mirror account of the vote and the bill’s highlights.
To get to a compromise, Malloy had to give up some key parts of his plan, including dramatically boosting how much the state pays charter schools per pupil; easing the way for charters to take over failing schools; and, in the view of the teachers unions, abolishing teacher tenure (which in public schools means due process in firing proceedings, not — as Malloy originally presented it to the public — ironclad lifetime job guarantees as in college).
Tuesday night Malloy didn’t even talk about “tenure,” however he defined it. Instead, he and legislative leaders rolled out a plan to:
• speed up arbitration when failing teachers are up for firing but also guarantee those teachers due-process rights;
• boost per-pupil charter reimbursements $1,100 this coming year to $10,500 (and up to $11,500 in three years)
• allow state education chief Stefan Pryor to make changes in how the state’s 25 lowest-performing schools run, but with less wide-open authority than Malloy had sought. Private operators will be able to take some over — but only not-for-profits. Malloy and Pryor wanted for-profit operators in the mix.
• open up 1,000 new preschool slots in low-income areas. (More good news for New Haven.)
That last item was a sweetener. The unions, along with many constituencies, love that one.
But Republicans were not part of the deal. Seven Republican senators voted against it, complaining about, among other criticisms, the folly of voting on a last-minute 185-page bill that no one has time to read in full. “Vampire legislation,” said state Sen. Joe Markley of Southington. New Haven State Sen. Toni Harp, on the other hand, lauded the deal Monday night. She has been a leading proponent of school reform for years, embracing positions from both sides of the aisle. She said unlike earlier versions of Malloy’s bill, the new one would not have the General Assembly take 1 percent of the dollars and “pretty much privatize“ education and forget about the other 99 percent of children who attend public schools. “What this bill does is say we’re going to think about everyone,” Harp told reporter Christine Stuart. “And we’re going to face the fact that we live in a knowledge-based economy.” Click here to read Christine’s full story on the reaction Monday night.
In a press release, Harp emphasized some of the lesser-noticed parts of the bill, including creating two literacy initiatives, 20 new or expanded school-based health clinics, and 10 family resource centers at schools. Click here to read her release.
The House is expected to pass the bill before the legislative session ends Wednesday.
Malloy declared victory Monday night. He had called 2012 his year of education reform; he had seemed in danger of having no results to show for it. Click here to read a piece he distributed outlining the ways he claimed the bill makes progress on all “six principles” he had originally laid out as the cornerstone of his education reform drive.