Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont released his education plan on Wednesday. At the top of his list: ask for the resignation of the members of the state boards of education and higher ed.
That idea was the first of 10 education bullet points distributed to reporters on Wednesday by the Lamont campaign. The release marked the unveiling of Lamont’s full education plan, available here.
Lamont, a businessman and former candidate for the U.S. Senate, is running for the Democratic nomination for governor against Dan Malloy. The former Stamford mayor released his education plan last week. See here.
According to the release, Lamont thinks that the state’s boards of ed need an overhaul. “While many members are excellent, others are mere partisan appointees. The good will stay, and the others he will replace with education experts,” the release states.
Lamont’s plan pledges support for early childhood education, community schools, and vo-tech schools. He calls for teacher prep programs that provide educators with classroom experience. He states that student achievement should be used “as one of multiple aspects of teacher evaluation.”
Malloy’s plan also calls for expansion of early childhood education. Specifically, his plan aims to make pre-Kindergarten programs universal within four years. Among other things, Malloy’s education plan would also allow successful high school seniors to graduate early, provide more funding for adult education, require local school boards to allow parents to access their children’s attendance records, homework assignments, and grades.
In an email response to Lamont’s education plan, Malloy said, “It’s disappointing that when it comes to our children and their future, Ned can’t think bigger and bolder than this. There are no really bold ideas in here -– like my plan to get Connecticut to universal pre‑K in the near future. We did it in Stamford, we can do it across the state. It’s ideas like that that will help us reduce the worst-in-the-nation achievement gap, something I was proud to do as Mayor of Stamford.”
Lamont will host a “telephone town hall” on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. to discuss his education plan.