Education Not Opposition

Even among legislators in Connecticut the revelation that I am not a member of the Education Committee is often met with shock.  I do admit that my involvement in education policy is perhaps more visible than usual for a legislator not on the committee. So, when Rishawn Biddle, writing for Dropout Nation describes me as the co-chair of the education committee it is really not all that much of a surprise:

Whether or not any of his proposals come to fruition is a different story. For one, Malloy is squabbling with fellow Democrats who control the state’s legislature; some aren’t exactly too pleased with some of Malloy’s plans, including the consolidation of the state’s community colleges into one system akin to those in Indiana, and are even less pleased with Malloy’s success in gaining more authority to cut the state’s budget. Malloy is having particular trouble with Gary Holder-Winfield — who co-chairs the legislature’s education committee — and Roberta Willis (Holder-Winfield’s counterpart on the higher education panel); this will make it difficult for Malloy to pass any school reform legislation...read the article


Much has been made of my relationship with Governor Malloy of late. Questions began when I voted against extending extra rescission authority to the governor and my public stance that the jobs session did not adequately address the issue in the state only added fuel to the growing fire.  By the time my thinking on early childhood education was made public and seemed to contradict Malloy's some were asking why I was working against the governor. With the printing of Ted Mann's series on Malloy in some people's mind it was solidified that I was a full fledged enemy of the state (the retelling of the story therein is not quite accurate but those are the hazards of being a public figure). The truth though is that I have no general opposition to this governor or any other.

My position is that the legislature has a role to play and must act as an independent branch of government not an extension of the Executive branch. There is a reason the system is designed as it is.  I am not given to opposing the governor's education reform unless it seems to be bad policy. As stated in the Biddle piece what we have at this point from the Malloy administration is really just the broad outline of his education reform plan. Opposing that really makes little sense at this point. I will wait until I can see what the meat on the bone looks like before taking a position for or against the proposal. In the meantime I have engaged Malloy's education commissioner Stefan Pryor to see where we can work together to change education in the state for the better. Ultimately this should be about education not opposition.