Hard Issues In Hartford

If you want an on-the-ground (and fluid) example of the complicated politics of education and intraparty tensions for Democrats these days it’s hard to beat what’s happening in Connecticut right now around the governor’s reform proposals.  For the latest Courant take here and CT Mirror take is here.  Read both for full flavor.

3 Replies to “Hard Issues In Hartford”

  1. From the CT Mirror:
    The caucus did have a proposal of their own for reforming education, but it was largely scaled back in committee because of cost concerns. The original bill would have implemented a statewide early literacy program, annual assessment and would have held back students in third grade if they couldn’t read.
    Sounds like the parents at the second trigger school in California.
    They want more for their kids (like art and a full time media specialist), which the district said they couldn’t afford.

  2. A good number of the posters at the Hartford Courant ask about the parents of the students.

    And absent from the discussion there is why is there a problem.
    Everyone knows there’s a problem and everyone has their solution, but no one can explain why the schools are not doing well.
    The problem is not going to be conquered if one can’t describe why it is there.
    It’s like the colonial time doctors, ignorant of the way the body works, using leeches to cure illnesses.

  3. For the life of me, I can’t make any sense of what Conn Can is doing. They are smart people who know about previous failures of “reform” and the damage done, so why are they being so ideological?

    The Chair of the caucuses made a lot of sense. Get rid of evaluations based on test scores and people of good will can make a lot of compromises. I’d certainly concede a lot to restore peace among liberals and the civil rights community. Why are the Conn Can folks so committed to their attacks on teachers? They need to descide what they want, help kids or take revenge on adults.

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