How Connecticut Educators Beat Back Privateers to Lead Reform Effort
By Kevin Hart and Félix Pérez
Proponents of privatizing public education have spent the past few years on a perpetual road show, travelling state to state selling a toxic mix of education reforms that are unsupported by research and silence the voices of teachers, and rebutting any and all efforts to improve public education. They flood the airwaves with apocalyptic-sounding advertisements and even assemble phony grassroots groups to give the impression of public support.But this spring, the tired act was booed off the stage in Connecticut. The Connecticut Education Association (CEA), an affiliate of the National Education Association, worked to rally educators and parents to expose the privatization agenda behind a series of proposed reforms, and to help craft meaningful,