AFT’s Weingarten: Malloy budget ‘really horrible’ for education
AFT President Randi Weingarten, right, talks with the superintendent of Hartford during a vist to an elementary school in Hartford.
Randi Weingarten, the leader of one of the nation's largest labor unions came to an inner-city school in Hartford Thursday to lambaste the budget cuts proposed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat she helped re-elect in 2014.
Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which also represents other public-sector employees, says the Democratic governor should expect a call from her.
"The proposed state budget is really horrible. When you see cuts of that magnitude – that are ultimately going to seep its way into schools throughout the state – that basically says that the fight from last year of corportations bullying the governor worked," Weingarten told reporters as she toured Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, a public school where eight out of 10 students are not proficient in reading.
Weingarten was referring to a group of three major companies last spring that said proposed tax hikes, if implemented, would make them reconsider staying in Connecticut.
"One of the reasons I wanted to be in Hartford today was to actually talk to people about the effects. I have been briefed in the last couple of days on what he’s doing. I am just shocked. I am really shocked," she said. "When the state takes this kind of cut, its basically saying its reversing course on its values. I will be speaking to the governor about this, you can count on that. He will be hearing from me."
At a separate public event, Malloy smiled and said, “She’s a friend. She’s welcome to call me any time."
Facing a $570 million deficit for the fiscal year that begins in July, Malloy is proposing closing all of that shortfall with spending cuts.
Weingarten worked hard to mobilize teachers for Malloy in 2014, urging them to look past any lingering anger over his commentsabout the ease with which teachers obtain tenure. She said then his budgets were good for education.
"Yeah, I don't like some of the things he's said, either," Weingarten told the AFL-CIO convention in 2014. "But what he's done, he’s increased funding for K-12, increased funding by seven percent for K-12, making Connecticut the second-highest education spender in the country since the recession."
Malloy said Thursday he thought his budget still was good for education, noting he has maintained funding levels for Education Cost Sharing, or ECS, the state's major funding program for local education. He does, however,propose rescinding an $11.5 million funding increase that was included in the previously adopted two-year budget.
"In point of fact, ECS was not impacted with a reduction over current levels," Malloy said. He suspected that Weingarten, whose union also represents state employees outside of education, was more concerned with other aspects AFT’s Weingarten: Malloy budget ‘really horrible’ for education | The CT Mirror:
