New London — Leaders of the Connecticut Education Association are preparing to lobby state lawmakers this legislative session for $560 million in new grants aimed at increasing educators’ salaries and reducing class sizes.
In addition, they said they are bracing for the uncertainty of Donald Trump’s second term and its possible effect on school funding, the federal education department and immigrant students.
During a Day editorial board meeting on Friday, Association President Kate Dias and Vice President Joslyn Delancey said addressing low teacher pay and frequently overcrowded classrooms are two of the teachers’ advocacy group’s top legislative priorities.
Dias said Connecticut school districts are attempting to fill roughly 1,300 teacher vacancies, with some urban districts operating with up to 150 unfilled teacher slots and class sizes upwards of 30 students.
Dias said when a school district is understaffed, it leads to a “trickle-down” effect in which current employees begin eyeing the exit doors.
Delancey said finding and keeping teachers can be a challenge for districts that are often competing with private companies — which pay more money — for the same candidates.
“We lose a lot of people who would love to keep teaching, but for who a starting salary of under $60,000 doesn’t cut it,” Delancey said. “These are teachers and graduates with unique skill sets and a work ethic. If they’re offered $80,000 in salary, as well as travel opportunities, they’re going to leave education.”
Dias is proposing a series of grants totaling $500 million to be paid by the state to qualifying districts over a period of three years specifically for raising teacher salary levels.
A second round of $60 million grants, to be funded separately from typical state Education Cost Sharing monies, would be directed to fund individual district programs dedicated to decreasing class sizes.
Dias said she envisions the grants to be funneled to school districts on a needs-basis and not simply divided up equally across the state. She noted Connecticut is a wealthy state, one in which $340 million in COVID-19 related revenue was just seemingly discovered this week.
“The (state’s) rhetoric is beautiful, but doesn’t always translate into action,” Dias said. “We’re not trying to drive anyone into financial distress, but the state is not necessarily lacking in resources.”
Dias and Delancey said their push for more state resources doesn’t absolve municipalities of their financial obligations to their school districts. They said too often school budgets are short changed as municipalities look to keep taxes from increasing.
The association is also pushing lawmakers to pony up and help offset the frequently crippling — and many times impossible to anticipate — special education costs that eat up millions in district dollars annually.
Bracing for Trump 2.0
With just days until President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term on Monday, Dias and Delancey expressed concern over some of Trump’s campaign vows, including his apparent willingness to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education.
Delancey said states don’t possess the administrative infrastructure to fill the gap left by a dismantled federal education department.
Dias said one overarching worry about a new Trump administration is that federal funding typically earmarked for state use will soon become a transactional process.
“Connecticut gets roughly $350 million in education funding direct from the federal government,” she said. “And the question becomes, how conditional is that money then? So, if we’re willing to turn over our immigrant students, then you can have your money? That’s where the real pit of my stomach goes. Now we don’t get money for school lunches or for students with disabilities unless they agree to conditions. These are real dollars for our most vulnerable students.”
Both Delancey and Dias said it’s impossible right now to predict what Trump, who they said frequently promises massive upheavals to government institutions without follow-through, will actually do once back in office.
“We don’t know what it’ll look like,” Delancey said. “And that’s terrifying.”
Dias said she’s already heard from prospective college students from immigrant families — Trump has promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and others — who are worried about filing for college aid and their status being notated in an accessible database.
“They’re saying, ‘I don’t know if I should apply to college because of my family’s immigration status,’” Dias said. “You don’t want to say you want to go to Central (Connecticut State University) and now your family’s being deported.”
j.penney@theday.com