The top Republican in the State Senate and the state’s largest teacher’s union fired back at Gov. Dannel Malloy’s veto message of a bill that passed the Senate by a unanimous 36-0 margin.
Sen. Len Fasano, GOP president pro tempore, said the bill was designed to make classrooms safer, and called on lawmakers to, “stand together to protect it.”
The measure would accelerate the process for teachers and school administrators to suspend students. Currently, it can take days, weeks, or even longer to suspend a student from the classroom even after a serious physical altercation.
The Connecticut Education Association, with tens of thousands of members, supported the measure as a tool for teachers and school leaders.
“This bill will do more to help students and avoid the kind of discriminatory discipline we all want to see ended in our schools,” said Don Williams, the CEA’s Executive Director.
At the heart of Malloy’s opposition to the bill, which also passed the House by a wide margin, is the possibility for minority students to be disproportionately suspended from school compared to their peers who are white.
He cited data from the state of Texas which passed a similar law more than 10 years ago, but he also centered on how more than 90 percent of teachers in Connecticut are white, while more than 40 percent of all students are not.
Local
“If we’re going to do things we have to make sure that they do not have disparate racial impacts,” Malloy said. “Our country has a history of programs that have disparate racial impacts on the negative side and this legislation didn’t address this issue.”
Kate Dias, a longtime math teacher at Manchester High School, said the issue of race needs to be a priority when it comes to policies that focus on discipline. However, she says teachers like her do not consider race as a deciding factor when it comes to discipline in cases of a student harming a teacher or another student. She says teachers are looking for ways to keep teaching efficiently and effectively, rather than worrying about how long it will take to have a student removed from the classroom.
“There became a sense of urgency behind what can we do for them right now and that’s really what teachers were looking for out of this legislation is, let me help my children, now.”
The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus in the General Assembly endorsed Malloy’s veto, making the override effort more difficult.
Rep. Chris Rosario, (D – Bridgeport), wrote, “Black and Hispanic students in Connecticut are suspended at more than double the rate of their white peers…This legislation would lead to violations of federal education laws, resulting in costly litigation and jeopardizing Connecticut’s federal education funding.”
A veto session is expected either by the end of June or the beginning of July. A veto override requires a two thirds majority in the House and Senate.
