Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Government must return to its foundation, the people, with power and funding passed from Washington to Hartford, and from Hartford to our communities. The legislature must recognize that education is a local issue. Decisions should be made in the community, by boards which answer to the voters, and by administrators who answer to the board.

I taught school myself--at the Community College in Hartford and an inner-city high school in Washington--and I know that inspired leadership can make a remarkable difference in educational performance. I went through the entire Southington school system, and have faith in local schools, in the quality of the teachers and administrators who staff them and the communities that form around them. Those responsible for teaching our children must be given the authority to do the job, and be judged by those who know them for the results they achieve.

I am opposed to the Common Core curriculum, to Malloy's test-oriented teacher evaluation program, and to any other imposed 'solution' to the challenge of education. It is absurd for the state to interfere with well-functioning systems because of problems in urban schools. Let's find solutions that work there, and leave those who are getting the job done alone, without costly and confusing new mandates.

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