Session’s Signature Achievement: Meaningful Education Reform

CBIA congratulates Governor Dannel Malloy and state legislators for the hard-fought passage of bipartisan education reform–the signature legislation of the 2012 General Assembly session.

Among other things, the bill will make significant progress in helping all of Connecticut’s children receive excellent education they need and deserve to succeed in life.  

“We congratulate Governor Malloy for not only tackling this issue, but for successfully bringing so many different interests together and securing bipartisan support for meaningful education reform,” said John Rathgeber, CBIA president and CEO.

Now, policymakers must make sure that the bill’s reforms—helping at-risk children, fixing broken schools, increasing school choices and supporting teachers and leaders—are put into action.

Other results

Lawmakers also approved a $20.5 billion proposal to head off a potential $284.6 million deficit, but the measure avoids the underlying problem of controlling state spending.

The deficit is a stark reminder that Connecticut’s economy is still struggling to recover from the recession.

In addition, lawmakers also passed bills streamlining the permitting process at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and encourage more brownfield development in the state.

A missed opportunity was the jobs bill, SB1, which would have increased the momentum of last fall’s jobs session but failed to gain passage when time ran out on the session.

The most negative business-related legislation result is a bill that supposedly reforms Connecticut’s campaign finance law (HB 5556) but actually tramples on free-speech rights of corporations. Businesses are urging Gov. Malloy to veto this bill.

Several measures which would have slowed Connecticut’s economic recovery did not move forward, including increasing the state’s minimum wage, shifting the burden of local property taxes, and opening up the state health plan to small business–an initiative that would have disrupted the small business healthcare marketplace.

For more information, contact CBIA’s Bonnie Stewart at 860.244.1925 or bonnie.stewart@cbia.com.