CEA-Advisor_April-2023-issue_web

ADVOCATING

8 CEA ADVISOR APRIL 2023

F or years, teachers have struggled with the triple whammy of student loans for undergraduate and master’s degrees, underfunded classrooms, and a paycheck that isn’t enough. In addition to second jobs, they are now also facing attacks on their curriculum, reputation, and personal safety, workdays that bleed into evenings and weekends, and a career with greater responsibilities and fewer rewards. The same union strength and solidarity that led to sweeping legislative changes for Connecticut teachers with the passage of the Education Enhancement Act of 1986 (which raised teacher salaries decades ago) may now bring similar changes for today’s educators. A comprehensive bill containing CEA’s key recommendations for lifting up teachers, students, and public schools is making its way through the Connecticut General Assembly. It would not have gotten this far without strong union advocacy, and it will need a continued push from CEA members to ensure it’s enacted into law. House Bill 6884, An Act Concerning the Recruitment, Retention, and Enhancement of the Teaching Profession, would increase educator salaries and address other critical barriers to teacher recruitment and retention. After a full day of testimony from CEA leaders, members, and staff, the bill passed the legislature’s Education Committee on March 24 and moved to the Appropriations Committee.

recommendations and outlining the importance of this legislation. Coverage came from multiple local news outlets—print, television, and

See the media coverage.

digital—raising public awareness of the challenges teachers face and the urgency behind the proposed laws. “This landmark legislation would reverse decades of policies that led to teacher attrition, a shrinking teacher pipeline, a lack of ethnic and racial diversity in the profession, poor working conditions, and pay that has not kept pace with other professions,” Dias said. “The teaching profession is and has been under tremendous pressure,” said CEA Executive Director Donald Williams, adding, “It’s not every year in the legislative session that we have not only a crisis but the resources—the dollars—to deal with it. If we lift up this profession, then this will be a historic moment that will be remembered not just at the close of this legislative session but next year, five years, 30 years from now.”

CONTINUED PUSH LANDMARK Proposals give teaching

Financial implications Torrington educator Michael McCotter spoke at the press conference and testified before the Education Committee the same day. With a master’s degree and nine years in the classroom, he still struggles financially, earning only slightly more than the proposed minimum salary. “My student loan payments account for 20% of my take-home pay,” he said. “My brother, who works in finance, has a yearly bonus greater than my salary. Despite having to work additional jobs, I still spend hundreds a year on my students for supplies and materials to enrich their learning experience.” “It’s getting more difficult for districts to attract teachers and for educators to stay in teaching when salaries are more competitive elsewhere,” said Dias. “Teachers are taking their experience and leaving for jobs in finance, business, sales, and other professions that offer less stress, more autonomy and respect, and more pay.”

“We are working on fixing educators’ pay so that our teachers are making a living wage and are respected for the contributions they add to our communities and entire society,” said Rep. Jennifer Leeper. “We also recognize the contributions and sacrifices they made educating our children during the pandemic while trying to facilitate learning at home for their own kids. It was a Herculean effort, and they deserve recognition for that. We know that supporting teachers is the most important thing we can do to support our children.”

Help comes in many forms Kristen Basiaga, president of the 500-member-strong Glastonbury Education Association, told lawmakers that HB 6884 and related bills touch on most of her colleagues’ top priorities. “These bills also will help aspiring educators in the pipeline and new teachers in the classroom,” she said. They would establish educator apprenticeships, provide paid student teaching experiences, and remove edTPA, a costly and unnecessary preservice performance assessment. “Unpaid student teaching is a huge barrier to joining the profession,” Basiaga said. “My daughter was seven months old when I began student teaching. I had to work full time and pay for full-time daycare and insurance, but I wasn’t receiving pay for the work I was doing. I was only able to student teach because of the support of my family. Not all aspiring educators have that support. If we want to recruit new teachers to the profession, we have to pay them a living wage. Passing these bills could shape our profession for the better.”

What’s in the bill? Among other things, HB 6884 and similar proposals call for • A statewide minimum teacher salary and funding for salary increases • COVID pension benefit enhancement • Teacher tax credits • An end to edTPA, the ineffective assessment of student teachers’ performance • Kindergarten start age of five by September 1 • Play-based learning in the early grades • Uninterrupted, duty-free prep time • An Educator Bill of Rights Out in force “Heavy input from CEA members made this progress possible,” said Kate Dias. “In the span of a day or two, more than 600 CEA members reached out to lawmakers urging the passage of this bill. Dozens more testified live— many in person, others via Zoom—all speaking to their own experiences regarding salaries, prep time, help for dysregulated students, financial barriers to entering or remaining in the profession, and more.” But, she cautioned, “Our work isn’t over. The bill is now before the Appropriations Committee, which has until April 21 to act. They could pass the bill as is, or with changes, and send it to the full House for a vote—or they could kill the bill completely. So we have to keep those conversations going. We need to keep calling, emailing, and talking with legislators who will ultimately decide whether the bill becomes a law or dies. Time is always short, so it’s critical that our teachers watch their emails for CEA Action Alerts and respond to those requests immediately, as they did earlier in the legislative session.” Setting the stage Ahead of the Education Committee’s public hearing on HB 6884 and related bills, CEA held a widely publicized news conference, releasing a policy brief with

“While I entered the profession prepared to make financial sacrifices, many entering college and choosing a profession are deterred from teaching by the low salary,” added McCotter. “The first five years I was teaching, I lived with my parents so that I could save money for graduate school, as a master’s degree is required of teachers. In order to recruit new teachers, we need to have a starting salary that demonstrates teaching is a respected profession and supports the expected financial impact of additional schooling.” Olivia DeLoach, a senior at Mitchell College who is student teaching seventh grade in Waterford, identified a series of costs associated with becoming a certified teacher—from unpaid student teaching to student loan debt and Praxis exams—against a starting salary that, she said, “brings up the hard question: How am I going to afford the things I need?”