CEA joined with Torrington and Plainfield teachers, a Brooklyn parent and her two children, and the municipalities of Torrington, Plainfield, and Brooklyn yesterday to file a lawsuit against cuts to education in the governor’s executive order.
“We have taken this action to prevent our schools from being stripped of critical resources because that will cause irreparable harm to our students,” said CEA President Sheila Cohen.
Governor Malloy’s executive order strips more than $557 million in education funding from the majority of the state’s public schools and puts children’s futures at risk. The suit seeks to halt the Governor’s executive order that eliminates education funding in 85 cities and towns and severely cuts funding in another 54 towns, including those with high levels of poverty.
“Our public schools can’t absorb these devastating cuts, and it is our children who are being punished,” said Brooklyn parent Louise Morrison, who joined the suit on behalf of her son and daughter. “Our children and our public schools are too important to cast aside and just hope for the best. We need a fair budget that invests in education and our children.”
“We have to protect our critical services, especially education for our children,” said Plainfield Central Middle School teacher Janet Piezzo. She is concerned about the potential loss of thousands of teachers across the state and how that will impact students.
“We are already doing more with less, and our schools can’t absorb more cuts,” she said. “I fear for my students, who will be crammed into larger classes with fewer resources.”
Watch the entire press conference here.
Check out some of the coverage of yesterday’s press conference:
