More than a thousand CEA members have called or sent their Congressional representatives an email to urge that the national teacher jobs bill be kept alive. Have you joined them? It’s vital that more teachers take action to extend the advocacy. Keeping the calls and emails going to Capitol Hill provides more reasons to illustrate why the Keep Our Educators Working Act is critical.
If you have yet to contact your U.S. Representative, please take a moment to do so now. Call or email and ask your Representative to support the Keep Our Educators Working Act. This legislation could have a significant, positive impact for schools, students, and teachers in Connecticut.
On Monday, Connecticut Commissioner of Education, Mark McQuillan, sent letters to Connecticut’s Congressional Delegation to ask for their support of the Keep Our Educators Working Act. The legislation would offer a further $23 billion to schools across the country to help prevent layoffs. Read the Commissioner’s news release and letter.
Stimulus money for Connecticut’s schools will be drying up next year, and without additional federal funds, schools will likely face significant numbers of layoffs.
“Without action by Congress to continue its support of our schools, we face dire consequences at the local level,” wrote McQuillan. “While the total allocation to education under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was a small fraction of the federal TARP funding that went to Wall Street, funds awarded to local school districts had a tremendous stabilizing effect on our local communities that kept local property taxes stable, teachers teaching and our classrooms functioning. School superintendents and local boards of education throughout Connecticut have been very concerned about Fiscal Year 2011-12 when the ARRA funding comes to an end.”
I called my representative because of the severity of the budget cuts nationwide. To lose the number of teaching positions that we are talking about would be devastating to our students in the ways of programs being cut, courses not being offered and of course higher class sizes.
As an urban educator I see the effects of large class sizes everyday, and to increase them more would be catastrophic. In Bridgeport we are expecting some 144 teaching jobs to be cut. Devastating to say the least.
I called Representative Larson’s office and expressed my concern that if Congress does not enact this legislation soon our schools will lose programs, teachers, and class sizes will go up. I am particularly concerned with the increase in sizes of classes.
As a special education teacher I see the danger when students with special needs are mainstreamed into larger classes. Teachers are less able to meet the needs of students and modify the curriculum. Teachers and programs that have provided valuable services and resources will no longer be there. At a time when high school requirements for graduation are being strengthened and education reform is sweeping the nation, how can we afford to make these cuts? It is crucial that we do not short change our students at this time. It is urgent that this bill be approved.
I mailed my representative to let him know how much these cuts affect our day to day jobs and our students. We are losing 37 positions which will make our middle school go from 4 teams for seventh grade to 3 and change 8th grade to no teams –a junior high in effect. I feel the loss of teams in 8th is very detrimental to the students–it is the advantage of teaming that enables us to keep track of how students are doing not only academically, but especially emotionally and socially! This will not be a good thing.
Due to the teacher cuts, more and more students are squeezed into already small classrooms. This negatively impacts effective teaching and student learning. Public education deserves better than this. Teachers and students hold the “keys” to a brighter future, but the CT Representatives are taking away the “cars”
I called Congressman Larson to ask that he support the bill which will help keep teacher jobs. Although I am no longer teaching, I work with teachers throughout the state, and I hear about the deep cuts that are being made in town after town.
How can the public expect teachers to do more with fewer resources and larger classes? It just doesn’t make sense. How many times have we heard that class size doesn’t matter, because “I went to school when there were 40 kids in a class.” Anyone who says that doesn’t understand how the world and today’s students have changed. Students come to school today with needs that can’t be met in large classrooms. We must pass this bill so our students will get the attention they need to be successful in today’s world.
In my small school district that currently employs 200 teachers, 18 teachers and 28 paras are losing their jobs, 3 programs are being cut at the high school and class sizes are being increased to close to 30 students at all grade levels. We can forget about trying to follow the Obama Admistration’s Blueprint for Educational Reform. Our budget crisis is forcing us to follow a Blueprint for Educational Failure.
I called Representative Rosa DeLauro to ask her to support this bill. In my community a school is being closed, teachers are being laid off and class size is about to go up. It is like this in many communities across the state. How can we continue to provide the best education for our students if this trend continues?
I’ve emailed each of my congressional representatives urging them to support the “Keep Our Educators Working Act.” I taught for 35 years in the city of Bridgeport. Taking teachers out of these urban schools would be a big mistake. It would dramatically enlarge class sizes in every school. Compound this with the elimination of courses and extracurricular activities and we are looking at a recipe for disaster. I would encourage everyone who believes in a quality education for our children to support the Education Jobs Bill.
As a teacher in Waterbury teaching for 32 years, I fear what our schools will look like if the Education Jobs bill is not passed. This bill will help save the jobs of the desperately needed teachers who teach our children. Our children deserve the best and should be prepared to compete in this global job market. Taking away the opportunity for our students to learn in smaller classrooms with highly qualified teachers, reducing the number of classes offered, and eliminating enrichment curriculum will all result in limiting our children’s futures.
Congressman Murphy , please support the Education Jobs Bill, your child and others are depending on you to do so!
I emailed my U.S.Rep to encourage him to support the Keep Our Educators Working Act. In my district, many programs funded by the Federal Government are in place. Without continued monetary support, the students who have benefited from these instructional modalities will suffer greatly. These students have had the benefit of small group instruction. How will these students, who struggle daily , get the instruction needed in a class of 30 or more ? Teachers in these classes will no longer be employed and the connection and growth of their students destroyed.
The formative years in education must be supported !
What affect will this have on students struggling to meet the new high school mandates ??
We must continue to contact our CT legislators to ensure that our students and educators will have the funds to do their jobs in a safe and thriving environment !