A new CEA public awareness TV ad featuring CEA members and Connecticut students starts playing on Connecticut TV stations this week. The spot highlights the need for the state to invest in all public schools, not divide schools, parents, and communities into clear winners and losers.
“All of our students deserve to be winners and have the resources needed to succeed and achieve,” said CEA President Sheila Cohen.
The state currently underfunds public education by more than $700 million per year. Rather than focusing on a sustainable revenue stream that allows Connecticut to fulfill its constitutional obligation to fully fund public education for all children, the governor’s proposed budget divides existing funds, creating winners and losers.
The ad reminds the public that teachers are doing all they can to help every student succeed, but the state must invest in our public schools and create a budget that works for all of us, especially our children.
“Parents need to know that the governor’s education budget plan helps only a small number of the state’s neediest schools—and it does so at the detriment of the vast majority of schools. The plan would divert existing funds away from children in over 100 cities and towns, from Groton to Wallingford, Milford to South Windsor, Tolland to Orange and dozens and dozens of other towns in between,” said Cohen.
“We are all in this together,” said CEA Executive Director Mark Waxenberg. “We have a lot of schools in need, but you don’t lift the boats of the poor by poking holes in the boats of the middle class. Legislators must find a solution that protects funding for every public school.”
The ad urges parents to contact their legislators and tell them to protect funding for students in every community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQhnE_u4-jk?rel=0
