With just four weeks left in the legislative session, CEA continues to push hard for some big changes that impact educators and students—indoor air quality standards, more mental health professionals, prohibiting dual instruction, and new proposals to incentivize and keep our talented educators in the profession.
To that end, CEA, along with AFT Connecticut and the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, proposed awarding teachers a pandemic credit toward their retirement that recognizes that working during the pandemic has been particularly taxing and challenging and should be rewarded accordingly.
CEA also supports bonus credited years of service for educators in financially distressed communities, which would allow districts with chronic teacher shortages to attract and retain educators, ensuring continuity for students and decreasing the high costs and consequences of teacher turnover.
The pandemic service credit and financially distressed communities teaching credit are both in the very preliminary stages and will need much more work and continued advocacy—and realistically, it may not pass this session—but CEA is doing all we can to support educators and keep you doing the job you love.
With the session ending on May 4, we will have very short notice as to when legislators will be voting on bills that are important to us. As soon as we receive information regarding when bills will be voted on, we will share it with you.
Please keep an eye out for CEA Action Alerts in your inbox in the next few weeks and immediately respond by contacting your legislators and urging them to pass bills that support educators and students.
Thank you for advocating for yourselves, your colleagues, your students, and your profession.
