CEA members from all corners of the state are at the Capitol today for CEA Lobby Day wearing #RedforEd and talking with their legislators about the need to pass bills that will address the teacher shortage crisis.
To draw further attention to CEA’s legislative priorities on this Adversity Adds Up Day of Action, teachers held a news conference outside the capitol urging legislators to support teachers.
“We are here to highlight key issues legislators must address this session,” said CEA President Kate Dias. “These are things educators are passionate about that speak to how we will uplift, support, and grow this profession.”
Mia Dimbo explained that in Bridgeport where she teaches, the schools are constantly losing teachers to other districts and other professions. Her school has been down a social studies teacher for three years and her eighth-grade students will be moving on to high school next year without having had an English teacher for the last seven months.
“It’s a really difficult time for teachers everywhere,” Dimbo said. “I hope the legislature hears all of us about the legislative priorities that need to move forward to make sure we retain teachers.”
“We have the tendency to think education will just go on and there will always be a teacher in the classroom to teach our children when we send them off to school every day,” said CREC teacher Rep. Kevin Brown. “But this shortage is real. To address the shortage, we have to incentivize the teaching profession and give it the respect it deserves.”
“The best way we can address the teacher shortage issue is through elevating the teaching profession,” said Rep. Chris Poulos, a Spanish teacher in Redding. “When we get proposals and policies in front of us, we have to ask, how does this policy help to retain the good teachers we have in our schools? If we don’t have an answer to that, we need to look at other proposals. To attract teachers of course we have to look at minimum pay, but we also have to look at barriers to certification.”
Fairfield teacher Mick McGarry has a son who has followed in his father’s footsteps and entered the teaching profession. McGarry shared that, while his son loves his job, his low starting salary is a significant impediment to beginning his life as an independent adult.
“Thirty percent of his salary goes just to paying student loans, 40% goes to rent, and he lives with two other guys and they don’t live in a very nice apartment,” McGarry said. “How can people begin their lives when they can’t even afford the basics? I hope legislators will think about teachers’ starting salaries and what we can do to make it possible for young people to afford to be teachers.”
“We continue to have conversations with legislators about the lack of acknowledgement for the work that teachers have done during COVID,” said Dias, adding that recognizing and thanking teachers for their work during the pandemic is a high priority for CEA members.
Some argue that teachers shouldn’t receive monetary recognition from the state because they don’t work for the state, Dias said. “I would argue that neither did the private employees who received over $111 million dollars in thank you funds for their frontline work.”
“Last year we made some steps forward, but they’re baby steps,” said CEA Vice President Joslyn DeLancey. “The costs of not acting now to improve the profession we won’t see now—we’ll see those in three years when it’s too late. We need to act now. We need to take care of respecting the work we did during the pandemic. We need to look at salaries and make sure we’re paying teachers a livable wage. We also need to make sure the state takes a stance and says, ‘Connecticut appreciates and respects our teachers and invests in public education.'”
“I want to thank CEA for coming up with priorities that will make the teaching profession more attractive,” said Rep. Ron Napoli. “We look forward to working with you all.”
“We need to stand with our educators to ensure our students get what they need,” said Dias. “If we aren’t taking care of our teachers, how can they possibly take care of our children?”
