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| Malloy at the podium flanked by his former Education Secretary Stefan Pryor, now Gina Raimondo's Commerce chief |
Civil rights attorney Wendy Lecker writes here about the disastrous education
policies of Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy. Although he is a Democrat, he
gives first allegiance to the charter school industry, whose patrons are the
powerful hedge fund managers in the state’s tony suburbs.
She writes that Malloy “slashed funding for social programs, gave no increase for public
K-12 education, despite a pending lawsuit alleging that the state owes almost 2
billion dollars to its public schools, and threatened to veto the state budget
unless the legislature agreed to fund two charter schools in communities that
vehemently opposed them….”
Governor Malloy’s tenure has been characterized by denigrating
teachers, vigorously opposing adequate funding of public schools and vastly
increasing financial support for privately run charter schools which fail to
serve the state’s neediest children, including English Language Learners and
students with disabilities, have disturbingly harsh disciplinary policies,
increase racial isolation, drain public money from needy public schools and
have even been implicated in fraud and theft.
The Courant reported that this year, unprecedented amounts of
money were spent to push the charter agenda by ConnCAN, the charter lobby;
Northeast Charter Network, another charter lobby founded by disgraced Jumoke
leader Michael Sharpe and others; and a newer group operating in Connecticut,
New York and Massachusetts: Families for Excellent Schools (FES).
The Courant further noted that the same millionaires and
billionaires who copiously donated to Malloy’s campaigns are also major donors
to charters and charter lobbyists. This list includes Greenwich millionaire
Jonathan Sackler, the founder of ConnCAN and original board member of the
Achievement First charter chain; Greenwich hedge funder Steve Mandel, who
funded the players behind the illegal takeover of the Bridgeport Board of
Education; embattled SAC Capital chief Steven Cohen and his wife; ConnCAN board
members Arthur Reimers and Andrew Boas; Andrew Stone, a board member at Success
Academy charter chain, a close ally of FES; and ConnCAN donor Marianna McCall.
FES even hired two public relations firms that employ Malloy’s recently
departed top aides: Roy Occhiogrosso and Andrew Doba.
The web of charter money is so thick it must have blinded Malloy
to the needs and wishes of constituents from Stamford and Bridgeport.
There is much more. Read the full
article to view the copious links. And to think that Malloy was supported by
the state’s teachers when he ran for re-election!