Hearing on Regionalization, Presidential Candidates on child care, and municipal races

This weekly segment by Democrats for Education Reform CT looks at the top education stories Democrats are watching, providing bite-sized analysis and links to recent articles. On the roster this week: regionalization reaches public hearing, presidential candidates on child care, and a quick preview of municipal races.

Regionalization Reaches Public Hearing

Last Friday, the Education Committee held a public hearing on the topic of regionalization, prompting thousands of submissions of written testimony and an all-day marathon for Committee members. After hours of opposition testimony, Senator McCrory, Education Committee Co-Chair, finally said he had to address the “elephant in the room,” namely: that Connecticut has refused to engage in an honest discussion about how its use of municipal lines to draw school districts has resulted in a segregated and inequitable system of education. Senator Bob Duff, who co-sponsored one of the proposed bills, explained that the purpose of regionalization is not to remove local control, but to improve students' access to comprehensive programming.

• Key testimonies (ERN CT’s Amy Dowell | Sens. Duff + Osten | Rep. Geraldo Reyes)

• Notable coverage (CT Mirror frames the conversation | CT News Junkie reports on Senator McCrory’s comments | Hartford Courant has Senator Duff’s comments)

• Must-read Op-Ed on why regionalization is a matter of equity (CT News Junkie)

Presidential Hopefuls Tackle Child Care

In national news on Friday, a bipartisan group of legislators (including presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar) introduced a bill to provide state grants for training child care workers and expanding child care facilities. Child care is an increasingly relevant topic in 2019 because, until kindergarten starts, parents must choose between covering ballooning child care costs or otherwise becoming single income households. Presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren has observed that child care can cost more than in-state college tuition in over half the country. Her 2020 platform includes a plan to subsidize child care on a sliding scale, making it free for couples with a household income of $50,000 or less, and no more than 7% of income for other households.

• Day Care as a top economic issue of our time (Washington Post)

• Child Care Workforce and Facilities Act, a bipartisan bill to address child care (The Columbian)

• Elizabeth Warren’s universal child care platform (Vox)

ICYMI: Dems Push for Red Towns

A Hartford Courant article this week identified a "blue tsunami watch" in Greenwich, Danbury, and New Britain--municipalities that have tended to lean red. The article details the Democratic party's targets and reasoning for each of the GOP-led towns. Republican party members, however, were doubtful about the projections.

• Read the article (Hartford Courant)