Teacher voices from the BFT and all over Connecticut have been heard as Senate BIll 24 exited the Education Committee this evening. The new bill delays any tenure changes and discards other anti-union measures. Excerpt from the Hartford Courant…

In a 28-5 bipartisan vote, the state Education Committee approved a substitute education reform bill Monday evening that significantly changes Gov. Dannel P. Malloy‘s proposal — delaying any tenure reform until next year, decreasing funding for charter schools and curtailing implementation of a commissioner’s network to turn around low-performing schools.

Rae Ann Knopf, executive director of the Council for Education Reform, said the bill in its revised form is “significantly watered-down… I think we have concerns about whether … what’s in there now would actually have an effect on education for children.”

The substitute bill alters or delays aspects of Malloy’s bill that were most opposed by the teachers’ unions, including a provision that would have linked a new teacher evaluation system to tenure, certification and dismissal. The new bill calls for a study of the evaluation system and asks the commissioner of education to report back on how it’s working in January 2013.

For the full story, click here.

A 55 page draft of the revised bill is here.

How did members of the Education Committee vote? Find out here. Those who voted “yea” were in favor of altering the bill to its new language which took teacher concerns into consideration.

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