2016 CT Senate race: on Education


Dan Carter: Bottom-up decisions on schools, not top-down politicians

Every American should demand and expect equal opportunity to a great education. Too often politicians like Senator Blumenthal become plagued by the agendas of special interest groups and rather than search for new solutions, rely on the same-old approach that frankly has failed.

Decisions about our children's education should not be made top-down, by politicians like Senator Blumenthal in Washington D.C. These decisions should be made locally and from the bottom-up, by parents and teachers

Source: 2016 Connecticut Senate campaign website CarterForSenate.com Aug 31, 2016

August Wolf: Support home-school, charter schools, & parochial schools

We start by getting rid of Common Core and the over reliance on standardized tests. Education should be determined at the local level, where taxpayers and parents can monitor what's happening. Second, we need policies at every level of state and local government to support the right of parents to choose the best learning environment for their children. That means supporting and affirming parents' right to home-school or send their children to charter schools, parochial schools, or any other school. The federal Department of Education takes local tax dollars from Connecticut and spends them on bureaucrats and regulations in Washington. There's just no need for that agency at the federal level. It should be turned into a think-tank to provide best practices for local education."
Source: 2016 Connecticut Senate campaign website Wolf2016.com.com Apr 1, 2016

Dan Malloy: $22M for new charter schools over three years

Several Wall Street billionaires who have invested heavily in the expansion of charter schools contributed more than $200,000 to Democrats in the 2013-14 election cycle, helping Gov. Dannel P. Malloy secure re-election. The campaign contributors earned their fortunes as hedge fund managers and private equity investors before earning reputations as "education philanthropists." They have helped bankroll charter school movements throughout the country, spending to influence elections and to support advocacy movements.

Malloy opened this year's legislative session with a budget proposal that included $4.6 million in funding to open two new privately-managed charter schools, and an additional $17 million for new charter school seats in the next two years. Funding for local school districts would have remained flat.

The charter school funding became a sticking point in budget negotiations this year after a legislative committee voted down the governor's proposal.

Source: Hartford Courant coverage of 2016 Connecticut Senate race May 29, 2015

Tom Foley: Ran on platform of school choice

On the campaign trail last fall, Gov. Dan Malloy was relatively quiet on the issue of charter school expansion, while Republican challenger candidate Tom Foley ran on a platform of increased school choice. But a review by The Courant of spending records shows that charter school donors still chose to support Malloy. The campaign contributions last cycle came from groups such as the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN), Achievement First, Families for Excellent Schools and others that have spent nearly $800,000 lobbying the legislature this year.

After the legislature's budget-writing appropriations committee rejected the proposal to open two new schools, charter school advocates responded with a full-fledged lobbying effort that included a rally at the Capitol the following week. The groups spent more than $100,000 busing out-of-state parents into Hartford, erecting Jumbotron screens on the Capitol lawn and purchasing Subway sandwiches for volunteers. Malloy gave a speech.

Source: Hartford Courant coverage of 2016 Connecticut Senate race May 29, 2015

  • The above quotations are from 2016 Connecticut Senate race: debates and news coverage.
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Candidates and political leaders on Education:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 08, 2018