Malloy's education reform plan under debate

Hartford, Conn. (WTNH) - State lawmakers are beginning to look at and debate the governor's big education reform plan.

Governor Malloy says there are too many teachers that don't belong in the classroom, and he says it takes too long and it's too difficult to get rid of them. It's the basis of his proposal to reform teacher tenure.

Reforming teacher tenure is a big part of Malloy's education reform plan and it's a big sticking point for many of the state's 50,000 teachers.

Tuesday was the first of two days of hearings on the big plan that's expected to cost about $130 million in the first year.

"It's amazing how many people will admit that there are teachers in buildings which they don't believe belong there," Malloy said, "but because of this system...remain there."

Rob Wyllie, a 26-year veteran teacher in East Hampton had a front row seat Tuesday, but he is still seething from the Governor's State of the State address where he implied that teachers get tenure for just showing up for work for four years.

"A description of your failure has to be such that, basically, you're incompetent...to be removed, legally," Malloy said, "and then, you get beyond four years and by and large, you have tenure."

"I was never so insulted in my whole life," Wyllie said.

Chances are, Wyllie was speaking for many of the teachers that jammed two hearings rooms Tuesday.

"There are 50,000 teachers out there in the state of Connecticut today that are busting their butts for their students and their school districts," Wyllie said, "and to say that they're just showing up...is a total insult."

Beyond what many felt was an insult, there is another big problem for the powerful unions that represent all those teachers; the linking of tenure to certification.

"Under this legislation, we see that it's possible for you to lose your license to teach in the entire state of Connecticut, based on your work in one particular district," said Sharon Palmer, American Federation of Teachers CT.

The unions say there are plenty of examples of teachers that didn't do well in one district that are doing very well in another, but if you lose your teaching certificate and your license to teach you couldn't get another job.

"What other profession ties their bosses' annual evaluation to whether they keep their license or not," asked Mary Loftus Levine, CT Education Association Union.

On Wednesday lawmakers will be looking at the funding side of this and especially his proposal to establish a so-called education commissioner's network to take over and operate up to 30 of the lowest performing schools in the state.