My Citizens Agenda: Matt Valenti says teachers need respect, higher pay
What issues do you want to see covered and debated in Connecticut's 5th District race this year?
Editor’s Note: We are asking voters throughout Connecticut’s 5th District to help us decide what issues to focus our coverage of this year’s congressional race on. Instead of assigning reporters to cover the “inside politics” of the campaigns, we’ll be picking the top three to five issues as decided by our readers, and providing an in-depth look at where the candidates stand on them. Today, we’re presenting the “Citizens Agenda” of Matt Valenti, president of the Torrington Education Association. Valenti tells us he supports the CEA’s endorsement of Chris Donovan.
Matt Valenti, Torrington Education Association President
By Matthew P. Valenti, Torrington Education Association
Education of our children needs to be one of the top priorities of this campaign. President Bush came up with No Child Left Behind. As well intentioned as this tried to be, it failed because it was not properly funded, and it forced teachers to teach to a test. Teaching to a test is not the way to improve education.
President Obama came up with Race to the Top. This program is very exclusionary. Race to the Top demands that states compete for a limited amount of money. If you don’t prove certain strategies to the federal government, then you don’t get the dollars. Teachers need to feel respected.
Teachers need to have the government back them up in the classroom, not tear them down. If I had a suggestion to one of the candidates in the 5th District, I would tell them to submit a bill that gives the teachers control back in the classroom.
Also, there should be more money for teacher’s salaries. We are not attracting the brightest and the best candidates to the teaching field. Imagine if teachers’ salaries started at $80,000? We would start attracting students who are brilliant but are currently selecting other fields than teaching. Teaching is a profession which takes a lot of skill, and that skill which will challenge children to learn needs to be rewarded. We are spending $70,000 on each prisoner in the United States, and spending $11,000 on each student. Something has to change if our country wants to compete educationally on the world stage.
What’s your Citizens Agenda? Tell us which issues matter to you on our 5th District Citizens Agenda Poll, or write to us at voices@nhregister.com.
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