Senator Gaston Receives ‘A’ Grade From CT Teachers Union For 2024 Legislative Session

HARTFORD – The Connecticut Education Association, a state teacher’s union representing more than 43,000 active, retired and aspiring educators, has just released its report card for the 2024 legislative session, and state Senator Gaston achieved a score of 90, confirming his outstanding commitment to the public policies and budget dollars that make Connecticut teachers and their public school students successful all across the state.

Detailed results of the report card can be found here: https://cea.org/legislator-report-card/?wdt_search=senate

“Investing in our students’ success is a top priority for me and our teachers play such crucial role in shaping the minds and futures of our young people,” said Sen. Gaston. “I am honored to receive an A from the Connecticut Education Association for a second year in a row as I work to ensure teachers have a positive environment to teach and our students have every opportunity to learn and grow. Thank you to our teachers who go above and beyond to provide an outstanding education to our students who will one day positively impact our communities. I have always fought for adequate education funding and additional support for Bridgeport and Stratford schools because they provide a pathway to success for students from an early age and we must continue to invest in educators and future generations.”

This is the second CEA report card for Sen. Gaston, who has a lifetime score of 90.5 for voting for the types of pro-public education policies that have made Connecticut’s public school system the second-best in America, according to a WalletHub survey out this week. https://wallethub.com/edu/e/states-with-the-best-schools/5335

The CEA awarded an average score of 90.2 (A-) to the 24 Democratic senators this session, and an average score of 76.5 (C) to the 12 Republican senators.

In past years, the CEA has graded legislators on their support for public education policies such as Cultural Responsiveness, School Counselors, Black and Latino Studies, Minority Teacher Recruitment, Student Mental & Behavioral Health, Protecting Teachers’ Personal Information, Standardized Assessment & Special Education, and Safe Classrooms.

This year, the CEA graded legislators for their votes on:

• House Bill 5436, teacher certification and mandated reporters, for supporting important changes to teacher certification, improvements to mandated reporter procedures, changes to the assessment for teacher preparatory programs, and supports for paraeducators.
• House Bill 5437, Professional Development & School Climate, for supporting and updating professional development requirements and improving school culture and climate.
• Senate Bill 154, Behavior Notification & Assessment Audit, for supporting better student behavior notifications to parents and a standardized assessment audit.
• House Bill 5524 and Senate Bill 5, School Indoor Air Quality, for supporting and expanding Connecticut’s school Indoor Air Quality grant program.
• Senate Bill 14, Goodwin Magnet Teacher Rights, for ensuring teacher rights are maintained at Goodwin University Magnet School.
• House Bill 5523, the 2024 Budget Implementer, for supporting a budget implementer that included $550,000 to the Teachers Retirement Board for Retiree Healthcare and adding CEA to the Education Mandate Review Advisory Council.