This year's legislative session in Connecticut just wrapped up and teachers said they saw mixed results for K-12 classrooms.

Gov. Ned Lamont allocated more funding for public schools and put dollars toward studying a new education funding formula. He and the General Assembly also adopted House Bill 5003, which supporters said makes teacher terminations fairer. It does so by making the findings of an arbitration process binding for the teacher and the district.

Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, said the previous process was inequitable.

"The districts could disregard the actual conclusion of the arbiter, and for us, that meant we never had a fair termination process," Dias explained. "It meant it was always stacked in favor of the district. They could decide whatever they wanted and it functionally made us at-will employees."

Feedback on the bill has been positive but Dias noted there were attempts to soften the language at the request of superintendents and boards of education. She pointed out other pushback was about teachers having greater responsibility, though termination procedures are the same as those for other vital public sector roles, namely police and firefighters.

One bill failing to pass this session was a statewide bell-to-bell cellphone ban in schools. It previously called for districts to have a plan to limit student cellphone use but was updated to more specifically ensure they develop a bell-to-bell ban.

Joslyn DeLancey, vice president of the association, said there is a common option for implementing plans.

"A lot of districts are using the pouches, which are probably the easiest, but also the most expensive in terms of making sure each student puts their phone in the pouch at the beginning of the day."

However, each district takes a different approach. For example, the Darien School District uses magnetic strips for student cellphones at the entrance and exit of the school buildings. DeLancey added some districts outright forbid cellphones from being brought into school, with a teacher confiscating them should a student use them.

Source: Public News Service