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The girls recall the discussion topics from that morning. They explain that it was a long morning with a range of topics covered. Each girl seems to remember a different aspect as they all interrupt each other. \u201cThe governor talked about the budget\u201d \u201c-and school security, after you know, Newt-\u201c \u201cThey talked about special ed.\u201d The scattered recollections of these high school seniors demonstrate the vast coverage of the event, but also what aspects stood out to them.<\/span><\/p>\nGonzalez handed me her packet to leaf through. An itinerary is followed by biographies of each of the legislators present at the event. The last two pages identify bills that the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education is currently following. I point out a few and these seniors do not seem to remember which ones in particular were discussed at the Bushnell. The budget seems to be the most prevalent discussion, according to these participants in particular. The \u201cEducation Funding Rally\u201d title of the time slot seems to make sense despite its absence from personal itineraries.<\/p>\n
Looking through the various CABE bills, two directly reference the issues of budget; one addresses implementation while the other discusses the Department of Education reporting an annual budget. Other concerns include innovations in schools, alternative programs, English-language learners, and the achievement gap. The two that impact the structure and implementation of budget concerns were listed. Looking into the Connecticut General Assembly site, the bills and their status are as follows.<\/p>\n
Connecticut House Bill 6357, an act implementing the budget recommendations of the Governor concerning education, consists of 52 pages, available on the Connecticut General Assembly website (http:\/\/www.cga.ct.gov\/<\/a>). This bill was introduced and referred to the Joint Committee on Education February 7, 2013 and discussed at the public hearing February 15, 2013.1<\/p>\n Connecticut State Bill 998 AAC was introduced and referred to the Joint Committee on Education February 27, 2013 and discussed at the public hearing March 4, 2013.2This bill requires the Department of Education to report annual budgets of regional education service centers to the Connecticut General Assembly.<\/p>\n These bills require looking into for an understanding. The bills may have been directly referenced at the briefings at the Bushnell, but the particular high school seniors I talked to could not refer to them. While they could not point out the specifics of the bills, their understanding of educational policy and its impact, they agreed, was bettered by their attendance at A Day on the Hill. I asked them of their interest in educational policy in their futures.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be a teacher,\u201d Laccone answered. \u201cI am definitely interested in it,\u201d Biggins stated, \u201cin policy.\u201d The five girls seem bright-eyed and new to the field. As seniors, a new chapter is just beginning for them. They each tell me which college they are attending in the fall. Their plans for future involvement are open-ended. A teacher had selected them from their high school to attend the event. Overall, the event opened the eyes of these high school seniors to the complexities of educational policy and its impact.<\/p>\n 1<\/strong>\u00a0Connecticut General Assembly. (2013, March).\u00a0Bill Status <\/em>\u00a0(Governor’s H.B. No. 6357). Retrieved from http:\/\/www.cga.ct.gov\/asp\/cgabillstatus\/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=HB06357&which_year=2013<\/p>\n 2<\/strong>\u00a0Connecticut General Assembly. (2013, March).\u00a0Bill Status <\/em>\u00a0(Raised S.B. No. 998). Retrieved from http:\/\/www.cga.ct.gov\/asp\/cgabillstatus\/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=SB00998&which_year=2013<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Day on the Hill is an incredible event of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE). The event allows for superintendents, school administrators, and students to hear from and talk with state legislators about issues surrounding education policy. The event included remarks by Govenor Dannel P. Malloy, Senator Andrea Stillman, Representative Andy Fleishmann, … Continue reading Opening Education Policy to High Schoolers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4052"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4058,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4052\/revisions\/4058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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