Connecticut’s largest teachers’ union, bowing to political realities, has abandoned for this year plans to push for an independent teacher-licensure board.
The Connecticut Education Association had urged the legislature to create such a board after the state board of education rejected the proposal and voted instead to create an advisory panel on professional standards for teachers.
But union officials acknowledged last week that their proposal--which was expected to cost between $250,000 and $2 million--was unlikely to receive a sympathetic hearing this year because of the legislature’s preoccu4pation with closing an $800-million budget deficit.
“We feel that this year, with the fiscal problems in the state, the philosophical debate that should occur on this issue would be lost,” said Mark Waxenberg, the cea’s president.
Representative Naomi Cohen, chairman of the House education committee, said that the union’s proposal for a “Mercedes-model professional-standards board” faced an uphill battle in the legislature. But she added that her panel had created a study committee to examine what type of authority such a standards board should have.
