Weingarten said she came to Connecticut to see how budget cuts have impacted low-income schools.
The leader of the second-biggest teachers union in the country visited Connecticut Thursday to speak out against the governor's proposed budget cuts to education programs.
AFT President Randi Weingarten visited Hartford's Martin Luther King Junior School, and criticized Governor Dannel Malloy, saying he's put the interests of business over schools.
“In being briefed in the last couple of days, I’m just shocked at what he’s doing,” Weingarten said. “I’m really shocked.”
Weingarten has supported Malloy in the past, but said his proposal to cut funding to schools while avoiding corporate tax hikes is short-sighted.
“When you invest in education, those investments produce results, as opposed to those constant trickle down, race-to-the bottom, you know, who gets the scraps,” Weingarten said. “That is not America.”
Weingarten said she came to Connecticut to see how budget cuts have impacted low-income schools. She was previously in Detroit, where teachers are protesting against harsh school conditions.
Malloy has proposed cuts to deal with an estimated more than $500 million shortfall in the 2016-17 state budget. Though the Education Cost Sharing Grant would remain the same, grants to magnet schools, special education and the Open Choice program would be affected.
Diane Orson and WNPR interns Stephanie Riefe and Ross Levin contributed to this report.
