Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy appears to be mending fences with teachers, many of whom were angered by remarks he made about tenure and by the roll-out of his public education reform initiative.
The state's largest teachers' union, the Connecticut Education Association, announced on Monday that it's endorsing Malloy's re-election.
In making the endorsement, the CEA noted that Malloy has increased education investment in the state, and said he is the first governor in state history to fully fund the teachers' pension plan.
"We went into this process with our eyes wide open," CEA president Sheila Cohen said in a press release. "Initially, not everything we saw was our vision of what was best for teachers, children, and public education. But when we saw how [Malloy has] made his door open to us, and taken strong stands on important issues, we felt Malloy/Wyman was a better direction."
The union also had harsh words for Malloy's Republican challenger Tom Foley, saying he would set the state on the path to education disaster, and that his plan to have money follow the child would be destabilizing to public school districts.
The move is something of an about-turn for the union. Its political committee voted two weeks ago against making any endorsement in the governor's race. Both candidates addressed about 200 union members at a closed-door meeting to outline their education platforms.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
