We had a very successful turn out last evening and even won over the people turned out by the Mayor. Lets keep up the pressure to have the Board of Aldermen send the budget back to the Mayor.

City Hall, 165 Church Street, New Haven, CT 06511

We are asking everyone to do these three things:

#1 —- Sign the Petition to Cut the Budget by 10%
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The Mayor is proposing a 2% cut through Innovation Based Budgeting (IBB), we are asking that number to be 10% to be no new (net) taxes. Please call Jeffrey at 203-676-0880 or email jeffrey.kerekes@gmail.com if you have petitions ready to be picked up. While our Citywide Brainstorm has generated over 315 revenue/expense ideas, we believe city managers are best poised to implement cost savings measures to achieve a 10% reduction in the budget.

http://www.petitiononline.com/NewHaven/petition.html

#2 —- Come to the Final Public Hearing On The Budget —- **** PLEASE COME TO THIS EVENT!!!!! **** —-
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Final public hearing on the budget. We need people to turn out on this night. Bring your neighbors!!!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 @ 6:30 pm
Board of Alders Chambers, City Hall, 165 Church Street, New Haven, CT 06511

#3 —- Contact these Board of Alders, Finance Committee Members —- They will be making a recommendation to the Full BOA on the Budget —-
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Ward#
4 Andrea Jackson-Brooks Ward4@newhavenct.net 102 DeWitt Street New Haven, CT 06519-2131 203-776-0502

5 Jorge Perez Ward5@newhavenct.net 24 Cassius Street New Haven, CT 06519-2313 203-562-4373

7 Bitsy Clark clarkfrances@sbcglobal.net 320 Audobon Court New Haven, CT 06511-1203 203-772-4455

9 Roland Lemar Ward9@newhavenct.net 549 Orange Street New Haven, CT 06511- 203-240-6135

10 Justin Elicker Ward10@newhavenct.net 192 Willow Street New Haven, CT 06511-2501 203-500-2969

11 Maureen O’Sullivan-Best Ward11@newhavenct.net 54 Foxon Street New Haven, CT 06513-3404 203-467-9783

14 Stephanie Bauer Ward14@newhavenct.net 55 East Pearl Street New Haven, CT 06513-3206 203-785-0065

16 Migdalia Castro Ward16@newhavenct.net 139 Lloyd Street,Unit 3, New Haven, CT 06513-3811 777-6835

22 Greg Morehead Ward22@newhavenct.net 13 Frances Hunter Drive, New Haven, CT 06511-3533 203-507-7766

23 Yusuf I. Shah Ward23@newhavenct.net 730 George Street #309, New Haven, CT 06511-5217 843-4450

29 Carl Goldfield Ward29@newhavenct.net 25 Roydon Road New Haven, CT 06511-2806 782-2064 w:787-9222

Dear Friend,

I’ve been asking a lot of you these past weeks. Since launching our ‘Mind the Gaps’ campaign almost two months ago, I’ve been asking you to write your legislators, attend legislative hearings, visit our campaign website and spread the word among friends and family.

You responded – and because of that, we’ve made real progress. As we head into the latter part of the legislative session, I wanted to take a moment to update you on the state of our campaign and thank you for your work.

Over 1,000 Connecticut citizens have written their elected officials to ask them to ‘Mind the Gaps’ in student achievement by enacting three fiscally responsible, commonsense, results-oriented education reforms in the 2009 legislative session.

In late February, over 400 advocates attended the appropriations hearing in Hartford, wearing bright blue Mind the Gaps t-shirts and asking our legislators to avoid the tragedy of half-completed, high-performing public charter schools.

In March, advocates from across the state testified at two hearings on three important bills that were raised by the General Assembly’s Education Committee for data transparency in schools and teacher quality.

1) An Act Concerning Longitudinal Studies Of Student Achievement (H.B. 6491) would require that the Connecticut State Department of Education allow nonprofits and universities to use education data the state collects to improve instruction and help parents make smart choices.

2) An Act Concerning Teacher Certification (H.B. 6666) would remove the roadblocks keeping excellent teachers out of Connecticut classrooms by changing the law that prevents great candidates from teaching without a specific college major. Instead, this bill would give them the option to prove their subject knowledge by passing a rigorous exam.

3) An Act Establishing A Resident Teacher Certificate (H.B. 6654) would establish a one-year resident teacher certificate so that Teach for America can continue to provide its teachers the long-term professional development and support that has proven so effective in helping raise student achievement.

Next week, on April 2, charter school advocates will converge on the steps of the State Capitol for one last push to ensure our voices are heard as legislators make their final funding choices. And on April 6th, the Education Committee will reach its final deadline to pass these three bills on to the General Assembly as a whole.

If you haven’t done so yet, please take two minutes right now to send a letter to your legislator about these critical issues so that we can ensure that every child in Connecticut has access to a great public school.

Thank you for being an advocate for Connecticut kids.

My Best,

Alex Johnston
Chief Executive Officer
ConnCAN

P.S. Don’t forget to visit our campaign website – www.pleasemindthegaps.org – for more information, videos, and to keep track of our progress.

About ConnCAN — The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) is an advocacy organization building a new movement of concerned Connecticut citizens working to create fundamental change in our education system. To learn more visit: www.conncan.org.