League of Women Voters & Library Hosts Discussion with Wilton’s State Legislators

Controversy related to the state’s mandated reading initiative and how it’s impacting the town was at the forefront of discussion Wednesday evening, Jan. 31 when the Wilton League of Women Voters and Wilton Library held a “Dialogue with our State Legislators.”

State Sen. Ceci Maher (D-26) and State Rep. Keith Denning (D-42) were in Wilton Library’s Rimer Room with about two dozen town officials and constituents to discuss goings-on in Hartford and several issues of interest to residents.

Both lawmakers said they were trying to help the towns that they represent solve the dilemma of the state’s “Right to Read” law and how it’s potentially going to force even the highest achieving districts such as Wilton into purchasing state-mandated reading programs.

While the Wilton School District, based on its student performance data, has been trying to get a waiver for the K-3 initiative, which is aimed at bringing up reading scores for that age group throughout the state, the Connecticut State Department of Education (SDE) has refused to grant it one.

“They hate me at the Department of Education because I am in their face about this,” Denning said, noting that the waiver process itself was flawed.

“It was not transparent … We have been pushing back,” he said.

“It’s really not the law we’re fighting,” he said. “We believe in the law. It’s the waiver process we’re fighting.”

Denning noted that he and Maher have executed different approaches in trying to solve the problem, which could ultimately require Wilton to annually purchase expensive language arts materials that have been promoted by the state.

“This is going to take a little bit of finesse,” he said, indicating Maher. “That’s your job. And a little bit of a hammer. That’s my job.”

Maher said she was hopeful some kind of consensus solution might be found.

“Honestly, it is clear to me SDE is not really hearing,” she said.

“Everybody is sort of standing solidly in their position … They need to figure out a work-around,” she said.

Regardless of the possibility of the SDE changing its perspective, Denning said that defiance of the law would not necessarily result in any consequences to the town.

“There’s no teeth to this law … The most they can do is not give you the money we’re not getting now,” he said.

“That’s not 100% true,” Maher said, with details of the state’s potential response to Wilton’s failure to adhere as-yet unknown.

Selectwoman Kim Healy, who serves on the state’s appointed Reading Implementation Program, was in attendance at the event and spoke about her dissatisfaction with the legislation.

“It’s a bad law,” she said, noting that the SDE had no intention of changing it.

“They’re digging in their heels … They want to make this about equity it seems, (but) it’s going to bring down the top instead of bringing up the bottom,” she said.

Board of Education member Pam Ely, who was also there, spoke in defense of the district.

“We’re doing what we need to do,” she said. “Our kids are learning how to read. Our test scores show that.”

Parent James Lee of Wilton, who said he works as a special education administrator, pointed out that the education publishing companies may be having undue influence on the decision-making process within the Department of Education.

“They’re working with for-profit companies that have a huge interest in making dollars … There’s a little bit of conflict of interest,” he said.

“I love the spirit of it (but) I think we should be cautious,” he said of the law.

Energy, Infrastructure, Transportation and Housing

The topics of energy, infrastructure, transportation and housing were all touched on, with some connections drawn between them.

“There are all these things we have to think about,” Denning said, suggesting that each municipality should be targeting areas within their borders where new housing could be constructed and the relevant infrastructure designed with state and federal assistance.

“The federal government will help do that,” he said, drawing the connection between economic growth, housing and a well-functioning mass transit system.

“We need 130,000 additional housing units,” Maher said, specifying that that included workforce housing, as well as affordable units throughout the state.

The implementation of tolls was also discussed, with Maher speaking in favor of them. She said that digital tolling would ideally not put a burden on low-income workers who have to commute on highways, but instead could target those who pass through on Connecticut’s roads free of charge.

“The trucks that are cutting through our state and putting grooves in our highways, we could use their tolls,” she said.

Denning pointed out that a court case currently underway in Rhode Island, which is hoping to do something similar, may help determine Connecticut’s future with tolls.

Details about the state’s energy needs were batted around, with Denning putting in a plug for more alternative solutions beginning at home.

“If you don’t have solar, you should get solar,” he said. “If you don’t have geothermal, you should get geothermal.”

He praised a Danbury-based company called Cadenza Innovation (founded and led by Wilton resident Christina Lampe-Onnerud), which is working with large-scale storage batteries — the kind of technology that he said enables homeowners to create and store their own electricity, thus becoming their own energy providers.

“The next 10-15 years is going to be revolutionary … We can’t even see it, but we need to be ready for it,” he said.