This piece was originally published by Yankee Institute for Public Policy.
The Connecticut Education Association (CEA), the state’s largest teachers’ union, recently released their 2024 Legislator Report Card, and Sen. Jan Hochadel (D-Meriden) wasted no time in announcing her 97% score. However, this accolade says more about her unwavering loyalty to the teachers’ union than any genuine progress for Connecticut‘s education system.
In a July 26 email, Sen. Hochadel wrote that she is “proud of this grade, which recognized my consistent support for Connecticut students and teachers through votes in the General Assembly.” She received an average score of 97.5 for the 2023-2024 sessions — the second highest in the 36-member Senate. The highest rating went to Sen. Julie Kushner (D-Danbury), who received a 98%.
What is particularly concerning is Sen. Hochadel’s dual role as a lawmaker and president of the Connecticut American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — the state’s other teacher union. This overlap raises a serious question: why does Hochadel not recuse herself from voting on legislation that directly benefits both AFT union members and her?
Sen. Hochadel has served as AFT’s president since 2015, a position elected every two years. Notably, she earns over three times more in her union role ($154,810) than in her state Senate position ($49,000). This financial disparity makes it clearly advantageous for her to prioritize union growth and benefits for its members.
CEA’s Report Card evaluates legislators’ voting records and their advocacy and efforts to advance CEA priorities over the two-year legislative cycle. These priorities include preserving collective bargaining, enhancing the teaching profession, protecting pensions, and supporting education policy claiming to enhance public education.
The score also shows legislators’ overall support of teachers and public education, advocacy of CEA priorities, and responsiveness to requests to meet with educators and CEA staff.
In the votes assessed by CEA, Sen. Hochadel aligned perfectly with the union’s priorities, earning her a spot on the “2024 Honor Roll.” While CEA’s report card claims to evaluate legislators’ support for students, teachers and public education, instead it shows who toes the union line.
“CEA’s Honor Roll provides concrete information regarding legislators who are true public education champions, who support teachers, and who have taken action to improve Connecticut’s public education system,” said CEA President Kate Dias. “These are the legislators who have taken time to meet with us, who listen to us, and who respect us as the professionals we are and for what we do for students across the state. Our educators rely on this information to ensure they know where their legislators stand and how they voted on issues impacting them.”
However, this praise fails to address the significant conflict of interest in Hochadel’s dual role as a senator and union president. Her voting record reflects not just a dedication to public education but a prioritization of union agendas, which directly benefit her.
Among the bills CEA graded Sen. Hochadel on were changes to educator certification, expanding the Indoor Air Quality grant program, and updating professional development requirements.
The report card has recently been used as a tool to threaten lawmakers. During the 2023 legislative session, an email to legislator’s sent from AFT and CEA was made public. It implied that a vote in favor of a bill aimed at changing the charter school approval process would lead to a failing grade on the CEA’s “legislative report card.” This has electability consequences.
Concerns regarding the Sen. Hochadel’s favorable vote on pay raises for state employees surfaced in May when she supported a 4.5% salary increase for members of the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC), a move that will cost taxpayers over $150 million.
It is important to point out that AFT was one of the unions involved in these negotiations since it represents state employees in the executive and judicial branches, as well as staff at state colleges, universities and UConn Health.
Immediately after casting her vote, Sen. Hochadel issued a press release announcing her approval of the contract for 45,000 state employees, expressing that she was “proud to vote” in favor of it.
Sen. Hochadel is running for reelection, and if her pattern of prioritizing teachers’ unions over broader interests continues, we can expect more of the same in the 2025 legislative session if the AFT’s platform is any indication.
In July, AFT published resolutions passed at their biennial convention that call to educate and lobby state legislatures “to stop the race to significantly reduce or eliminate state income taxes.” Meanwhile, another resolution vows to “publicly and powerfully oppose” any support for voucher or tax credit programs, whether federal or state, that would enable underprivileged students to escape failing public schools.