Elliott called for systemic change to Connecticut’s education system, speaking to union members and the press on Tuesday: “Year over year, we see the way that rules are put into place, there’s advantaged people based on where they live or how they grow up. Even if it’s not done with intent, at a certain point in time, you have to believe that maybe it is.” The city’s teachers union endorsed Hamden State Rep. Josh Elliott for governor on Tuesday — throwing their support behind the progressive gubernatorial challenger’s promises to tax the wealthy, reject a federal voucher program, and increase state aid for city schools. “We must increase taxes on millionaires and billionaires in our state,” New Haven Federation of Teacher President Leslie Blatteau said at a press conference held outside John S. Martinez School in Fair Haven. “We agree with Josh that we must do more as a state to provide property tax relief for working class families, and we agree with Josh that we must create a sustainable public school funding system for our students and families here in New Haven and throughout the state.” The endorsement presser took place two weeks before Elliott is set to face off against two-term incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont, a Greenwich businessman, in the Aug. 11 Democratic primary. Whoever wins that contest will face Republican candidate and Greenwich State Sen. Ryan Fazio in November’s general election. Blatteau joined Elliott and several New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) teachers and students for Tuesday’s presser. It marked the second education-labor endorsement Elliott has received so far this campaign season. Elliott — a Hamden legislator who has pitched himself as a more progressive alternative to Lamont — has campaigned on overhauling Connecticut’s tax code, reforming the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula, which has not been adjusted for inflation in over a decade, and opting out of a federal voucher program that passed in the U.S. Senate last year, stances that many union teachers on Tuesday said they supported. Blatteau called the federal voucher program a “Trojan horse” that would “ultimately help dismantle public schools” by giving families money they could use to pay for private school tuition rather than public schools.  Unlike his opponent, Elliott has said he believes that Connecticut’s tax code and education funding system need to be fundamentally reformed rather than amended.  “The kids that are in New Haven are just as deserving as the kids that are in Greenwich,” Elliott said, describing inequities in the state’s taxing and education systems, which he and teachers say favor students from wealthier districts. Contrasting with comments Lamont made at a campaign event in Westville on Monday, Elliott argued that the state should invest more in New Haven public schools. Lamont’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the union endorsement. Of educational inequality in the state, Elliott said, “Greenwich can’t solve this problem, and New Haven can’t solve this problem. But the state can solve this problem. We need folks like the New Haven Federation of Teachers to say we’re also going to put ourselves out there and on the line, because the risk of status quo is significantly scarier and worse than the risk of backing the vote that doesn’t win.” Alexander Oji, a NHPS teacher of 21 years, and Julia Miller, Connecticut’s 2025 Teacher of the Year — both NHPS alums and union members — also spoke in support of Elliott during the press conference.  “We live in one of the richest states in the richest country in the world, and yet, students in New Haven and in many of our chronically underfunded urban and rural districts suffer due to inequitable funding,” Miller said. “Josh Elliott understands that the Economic Cost Sharing formula has not lived up to its intended purpose, nor meaningfully addresses the realities we face. He will ensure that the state pays its fair share, and will pay for this by creating a tax code in which those at the top of the income scale pay their fair share.” “We’re simply here because we need change,” Oji said. “We’re teaching in schools that have loose ceilings, broken toilets, HVACs not working, and it’s not just in one school, it’s in many of our schools,” which he said “impacts teacher morale, staff morale, student morale.”  “Our students are struggling, our parents are struggling. They have to make a decision on paying the rent or putting food on the table and this is the unfortunate reality that we face. So, what can we do to help? We can tax the rich,” he said.  Marianne Maloney, a Hamden resident and a chief steward of the New Haven teachers union, said Elliott had been coming to meetings about legislation she also attended for 20 years. “He’s a listener, and he really cares about our concerns.”  Elliott’s campaign manager Melissa Murray said that it can be challenging for primary candidates to win endorsements, because many wait for the general election before supporting a candidate. Of Elliott, she said, “from the beginning, he’s had the teachers.”  Miller said although some are skeptical Elliott could revamp Connecticut’s tax code, she is optimistic. “If no one is willing to reimagine things, then we always have the status quo.” “I’m here with relief that my natural allies are part of this campaign in a way that is public,” Elliott said, “and I’m here with excitement for the next two weeks ahead of us and the next four years.” Alexander Oji said New Haven students and parents were “struggling”: students shouldn’t have to ask, he said, “How come my school’s falling apart?” Julia Miller said Elliott was a “breath of fresh air”: “A new way is possible,” with him as governor, she said. The post Teachers Union Endorses Elliott appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less