Last month’s school shootings in Newtown, Conn., loomed large in Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s State of the State address, delivered last week in Hartford. The Democrat welcomed the Newtown schools superintendent, Janet Robinson, and town leader Pat Llodra, during his speech highlighting the state’s response to the Dec. 14 violence at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which a gunman killed 20 students and six staff members.
The governor outlined the aims of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, a group of experts representing emergency-response, education, law-enforcement, and gun-control organizations that will draft recommendations to state lawmakers on school safety, mental-health services, and gun-violence prevention.
Mr. Malloy was visibly moved as he described the tragedy and used strong language to oppose suggestions that teachers and school officials should be armed.
“More guns are not the answer,” the governor said.
While reducing the state’s budget deficit was a major theme of the address, the governor touted a $100 million investment in high-needs districts in the state, saying that teachers were receiving new resources for raising achievement.
He also highlighted the state’s focus on early-childhood education.
