EdVANTAGE Blog

Governor Cuomo will unveil his proposed 2012-13 state budget at 2 pm today.  Details, including School Aid runs, may not be available until that time or later.

The Governor made a lot of news on education over the long weekend, however, revealing plans to use School Aid to force action on teacher evaluation.

Initially, it was reported that the Governor would propose holding up School Aid increases for districts which failed to implement new teacher and principal evaluation procedures by December 31, 2012.

By itself such a proposal would only increase pressure on school districts to compromise with their local unions under a law which the Governor has said, “protected the teachers union at the expense of the students and instituted a system that was destined to fail.”

There had to be more to the plan.  Today’s New York Post and New York Times provide more details.

The Post reports,

Gov. Cuomo will give New York’s teachers one month to agree to a statewide performance evaluation plan — or he’ll write his own educator-rating scheme into the budget for legislative approval, The Post has learned.

In the ultimatum — which Cuomo will level at the United Federation of Teachers and New York State United Teachers as he presents his budget today — the governor will also insist the state union drop its lawsuit challenging certain provisions of the evaluation system, a source close to the administration said.

The governor would have up to 30 days to present a budget amendment that spells out the details of a teacher-rating system, something he promises to do if the unions don’t sign on.

Districts would then have until early next January to get the new system up and running or else the state would withhold a 4 percent increase in school aid, sources said.

 

New York is one of three states to be placed on a “watch list” by the S. Department of Education for inadequate follow-through on Race to the Top commitments.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has reacted to the news with a statement harshly critical of school districts, local unions, and what he refers to as “the Assembly-led legislation” creating the evaluation system.

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Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his second annual State of the State address, outlining an ambitious agenda designed to build on the impressive achievements of his first year in office.

In the area of education, the Governor that in his first year he learned the lesson that superintendents, teachers, school boards, maintenance personnel, and bus drivers all have lobbyists, but students do not have a lobbyist.  So he declared he would be taking on a second job in the coming year – students’ lobbyist.

He announced he would appoint a commission on education to recommend reforms in key areas, including teacher accountability and student achievement and management efficiency.

The Governor said, “we need a meaningful teacher evaluation system. The legislation enacted in 2010 to qualify for Race to the Top didn’t work.”

He added, “We must make our schools accountable for the results they achieve and the dollars they spend.”

No details have been provided yet on who will sit on the commission or when it will report.

I was quoted in a New York Times article on the commission and appeared on Time Warner’s statewide Capitol Tonight television show, along with Tim Kremer from the School Boards Association and Nikki Jones from the Alliance for Quality Education.

In the Times article, I said

“There are a lot of people who would disagree with the governor’s rhetoric and parts of his analysis, but would agree with the big picture.  How do we produce more learning for students with the resources our taxpayers can provide?” Read the rest of this entry »

More on the trials and tribulations of implementing the state’s new teacher and principal evaluation requirements…

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In this post:

1. Governor to appoint education commission
2. Teacher evaluation conflicts
3. School finance news

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Last week, the Council named Henry (Hank) Grishman the 2012 new York State Superintendent of the Year.

Mr. Grishman has served as Superintendent of the Jericho Union Free School District of Nassau County since 1995.

Announcing the selection, Council President Marilyn Terranova, said,

Hank’s selection recognizes his career of successful school district leadership serving diverse communities across our state, as well as his support for colleagues through wide-ranging contributions to the Council’s work.

Mr. Grishman has served as a superintendent in five New York State school districts covering a span of 33 years.

He is also a past President of the Council.

Here is the Council’s news release announcing the selection.

And here is Newsday’s coverage.

The Board of Regents adopted its School Aid proposal for 2012-13 this week.

The Regents proposal would attempt to re-start the Foundation Aid formula which was first enacted in 2007 as a resolution of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity’s challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s system of funding public schools.

Big increases in Foundation Aid were approved in 2007-08 and 2008-09, but the formula has been frozen for the past three years.

Meanwhile total aid from all formulas (excluding Building Aid and Universal Prekindergarten) has been reduced through large “Gap Elimination Adjustments” in each of the last two years.

The Regents propose an overall increase in aid of $805 million or 4.1 percent, consistent with the unique two-year appropriation for School Aid in the current state budget.

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State Education Commissioner John King has sparked a debate over school district consolidation…

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Yesterday, Governor Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos announced agreement on a package of legislation expected to be approved during a special legislative session this week.

The agreement improves the outlook for School Ai in next year’s state budget.

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Middletown Times Herald Record columnist Meghan Murphy had a far-ranging interview with State Education Commissioner John King last week.

In the interview the Commissioner offers views on school funding equity, the need to consider a bolder approach to school district consolidation, implementing the Regents Reform Agenda, and the performance of the State Education Department.

It is worth reading, here.