Comments on: City skipped mandatory public hearings on spending plan

By: Leonie Haimson

Leonie Haimson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:19:59 +0000

Because my comment from yesterday is still awaiting moderation, I will repost without the links.

By state law, public hearings are required in all NYC boroughs — as well as public meetings of all the CECs — before the state releases these funds.

Nice to know that State Ed doesn’t give a damn about complying with state law – any more than the DOE does.

Here is the relevant excerpt from the state law:

A district’s contract for excellence for the academic year two
thousand eight–two thousand nine and thereafter, shall be developed
through a public process, in consultation with parents or persons in
parental relation, teachers, administrators, and any distinguished
educator appointed pursuant to section two hundred eleven-c of this
chapter.
…. In a city school district in a city of one million or more inhabitants, a public
11 hearing shall be held within each county of such city. A transcript of
12 the testimony presented at such public hearings shall be included when
13 the contract for excellence is submitted to the commissioner, for review
14 when making a determination pursuant to subdivision five of this
15 section.

And the SED spokesperson is lying when it says that Rochester and Syracuse also delayed hearings.

Both these districts complied with the state requirements, by holding public hearings before July 1, which was the deadline . Online are the minutes for the Rochester hearings held on June 24, as well as a news article reporting on the hearings that Syracuse held on June 30..

All you need to do is Google this. The SED spokesperson lied — in order to get NYC off the hook.

By: canwetalk

canwetalk — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:12:37 +0000

The C4E was agreed upon so that schools can meet the 5 criteria. Class size reduction is one of the criteria. Schools are still overcrowded and class size reduction is an ongoing issue that is constantly ignored. If schools were to reduce class size across the board, imagine all the various “new programs” that can be created. It is so disheartening to know that once again the state rather listen to the mayor yell to the governor to have the state troopers bring the senate back to session to vote on mayoral control, but it has a deaf ear to any public hearings on education so that parents and teachers can voice the issue on how to use the C4E allocation. Why do I feel that there’s more democracy in China than in NYS? When did the state become so fearful of the mayor and his uberagenda on education? Vote for Bloomberg and suffer the unimaginable wrath of his billionairerism!!

By: Pogue

Pogue — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:29:14 +0000

Okay, so first they carry on mayoral control public hearings where the fix was already in on defeating it, or, making more democratic changes to it, thus, they were hearings that were falling on pre-deafened ears. Now, the city is simply allowed to skip hearings, altogether? Wow, we really are in the NYC dark ages of democracy.

By: Leonie Haimson

Leonie Haimson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:32 +0000

By state law, public hearings are required in all NYC boroughs before the state releases these funds. Nice to know that State Ed doesn’t give a damn about complying with state law – any more than the DOE.
Here is an excerpt from the state law:

9 b. Such process shall include at least one public hearing. In a city
10 school district in a city of one million or more inhabitants, a public
11 hearing shall be held within each county of such city. A transcript of
12 the testimony presented at such public hearings shall be included when
13 the contract for excellence is submitted to the commissioner, for review
14 when making a determination pursuant to subdivision five of this
15 section.

And the SED spokesperson is lying when it says that Rochester and Syracuse also delayed hearings.

Both districts complied with the state requirements, by holding hearings before July 15.
Here are the minutes for the Rochester hearings held on June 24.
http://www.rcsdk12.org/c4e/062409C4EMinutes.pdf

Syracuse held their hearings on June 30 – here is the news report. http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/syracuse_district_plans_to_add.html

All you need to do is Google this.