policy matters
October 1, 2010
The education governor’s race: A Paladino and Cuomo primer
You may have noticed that we have a governor’s race going on in New York. But amid the love children, viral cell-phone videos, and upsetting e-mail forwards, policy issues are getting even more overshadowed than usual — including where the two candidates stand on education.
To remedy this, I’ve compiled a brief primer outlining the education stances of the Democrat, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and the Republican, Tea Party-ite Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, the state's attorney general, sides with Obama and Bloomberg on education. (Photo via ##http://www.flickr.com/photos/saeba/4015439957/sizes/m/in/photostream/##Flickr## user ##http://www.flickr.com/photos/saeba/##saebaryo##)
Andrew Cuomo
HIS CAMP: Cuomo is framing himself as the great hope that Democrats for Education Reform activists once dreamed David Paterson would be — a “Barack Obama Democrat” on education, as one source put it to me. (Or, you might say, an “ideolocrat.”)
Cuomo kept himself out of the Race to the Top legislative battle (at least publicly). But his published platform mirrors DFER’s insistence on raising the cap on charter schools, and it quotes charter supporters’ warning that a union-backed push for more public consultation before opening a charter school would have amounted to a “poison pill.”
WHAT HE MIGHT DO: Cuomo’s decision to affiliate with DFER, Mayor Bloomberg, and the entrepreneurial camp on schools gives him a potentially long education wish list. That’s because almost all of the changes favored by these reformers are legislative; teacher tenure, “last in, first out” firing patterns, teacher pensions, and charter school growth are all matters of state law.
While other state Democrats (namely Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver) have allied themselves with the teachers union, Cuomo could act as a counter-force pushing for more changes to the state’s education law. It’s worth noting that nearly all of the education agenda Bloomberg laid out this week on NBC would require changes to state law.
WHY HE MIGHT NOT DO IT: Cuomo’s probably in for a fight with Silver and other Albany lawmakers, but will education be at the top of his list? The tough budget climate might give him even less leverage to pursue his agenda. A case in point is Eliot Spitzer, who balanced his endorsement of a charter cap lift with ending the long-running stalemate over the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. But the millions Spitzer promised have substantially tapered in the ugly budget climate, making “sweetener” deals hard to imagine.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, a Buffalo businessman, favors charter schools, vouchers, and firing the Board of Regents. (Photo via ##http://www.flickr.com/photos/azipaybarah/4901884630/sizes/m/in/photostream/##WNYC's Azi Paybarah##)
Carl Paladino
HIS CAMP: Paladino’s campaign didn’t return my phone calls requesting information about his position on education, so I had to rely on his public statements (especially this Daily News interview) and a brief (and occasionally alarming) rundown of his education positions on his web site.
The statements suggest he would take Cuomo’s entrepreneurial endorsements (pro-charter schools, pro-Race to the Top) and raise them a long mile by endorsing vouchers, attempting to fire the entire state Board of Regents, repealing the 3020-A law that governs how teachers are fired, and overhauling education funding streams. He has promised to cut the state government by 20%, but this week he told the Daily News flatly, “I will not cut education funding.”
WHAT HE MIGHT DO: Paladino’s education statement also suggests creating “residential charter schools” that would begin in kindergarten. Paladino’s vision:
To ensure that no child is left behind, Carl will create residential charters in the worst urban school district where children reside starting at kindergarten. These charters will tackle problems created by dysfunctional homes such as ensuring proper dress codes, food is supplied and overall conditions provide a learning atmosphere.
The candidate also has specific plans for the members of the Board of Regents, who the statement says will have to “submit to the Governor signed and undated letters of resignation as of January 1, 2011.” The statement goes on, “As Governor, Carl will accept the resignation of those who think protecting union leaders is more important than not leaving any children behind.”
Paladino’s plans for the remaining Regents members, who govern the state’s education system, include this “demand”:
Carl will demand that the Regents Board remove the School Board and Superintendents of all school systems presently achieving a less than 60 percent graduation rate or having more than 25 percent of its schools in any form of academic distress and replace them with a competent “Special Master” with full authority to implement the changes necessary to effectively and quickly address the dysfunction.
WHY HE MIGHT NOT DO IT: Education officials and state leaders have sometimes quietly imagined a kind of state version of mayoral control that would dismantle the State Board of Regents, which oversees the state education system. But such an overhaul would be an uphill battle given that the Regents are appointed not by the governor, but by the state legislature.
Demanding resignations letters from Merryl Tisch and her fellow Regents would be a bully-pulpit move, but not a real request, and Paladino certainly would not have the authority to dictate how Tisch deals with local superintendents — nor could Tisch unilaterally fire local school boards and superintendents.
By a “residential charter school,” Paladino may have in mind something like the SEED School in D.C., a boarding charter school that is featured in the film “Waiting for ‘Superman.’” But SEED begins in middle school, not kindergarten.
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http://www.classsizematters.org leonie haimson
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http://incongressional.com Esteban Rodriguez
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Batman
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Peter
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http://incongressional.com Esteban Rodriguez
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fed up
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Peter
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abandoned by the democrats
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abandoned by the democrats
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John G
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Peter
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Esteban Rodriguez
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Peter
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John G
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http://nyceducator.com NYC Educator
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ASTRAKA
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NYCParent
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Eliza
Copyright Notice
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