Democrats And Republicans Find Common Ground On Education Reform

Everyday the words and actions of strategists, legislators and pundits feed the growing polarization between the two main parties. In New York State for example, important legislation continues to be shelved or stagnate as partisan politics contributes to an increasingly ineffective government.

Despite this challenging environment, some researchers have been making gains on describing a specific agenda — one on which Democrat and Republicans can find some common ground.

Researchers at Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance believe that in the realm of education policy, the divisions between the parties are “quite minor.” Despite continued resistance to a unified plan, education reform recommendations like merit-based pay or the growing popularity for online education is embraced by leaders on both sides.

William Howell, Paul E. Peterson and Martin West, authors of the paper, go on to write:

Overall, there appears to be far less polarization between the parties than might be expected. On questions concerning their overall assessment of the nation’s schools, student and school accountability, and even the creation of charter schools, the distance between the parties amounted to less than 0.2 points on the 5-point scale. In the case of accountability measures, the combination of strong overall support and minimal partisan conflict suggests that such policies will continue to be central to the nation’s education reform agenda. In the case of charter schools, for which overall support is more mixed, it appears that the important divisions in public opinion are within rather than between the nation’s major political parties.

Below is a video summing up the results of their 2010 Education-Next PEPG Survey:

Poll Reveals Bipartisan Support for Education Reform

Deputy Mayor Suggests Plan To Make NYC Government Leaner

Just four months after being appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to head the Office of Operations, Stephen Goldsmith has hit the ground running while gaining the confidence of good government groups and administration critics on the way. The recent praise has come after two recent reports analyzing cost efficiencies in mayoral agencies with a separate report exclusively on the Department of Education. Highlights included a drastically different picture than the top down, highly-organized bureaucracy normally professed by City Hall officials. Surprising many, Deputy Mayor Goldsmith pointed out multiple areas where officials have been wasteful and prescribed belt-tightening adjustments which could save the city $500 millions over the next 4 years.

Recommendations focused on operational efficiency and accountability, with suggestions in the following areas:

Information Technology in the city “currently operates in a large and fragmented … environment, consisting of more than 80 data centers that support approximately 3,000 applications in more than 50 different locations.” The report suggested that consolidating and modernizing this infrastructure would save nearly $60 million over the next four years.

Human Resource Management was described as being “highly decentralized” and lacking any kind of citywide coordination evident by the one human resources employee for every 38 workers ratio, compared, to an average 95:1 ratio in organizations “similar to the city”. In his report, Goldsmith cities that centralizing resources could save more than $100 million over the next four years.

Fleet Operations come at a hefty price tag with a fleet that includes over 26,000 vehicles and other mobile equipment, at a cost of $667 million a year. Downsizing, consolidating and privatizing services could save up to $71 million over four years.

Payment and Revenue Collection reaped the city over $40 billion last year in taxes, fines, rents and other revenue. But according to findings, the same work could be done in addition to saving $25 million to $35 million by consolidating collection operations. Looking to stronger enforcement techniques would  increase collections by $100 million.

Real Estate Management did not escape the cross-hairs of Stephen Goldsmith. Of the 19 million square feet of office space currently leased at a cost of $435 million per year, the report suggests reducing the city’s rental space by 1.2 million square feet. Putting a single agency in-charge of property acquisition and management in addition to these changes would save $36 million a year by 2014.

In addition, The Office of Operations also issued a report with an exhaustive review of Joe Klein’s Department of Education — which is definitely worth taking the time to read. The information is refreshing in it’s detail, and specifically discusses the role of principals who currently navigate a decentralized system that invests increased decision-making power on the local level. The review explains why some school leaders flourish while others languish without a rigid structure.

In the end, all this information is priceless to advocacy groups that have been locked out from knowing the fiscal practices of city government.  If this is any indicator of the work we can expect from the Indianapolis technocrat, then on behalf of vigilant New Yorkers everywhere, let me say: Welcome to the Big Apple!

Commission Will Send Term Limits Referendum To The Polls But Not Much Else

After half a year of work, the Charter Review Commission empanelled by Mayor Bloomberg is backing a list of seven proposals for approval at their scheduled meeting on August 23^rd.

The Charter Commission, a tool for institutional change since 1938, was charged with reviewing a laundry list of controversial issues including non-partisan elections, term limits for elected officials, suggesting changes to the land use review process and the duties of borough presidents and the public advocate in city government.

Critics have argued that voters will be presented with a short-changed version of reform while important issues will be left unaddressed. Dr. Matthew Goldstein, chairman of the latest commission, argues that in light of the limited time they were given, the committee has done a good job fulfilled their mandate to ensure that topics on their agenda have been thoroughly researched and commented on during numerous public hearings.

That hasn’t convinced everyone – Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is among those who remain less than enthused with their results in recent statements:

By excluding forward thinking proposals from the ballot — from overhauling the city’s approach to long-term planning to rethinking the Department of Buildings with an Office of Inspection, to bolstering independence for elected and oversight agencies with independent budgets — the members of the Charter Revision Commission are missing a historic opportunity to restore confidence and interest in government among generations of New Yorkers.

While it’s not a perfect system, commissions have made positive, meaningful changes to New York City when called upon under past mayors (1963, 1975, 1988, 1989). It was a committee empanelled by Mayor Koch in 1989 that created the 51-member City Council, a public advocate elected city wide and limited roles for the borough presidents. It took three years, employed 52 full-time staffers and entailed 141 public hearings over two years to enjoy the representative government we have today. Let’s hope just six months of work will yield similar results.

NYS to Save Thousands of Jobs With The Passing of $26 Billion in Aid

After months of negotiating among lawmakers, Education Departments nation-wide will be receiving relief in the form of $10 billion in school funds recently made possible with the passage of a $26 billion dollar aid package during a special session of the House called yesterday by Speaker Pelosi. The objective is a combined effort to prevent 300,000 teacher and public sector layoffs with $16 billion reserved to help state governments bridge massive Healthcare/Medicaid expenses weighing heavily on their budgets. In order to keep the bill from increasing the deficit, offsets were made by closing existing corporate tax loopholes and agreeing to cuts in food stamp programs slated to go into effect 4 years from now.

This aid package is a relief for school districts that have been hit hard by decreasing tax revenues due to a poor economy. Sacrifices have been the norm among administrators forced to cut bus routes, reduce educational programming and even shorten their school years. The saving of an estimated 160,000 teachers nation-wide is a small comfort to places like our home state New York, which is expected to receive $622 million or 8,200 jobs.

(To see how many teacher jobs will be saved state by state click here)

Rep. David R. Obey, the legislation’s champion in Congress, made headlines when he proposed covering the bill’s cost by diverting money from President Obama’s education reform initiatives, best described the intentions of this spending bill:

“We do the country no favors if we allow the weakness of the economy to strip qualified teachers from our schools, which in turn would result in exploding class sizes and a decline in educational opportunities for children,”

Despite the many positives, Ed Weekly cites that the caveats attached to making this happen came at the expense of other promising programs including improved access to educational opportunities, combating illiteracy among adults and funding more teacher training. This bill also became the catalyst for a showdown between the White House and legislators after President Obama threatened to veto any bill that would mean cuts to federal grant programs like Race To The Top or the Investment in Innovation Fund.

Regardless of those disagreements, public support from groups like the National Governors Association insure that states will overwhelmingly welcome this support during a period of fiscal crisis — and only weeks away from the beginning of a fall semester in which funding questions will almost certainly continue to creep up.

NYS Welfare Recipients Win A Battle In The Fight For Equal Access to Education

A group of about 20 people met in the backroom of the Black Bear Lounge in late June to listen to Maureen Lane from Welfare Right Initiative speak about her efforts to promote “Access to Education for all”. Over the course of an hour we were given the short history of a movement predicated on the principle that making higher education opportunities available to those who need it most is our best weapon for reducing welfare dependency and providing the life changing catalysis that can turn lives around.

The Welfare Rights Initiative is a 15 year old organization dedicated to addressing the systemic issues behind welfare reform by providing education, legal, social service and advocacy program training. These tools empower young men and women to organize for fair and equal access to among other things, the right to a higher education.

Part of what allowed this program to flourish was their successful push in 2000 to get college enrollment and work-study recognized as sufficient for fulfilling  the welfare work requirement . However to get this passed advocates had to jump enormous hurdles. The passage of the Work Study and Internship Bill in 2000 essentially rested on the leadership of State Senators Tom Duane (D) and Ray Meier (R) ability to foster bi-partisan cooperation between the parties and correct an injustice in the CUNY system that had already “lost over 20,000 students receiving public assistance because of misguided federal, state and city welfare policy”

Read more

Horace Mann Happy Hour Series Starts Wednesday June 23rd!

Charter School Supporters Turn Up The Heat In New York

You might recall seeing the commercial below being played repeatedly over the airwaves this past month. The ad’s originators, Education Reform Now is an advocacy group that is aligned with a long list of private philanthropists, parent organizations and hedge fund managers – all of which are directed by a determined leader in Joe Wilson of Democrats for Education reform. It’s the newest tactic in their plan to pressure state legislatures into making state law “charter-friendly” and position New York to be in the best possible position to receive funds in Round 2 of President Obama’s Race-to-the-Top Grant program.

On the other side of the divide stands State teacher unions and public school system advocates.  They argue that the incremental encroachment of the charter school movement has produced institutions that drain education money from suffering public schools, exclude students with learning disabilities and poor English skills and engage in questionable loan contracts when acquiring space. According to Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, charters are not accountable to anyone thus allowing them to “put profit above education”

Despite the opposition , some people seem to be listening to the pro-business, test centric model that charters offer and their supporters are beginning to see their energies rewarded. Recently the State Senate passed a law which increased New York’s Allowable Charter School cap from 200 – 460 and State Education officials have struck a deal with teacher unions to include student performance as part of the formula used to judge teacher evaluations. The changing mood is not limited to the State Senate; the normally union-friendly Assembly has seen an increase in vocal support from key legislators like Assemblyman Peter Rivera (D-Bronx) who has been recently swooned by commitments to make charters take in more English Language learners and Special Education Students.

As we draw closer to the June 1^st deadline be sure to see this debate heat up. With $1000 a plate fundraisers funding lobbyists, phone banks and door-to-door canvassers, the pro-charter forces are hoping to give the Teachers Union a fight in the Assembly – vote for vote.

NYS Senate Raises The Cap On Charters

With the June 1st deadline for part II of Race to the Top funding approaching fast, the NYS Senate voted 45-15 on Monday night to revise the State’s Charter school law and dramatically raise the number of charters allowed from 200 to 460.

Most observers of the nation-wide grant competition being sponsored by the US Department of Education say this was a major priority for New York in order to improve its chance to win almost $700 million in stimulus funds. During Round One, New York placed 15th out of 16 finalists, in the end losing out to Delaware and Tennessee.

The bill’s passage is being attributed to an ever–expanding budget deficit and pressure from groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Democrats for Education Reform with support from New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein who have been major champions for charter schools and mayoral control. After the vote Senate Majority Conference Leader John L. Sampson commented on the new bill by saying

Nothing is more important than investing in our children’s education and our future. We need to improve our score for Race to the Top, just as we need to increase accountability for charter schools and expand educational opportunities for all of our children,”

As expected, not everyone left happy after the vote. The New York State United Teachers union fought hard to get a repeat defeat of this bill like they were able to achieve earlier this year. Despite a new list of regulations and criteria that charter schools would now have meet , union leaders still believe that accountability reform is still missing for these quasi-public institutions. According to Andrew Pallotta, NYSUT’s Executive Vice President, NYSUT’s goal is

not to sink charter schools, but to reform the law to ensure greater accountability and transparency…Charter operators that are above-board have nothing to fear from accountability, but the law must also protect against those who are gaming the system and profiting off the backs of children

The bill is currently being reviewed by committees in the Assembly.

Espada Abuses Threaten The Future Of Soundview Health Center

State Senator Pedro Espada Jr and 18 members of the Comprehensive Community Development Corporation in Soundview, Bronx have been accused by the Attorney General of misdirecting $14 million in tax payers funds into the hands of family and friends. In addition, the Majority leader used the grants to pick up tabs for restaurants, vacations and even pay steep campaign expenses. The Senator defends his innocence arguing that the CCDC is being targeted as a political lighting rod for Andrew Cuomo’s corruption campaign.

While Espada may claim that federal audits can be accepted as seals of fiscal integrity, reason is stretched when a not-for-profit would rack up sushi bills of $20,000 while funding is being cut for health awareness events, extending mobile offices or providing care for the homeless. In this case, though, it is much worse than confusing: it is a corrupt use of tax payer money. I believe that it is now clear from the filing yesterday that there is a pattern of exploitation  by Senator Espada and the executive board at Soundview Health Center carried out for many years.

The claim that a severance package was created for Espada, a package that could possibly bankrupt the center if it was ever used,  proves that the organization was Pedro’s piggy bank and that the welfare of the affected neighborhoods came second. The Center should follow the lead of other health centers working to stay afloat and create a long-term health plan “post-Espada”, then maybe their work would finally be about providing affordable healthcare and not padding the Board’s pockets.

New Agreement Makes Rubber Room A Thing Of The Past

This week Mayor Bloomberg, Chancellor Klein and the United Federation of Teachers have finally agreed on terms that would end the $30 million teacher detention center more commonly referred to as the “Rubber Room”. The administration and the union have called this an agreeable solution for scrapping a system both sides have described publicly as in complete disarray.

Details of the agreement include the reassignment of teachers accused of minor infractions to administrative tasks inside or outside the school; however, more serious ramifications are reserved for cases that involve suspicion of sexual abuse or financial misconduct.  The City hopes new procedures agreed to by both parties will assist with the phasing out of existing cases by the end of this calendar year.

Some highlights of the agreement include:

• No new educators assigned to the ‘Rubber room” after September
• Number of arbitrators up to 39 from 23 and will hear 7 instead of 5 cases a month
• Completion of the review process will be drastically reduced from 18 months to about 6 months
• A hearing must start 15 days after the accusation is first made and the proceedings cannot drag on beyond 60 days

While this is not expected to save much money because of the extra personnel that will need to be hired for meeting the demands of a stricter time line, education officials hope that some funds can be recaptured by keeping more teachers who are on the Department of Education’s payroll in the classroom instead of in trial limbo.

Click here to read an article by UFT President Michael Mulgrew on this landmark decision.

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