All the cheerleading in the world by the pom-pom crowd in New Rochelle will not change the fact that public education in New York is among the worst in the United States, a country that is consistently ranked at or near the bottom of economically developed countries around the world.
Governor Andrew Cuomo would like to do something about that as Anna Phillips at The New York Times explains: Cuomo Calls for Education Commission, But Is Vague on Details
“The lobbyist for the students.” That is how the governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo, positioned himself on educational matters in 2012.
In his State of the State address on Wednesday, the governor announced that he would appoint a commission to work with the State Legislature and recommend changes to how teachers are evaluated and how schools’ spending and performance are managed.
Addressing one of his oft-repeated concerns, Mr. Cuomo said that education in New York was “driven by the business of public education,” rather than performance, leading to high costs and an undesirable place on the 38th rung, nationally, for graduation rates.
The article describes how the teachers unions have stonewalled a 2010 law, passed to qualify the state for federal “Race for the Top” dollars,
“Two years and it hasn’t even started yet,” Mr. Cuomo said. “Our children deserve better than that, and hopefully they will get it this year.
Phillips ends her article quoting from Cuomo’s prepared remarks at the State of the State address:
I learned my most important lesson in my first year as Governor in the area of public education. I learned that everyone in public education has his or her own lobbyist.
Superintendents have lobbyists.
Principals have lobbyists.
Teachers have lobbyists.
School boards have lobbyists.
Maintenance personnel have lobbyists.
Bus drivers have lobbyists.
The only group without a lobbyist?
The students.
Well, I learned my lesson. This year, I will take a second job — consider me the lobbyist for the students. I will wage a campaign to put students first, and to remind us that the purpose of public education is to help children grow, not to grow the public education bureaucracy.
RELATED:
Cuomo calls for new education commission in 2012 State of the State Address
Cuomo noted that New York is number one in spending on education yet ranks 38th in graduation rates. He attributes this to a bureaucracy that puts the business of education ahead of student achievement. In his address, Cuomo calls for reform in two areas – teacher evaluations and school district management.
U.S. Teens Lag as China Soars on International Test
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, which represents 34 countries, today released the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment.
Fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 25th among peers from 34 countries on a math test and scored in the middle in science and reading, while China’s Shanghai topped the charts, raising concern that the U.S. isn’t prepared to succeed in the global economy.
Dispute Over Evaluations Imperils Grants for Schools
