CEC 13 Passes Resolution In Support Of City Public Schools Against Cuomo’s Education Plan

Local parents and community volunteers on the Community Education Council for District 13 (CEC 13) have joined a growing chorus of voices blasting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new education plan, which would, among other things:

• make student’s statewide test scores count towards 50 percent of a teacher’s annual evaluation score — only 15 percent would be based on local administrators’ (such as a principal or superintendent) review of the teacher’s performance), and the rest would be from a state observer’s single visit to the classroom;
• put low-performing schools under state control, eliminating local input;
• lift a statewide cap on the number of charter schools allowed; and
• withhold over $2 billion in funding designated for city schools unless his education plan is approved.

“[Be it] resolved that CEC 13 strongly opposes the governor’s educational plan as announced in his State of the State address and will send copies of this resolution to the governor and legislators,” wrote the board, which went on to add that they plan to “join in coalition with educators, parents, clergy, civil rights organizations, and community activists to make our voices heard and to move our city’s schools forward.”

Specifically, CEC 13 board members stated that, regarding teacher evaluations, “research shows that using test scores as a primary basis for evaluation teachers is invalid” and that “high-stakes testing wastes our precious school funds and falsely treats a single test taken on one day as more important than what happens on the other 180 days” of the school year.

They also emphasized the importance of retaining community input and control over educational environments, especially those that are struggling to meet state standards. They criticized Cuomo’s “blame-and-punish approach to schools that are suffering because of years of neglect and underfunding by the state.”

CEC 13 members also came out swinging against Cuomo’s plan — only the latest in a consistent message of support for charter schools — to lift to the cap on charter school proliferation in New York City and New York State.

They noted the current “two-tier system that has been created by inequitable co-locations with charters” and stated that “charters fail to educate the same number of high-need students as traditional schools, in violation of state law, but the governor wants to reward their bad behavior.”

Finally, as to funding, the board members accused Cuomo of “extortion” by making $1.1 billion in funding — just half of that allocated to NYC schools under the ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case — contingent upon the passage of his entire education package. If passed, that money would be spread across New York State school districts.

Adequate funding is needed, they said, to tackle overcrowding, restore programs in art, music and library, and pay for guidance counselors and school psychologists.