New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for the “death penalty” for failing schools recently, setting off a war of words between those who believe in closing struggling schools and those who want to kill them and fire the staff.
Bruce Baker takes a different view. Here he demonstrates that Néw York has a funding system that is unfair to the schools with the neediest students.
Instead of vilifying teachers and principals and pretending to advocate for the children and families, Cuomo should look at where the money goes. It is not going to the kids who need it most.
Like all good deformers, Cuomo rigs the game against schools and teachers, blames schools and teachers for their "failures," and calls for closures, firings and charterization.
It is shock doctrine in action here in NY State and it will be a prominent part of his agenda this coming legislative session.
He must be stopped.
He must be held accountable for the mess and his fellow politicians in Albany have helped create by underfunding schools, by overwhelming them with mandates, by adding all of this testing and evaluation nonsense that a) is so complex nobody can explain it and b) takes much needed money, energy and resources away from the things that matter to students.
There is a little part of me that wonders if an Eliot Spitzer as comptroller might put a crimp in Cuomo's legislative agenda this year.
Sure, Spitzer likes charter schools and ed deform and hired a Students First shill as his p.r. guy.
But he hates Cuomo and Wall Street more -and those are the people who will push a very, very destructive agenda this next legislative session.
Spitzer is being supported by the Hedgistanis at Democrats for Education Reform, so what are we to think of the so-called "hatred" for him on Wall Street?
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right about the DFER's. And as I mentioned, it't not an accident former USDOE and Students First shill Hari Savignan is working for him.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, I can't help but think when it comes down to it, when push comes to shove and Eliot sees how he can use Cuomo's school policies, underfunded mandates and mess of a teacher evaluation system as a bludgeon against him, Eliot's going to do just that.
Because after all, what does he want to do more in this world than take a bludgeon, metaphorically-speaking, to the man who helped bring him down as governor?