Cuomo Vows To Break Public School "Monopoly" - I.E., To Privatize The Public School System

I posted this morning how Governor Cuomo has promised the Daily News editorial board that he will push for "more rigorous" teacher evaluations with "sanctions" in his second term - a threat he foreshadowed weeks ago when he said his APPR teacher evaluation system needs to be revised because the ratings aren't mirroring student passing rates on the state tests.

That wasn't the only change he has promised to enact in his second term.

He also plans to rid the state of the "monopoly" that public schools enjoy:

ALBANY — Vowing to break “one of the only remaining public monopolies,” Gov. Cuomo on Monday said he’ll push for a new round of teacher evaluation standards if re-elected.

Cuomo, during a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board, said better teachers and competition from charter schools are the best ways to revamp an underachieving and entrenched public education system.

“I believe these kinds of changes are probably the single best thing that I can do as governor that’s going to matter long-term,” he said, “to break what is in essence one of the only remaining public monopolies — and that’s what this is, it’s a public monopoly.”

He said the key is to put “real performance measures with some competition, which is why I like charter schools.”

You can expect Cuomo to push for an increase in the charter school cap - or perhaps an end to the cap completely.

Cuomo loves charter schools (and the money their supporters provide him) - and they love him in return.

For a while now charter school entrepreneurs have been saying they plan an assault on the charter cap next budget session.

Cuomo's saying he is not only on board with that, he wants to go further and end the "monopoly" public schools have.

A commenter at the Daily News story on Cuomo's threats against teachers and schools notes that public schools are not a "monopoly" like Cuomo says they are - they are public institutions run for the public good.

Taking on the "monopoly" of public schools is like taking on the "monopoly" of the MTA or the water company says the commenter:

Cuomo “to break what is in essence one of the only remaining public monopolies — and that’s what this is, it’s a public monopoly.”

So what about the MTA arent they a monopoly or the water company, National Grid etc.

Let's use the Charter school model for the MTA I plan on petitioning the state for the opportunity to run the #4 train but only in Manhattan (most profitable section) I will force the MTA to give me the subway cars and track maintenance for free because I am a public entity with the expenses only. I will then hire people without union benefits to operate my line while getting a stipend from the city and pocket the profits by paying myself a six figure management fee.

Charters pick and choose their students, they get rid of the ones they don't want, they don't replace their numbers after attrition, the city is now on the hook for either finding them space or paying their rent - and now Cuomo wants to give them even more advantages in the next term.

If the charter cap is eliminated, charter school growth will look like cancer rates in Russia after Chernobyl - SUNY has never said no to any charter application.

What Cuomo is essentially saying in this interview with the DN editors is that he plans the end of the public school system as we know it.

I'll strategize out the fighting on this in coming posts, but suffice to say for now, the key strategy is to keep Cuomo's numbers low next Tuesday.

The lower the vote totals Cuomo has on Election Night, the less juice he has to push this stuff through.

He's had a rough couple of months, first over the Moreland mess, with a federal prosecutor publicly admonishing him to stop tampering in his investigation of Cuomo's tampering with the Moreland Commission, now with the mess he has made with the state's Ebola protocols.

He won his primary against Zephyr Teachout, but it was the lowest total ever for a sitting governor in a primary since the current system was instituted in the 70's.

Cuomo is vulnerable to public pressure and politics these days, unlike throughout much of the first term when he called most of the shots.

Parents, teachers, administrators, advocates for public education, and anybody else who cares for public schools are going to have to join together in this next term to beat back Cuomo's privatization plans for public schools and his destruction plan for the teaching profession.

And we can do it - but it starts by holding his totals down on Election Day.