Indication That Assembly Heavy Hearts Are Ready To Cave On Cuomo's Education Tax Credit

For weeks now, Assembly Dems have held the line on the education tax credit Cuomo has been pushing so heavily, but we're getting an indication today that the heavy hearts in the Assembly are set to surrender:

Assemblyman John McDonald, a Democrat who represents parts of Albany and the surrounding area, was forthcoming in a Sunday night statement on where he sees the rest of the session headed.

...

As for the education tax credit, McDonald sees the real linkage with potential changes to the implementation of the teacher evaluation system. McDonald backs moving those deadlines for evaluation adoption back.

“The ETC does enjoy more support in the Democratic Assembly than many believe but this also needs to be reviewed to ensure that the large donors do not consume the benefits,” he said.

Changes to the evaluation system in exchange for an education tax credit that pulls millions from the public education system, pays back Cuomo's wealthy donors with an insanely generous tax credit and sets the stage for even more "voucher" programs in the future to put the finishing touches on public education.

How's that for a surrender?

It's a big one, especially when you consider that the evaluation system is a mess and will collapse in on itself in two years or less.

We'll see if this is how the education tax credit standoff ends - you keep hearing how the aggressive pro-tax credit campaign has backfired and given some backbone to the heavy hearts in the Assembly.

But these are the same Assembly Dems who voted "aye" on the Cuomo education reform budget, albeit with heavy hearts, so it remains to be seen just how strong those backbones are.

Can you have a strong backbone and a heavy heart at the same time?