Dick Parsons Claims Cuomo Hasn't Meddled In Common Core Task Force

This statement from Dick Parsons, Cuomo's Common Core Task Force chairman, is laughable:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s task force on academic standards and testing expects to hand in its much anticipated report this month, amid a continuing push by teachers unions to end the use of student test scores in teacher evaluations.

The 15-member Common Core Task Force wasn’t asked to explore the politically charged issue of evaluations, but several members said the subject came up so often in public hearings this fall that the group might weigh in on them. Several said they discussed whether to recommend a moratorium on using tests in evaluations, or possibly a reduction in their weight.

Richard Parsons, chairman of the New York task force and former chairman of Citigroup Inc., said Wednesday his group was “in the middle of sausage making” and hoped to hand its report to the governor in the next 10 days.

Mr. Parsons said Mr. Cuomo hadn’t pressed for any particular outcome. “He has not tried to put his thumb on the scale,” Mr. Parsons said. “I would hope that he would review it and take it seriously.”

 Cuomo hasn't "tried to put his thumb on the scale"?

Then what was the trial balloon that was sent forth into the NY Times about the governor considering delinking test scores from his vaunted APPR teacher evaluation system or putting a "moratorium" on the use of the scores on teacher ratings?

That sure sounded like the governor "putting his thumb on the scale" to me - especially when Politico NY reported that members of the task force were "confused" when Cuomo put the trial balloon about delinking scores and/or putting a moratorium on their use in teacher ratings into the NY Times:

After learning that Gov. Andrew Cuomo may be looking to minimize the impact of test scores on teacher evaluations, the Common Core task force will likely weigh in on the controversy, recommending either the decoupling of the two or a moratorium on the use of the scores, according to a source familiar with the panel. The task force had not been asked to consider the evaluation process, and until now, it has not focused on it. When Cuomo put together the panel in September, he charged its 15 members with reviewing the Common Core learning standards, calling for a "total reboot" of the state's education system. The recommendations are due to the governor this month prior to his State of the State address in January. 

Members of the task force told POLITICO they were confused by comments made in a New York Times story last week on Cuomo's possible retreat from the politically fraught linkage of test scores and teacher evaluations, because the administration's statement made it seem as though they were looking at the evaluation system when, in fact, they have not been. "We're not focusing on that now ... we're focusing on what the task force was brought together for," said task force member Sam Radford III, president of the District Parent Coordinating Council of Buffalo. http://politi.co/1O2pfrb

Parsons can say whatever he wants about Cuomo not trying to influence the Common Core task force.

We know from the past that Cuomo has influenced and/or rigged every commission, panel and task force he's put together (from the Moreland Commission on Public Utilities to the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption to the education commission Todd Hathaway sat on), so we knew he would try to influence and/or rig this one.

And sure enough, by sending the trial balloon about test scores to the Times, Cuomo's gotten heavy-handed publicly with this Common Core task force.

Lord only knows what he's got his henchmen and henchwomen doing to influence the task force behind the scenes.