Assembly Dems: No Way Cuomo Gets Control Of Board Of Regents

No surprise here other than this statement is coming from a Cuomo ally:

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo drops broad hints that he is planning to push for a great centralization of education policy-making power in his office, Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle doubts his chamber will give up the key function of appointing the Board of Regents.

“I don’t expect there will be any,” Morelle said on Capital Tonight when asked about potential changes to the appointment process. “I don’t think the Assembly will give up legislative control over the Regents.”

The thought goes that Cuomo is using the power grab over the Board of Regents as a bargaining chip for other items on his education reform list - like changes to the teacher evaluation system or the 3020a hearing process.

But Assembly Dems are indicating right from the beginning, there will be no changes to how things work now, with the Legislature choosing the members of the Board of Regents.

I suppose that doesn't preclude Cuomo from still looking to use that demand as a bargaining chip or Assembly Dems trading it for other changes Cuomo wants to ed policy.

But it seems pretty clear from the beginning of the legislative session, at least one part of the Cuomo power grab on education policy is D.O.A. (as was pretty much expected.)