NY Times: Cuomo Reportedly Set To Reduce Role Of Testing In His Vaunted APPR Teacher Evaluation System

It's amazing what 220,000+ opt outs and poll numbers mired in the very low 40's will do to a politician's take on a particular issue:

Less than a year ago, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York proclaimed that the key to transforming the state’s education system was tougher evaluations for teachers, and he pushed through changes that increased the weight of student test scores in teachers’ ratings.

Now, facing a parents’ revolt against testing, the state is poised to change course and reduce the role of test scores in evaluations. And according to two people involved in making state education policy, Mr. Cuomo has been quietly pushing for a reduction, even to zero. That would represent an about-face from January, when the governor called for test scores to determine 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation.

There's some conjecture on just what this "reduction" will be:

The idea that Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, is pushing for the changes comes from several different avenues. According to one of the education policy makers, Mr. Malatras said in a conversation that the administration wanted to decouple test scores and evaluations. The other person reported having spoken with people who had similar conversations with the administration.

Two members of the Board of Regents, the body that sets state education policy, said they had heard that Mr. Cuomo was pushing for a moratorium on the use of test scores in evaluations. The two board members, Kathleen M. Cashin and Betty A. Rosa, both said they would heartily support such a change.

There's a big difference between "decoupling" tests scores from evaluations and having a "moratorium" on test scores being used in evaluations, so as always with this stuff, the devil is in the details.

Cuomo, through shill Malatras, is claiming nothing has been determined yet, that they're waiting for findings from the vaunted Common Core Review task force that Cuomo announced in September - but that's jive of course.

Cuomo has controlled every commission, panel and task force he's put together, from the two Moreland Commissions (one after Sandy on utilities, one on corruption that has him under federal investigation for witness tampering and possible obstruction) to the other two education commissions he put together (just ask Todd Hathaway who disagreed with the findings of the task force he sat on but had his name signed to the pre-determined report nonetheless!)

So what Cuomo wants, Cuomo's Common Core Review task force will find.

And it looks as if the governor, reeling from the bad press and bad polling on education, has perhaps decided the suitcases full of cash he gets from ed deformers aren't enough to keep him pushing ed deform policies in toto:

In New York, Mr. Cuomo’s push to give test scores more weight in evaluations helped propel a widespread test refusal movement this year, centered on Long Island. More than 200,000 of the nearly 1.2 million students expected to take the annual reading and math tests did not sit for them in 2015. At some schools, as many as 75 percent of students opted out.

Long Islanders tend to be swing voters, and education is a top concern of theirs, given the high percentage of school-age children and the role that local schools’ reputations have on real estate values, said Lawrence Levy, the executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.

“Considering how his numbers fell off in suburban communities in the last election, I thought that the governor had to pay close attention to the desires and the demands of these suburban swing constituencies,” Mr. Levy said.

One final point to make on this - there's a likelihood that all they're going to do is call for a "moratorium" on test score use in APPR or a "moratorium" on the "penalties" teachers would suffer for low scores:

“A moratorium is under consideration,” said State Senator Carl L. Marcellino, a Long Island Republican, chairman of the Education Committee and a member of the task force.

The Board of Regents would quite likely approve a moratorium or any other step to reduce the role of test scores in evaluations. Until recently, a majority of the board supported tying test scores to evaluations, but the Legislature elected several new members this year who are critical of that policy.

This "moratorium" could come based upon the 50% test score criteria Cuomo imposed in the budget or it could be lowered to something like 20% (which is apparently what NYSED MaryEllen Elia thinks it ought to be.)

In any case, the "big changes" to education policy Cuomo promised look to be coming.

Whether they're substantive changes or more jive made to look like substantive changes remains to be seen.

Having watched Cuomo closely now for a few years, I remain skeptical.

But the low approval numbers in the polling, the especially low education numbers in those polls, the high opt out rates (with the numbers set to go even higher this year if the status quo continues) and the even higher "hardship waivers" districts got on Cuomo's vaunted new APPR teacher evaluation system with the 50% test score component seem to have weakened some of Cuomo's resolve to continue to scapegoat teachers for all the ills in the education system.

Mike Mulgrew And Andrew Cuomo Meet For A Late Lunch

Sent along by Harris Lirtzman is this interesting tidbit from Governor Cuomo's July schedule:

Thursday July 16, 2015: Dock's Restaurant 633 Third Avenue, New York NY - 3:40 PM
Meeting with Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers
Staff Participant - Bill Mulrow, Secretary to the Governor

Anybody want to hazard a theory on what was discussed at that meeting in July?

There's a story out today at State of Politics about how Cuomo is making nice with former enemies like Chuck Schumer and some state workers unions in an attempt to isolate Bill de Blasio even more than he already is.

Over the summer, Cuomo was gathering as many former de Blasio allies to himself as well, people like Melissa Mark-Viverito and Tish James, in order to isolate de Blasio and make life uncomfortable for the mayor.

Could be this meeting was part of that same strategy.

Or it could be that Mulgrew wanted to meet with Cuomo so he could let the governor know just what a mess he has made of public education in this state and implore him to change course.

Or it could be that, just as the animosity between professional wrestlers is all phonied up for the camera, the animosity between Mulgrew and Cuomo is as fake as Sandra Lee's margarita mix and they were just catching up for old time's sake.

Your thoughts?

Cuomo Continues To Triangulate, Destroying Schools As He Simultaneously Tries To Assuage Liberals On Economic Issues

Andrew Cuomo has governed as a triangulator since the beginning of his first term.

He mostly triangulated on social issues that appealed to lefties early on (gay marriage, for example) even as he governed as a center-right pol on economic issues (property tax cap, for example.)

But ever since that challenge from the left he got from Zephyr Teachout in 2014, coupled with his languishing job approval numbers (44% job approval last February in a Siena poll, 40% last month in a Siena poll), he's seemed more interested in triangulating on some economic issues too - especially ones that his mortal enemy, Bill de Blasio, might take some political benefit from.

Thus Cuomo, who insisted a $13 dollar an hour minimum wage was a "non-starter" in NY State when de Blasio was pushing for it, has since aligned himself with some of de Blasio's union and progressive base and pushed for a $15 dollar an hour minimum wage.

Today he upped the ante on that:

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to unilaterally create a $15 minimum wage for all state workers, making New York the first state to set such a high wage for a large group of public employees.

The increase, which Mr. Cuomo will announce on Tuesday, would place New York’s public employees far ahead of other states on minimum wage, and at the vanguard of a national movement to address stagnant wages for tens of millions of American workers.

Using executive authority, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, would gradually increase the hourly rate: State workers in New York City would earn $15 an hour by the end of 2018; state workers outside of New York City would also see wages rise, though more slowly, with rates climbing to $15 by the end of 2021. All told, some 10,000 workers would see a bump in pay, according to the governor’s office, with the vast majority of those living upstate or outside the city.

The governor’s action comes on a day when fast-food workers across the country are striking for a uniform $15 hourly wage, a movement that Mr. Cuomo has championed in New York and even as a growing number of cities have acted to raise wages. But Mr. Cuomo’s action is the first time a governor has raised wages to $15 for so many state employees

The NY Times points out some of the political motive behind today's move:

Mr. Cuomo’s action comes on the heels of several other executive actions seemingly meant to appease and please the liberal wing of his party, which has faulted the governor in the past for his working too closely with Republicans, who hold the majority in the State Senate. In addition to the increase in the minimum wage for fast-food workers in New York — which Mr. Cuomo accomplished in July via a state wage board — Mr. Cuomo has also empowered the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, to look into police-related killings. And last month, he expanded protections for transgender people, building on a 1945 state law that barred discrimination on the basis of sex.

The Times reports that this move also comes as an offshoot to negotiations with CSEA and PEF, two state worker unions who have had fraught negotiations with Cuomo in the past:

An administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the action had not formally been announced said that Mr. Cuomo’s decision was based in part on pending negotiations with two large public-sector unions — Civil Service Employees Association and the New York State Public Employees Federation.

PEF has new leadership that some see as more Cuomo-friendly than the ousted leadership, so some of this may just be political payoff for a Cuomo ally.

But don't underestimate two others reasons why Cuomo's pushing this now.

First, it allows him to steal whatever progressive thunder de Blasio once had and relegate the mired mayor to the sidelines on yet another liberal issue (and let's note that even though 90% of the workers affected by this are outside NYC, Cuomo had his announcement in NYC today.)

Second, it allows Cuomo to continue to triangulate on another issue near and dear to his heart - the destruction of the teachers unions and public school system.

On the same day that Cuomo said he would issue an executive order raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour for state workers came this news on the education front:

In one of her most significant actions as state education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia has granted Buffalo Superintendent Kriner Cash unprecedented power to make changes at the district’s most struggling schools, bypassing the teachers union contract.

Those changes could include a longer school day and year, required teacher training and more control over staffing – all things Cash says are essential to improve student performance.

 In a 107-page ruling released Monday, Elia largely imposes Cash’s proposals with some modifications that call for giving teachers more notice of contractual changes and preference for other jobs, should they be displaced from their position. She also recommends that a committee created to assist with staffing at the receivership schools be limited to three or five people, and consist of an odd number to prevent deadlock between union and district representatives.

Those powers Elia is giving Kriner Cash to bust the Buffalo teachers union and essentially privatize "Buffalo's most struggling" public schools come courtesy of Cuomo's receivership program that was shoved through in the last state budget by the governor.

Cuomo, who last year promised to "break" the public school monopoly, has given NYSED the tools to do just that with this receivership law that allows them to take over schools and circumvent union contracts and what is happening in Buffalo is expected to happen elsewhere around the state too.

It's not an accident that even as Cuomo provides NYSED with the power to bust the teachers union he's rallying with other unions over a $15 dollar an hour minimum wage.

Cuomo, ever the pragmatist, is bending on some of his economic policies (like that $13 dollar an hour minimum wage he said couldn't happen in NY) - but this bending is so that he can continue to triangulate on other issues like his privatization/teachers union-busting agenda.

Cynical?

Sure, but that's just how this governor operates - and he learned it from the master, Bill Clinton, who was his boss back in the 1990's.

545 out of 674 School Districts Seek Waivers From Cuomo's APPR Teacher Evaluation System

From the Times Union:

Well over half of New York school districts may be exempt from implementing a new, controversial teacher evaluation system this year that relies heavily on student test scores. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, the State Education Department had approved hardship waivers for 420 school districts who said circumstances prevent them from putting the new system into place during the current school year. In addition, 106 districts are still awaiting approval for waivers. Nineteen districts were denied waivers. 

"The term denial may not be appropriate here, since the applications can be edited and resubmitted," a department spokeswoman wrote in an email. "We anticipate all 19 of these applications will be resubmitted." 

The deadline to submit a waiver application to the State Education Department is Friday.

Here is what Politco NY reported on October 5:

ALBANY — The vast majority of school districts and teachers' unions seem to be having difficulty coming to an agreement on a new teacher evaluation system supported by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

As of the end of last week, only 12 plans had been approved, with another 47 submitted for review, according to the state education department. There are 674 districts statewide.

So if my pre-Common Core math is correct, 420 + 106 = 526.

Add another 19 for districts that have to resubmit waiver paperwork and you get 545 total.

Out of 674 districts statewide, it looks like 545 will be getting waivers for the year from instituting Cuomo's vaunted new APPR teacher evaluation plan.

Think about that.

I'm an English major by trade and my math skills aren't the best, but I think that means about 80% of New York's school districts are seeked (and look to be getting) waivers from SED for the vauned new Cuomo APPR system.

Weingarten, Mulgrew, Magee Met Personally With Cuomo In April

Jimmy Vielkind at Politico NY:

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Catholic archbishop of New York, several weeks before re-introducing legislation to grant financial assistance for parents whose children attend private and parochial schools.

According to newly posted schedule records, the Democratic governor huddled with the Catholic prelate as well as with James Cultrara, the Catholic Conference's top education official, and Anthony de Nicola, a fund manager and board member of the group that pushed for the tax credit, on April 13 at the cardinal's residence in midtown Manhattan. Cuomo later held events around the state to rally support for the tax credit, which lawmakers did not enact.

The schedules also show:

-- Cuomo met with a trio of teachers' union leaders, Karen Magee of NYSUT, Michael Mulgrew of the UFT and Randi Weingarten of the AFT, on April 10, and again on April 22. The unions were vociferous opponents of the tax credit plan.

No word on what was discussed at those meetings.

Was it just about the tax credit plans?

Or was the rest of Cuomo's education reform agenda devised to "break" the public school system discussed as well?

In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter because we know what the outcome was:

They weren't terribly successful at much other than holding the line on vouchers (which may have happened because voucher proponents overplayed their hands anyway.)

Cuomo got pretty much everything else on education that he wanted.

Welcome Back To Another School Year Full Of Fear, Uncertainty And Constant Change

It's the Tuesday after Labor Day and you know what that means teachers:

Another day of meetings and professional development.

This year will be extra special since just last week, Governor Cuomo announced he was putting together yet another education commission/panel (the third since early 2014) to review the Common Core State (sic) Standards, the Common Core tests and the Common Core curriculum (EngageNY).

Hey, nothing like announcing a full review a couple of days before school starts, right?

Those tests you'll be talking about preparing your students for today so that you don't get declared an "ineffective" teacher and fired - well, Cuomo says he wants them "reviewed" (whatever that means.)

And that EngageNY curriculum that you're going to roll your eyes at today when it's handed to you at a teacher meeting because it has you spending 17 days on one short story - that's under review too.

Those Common Core State (sic) Standards you'll spend time talking about today, well, Cuomo's not so sure they're being implemented right and they just might need to be tweaked or changed or overhauled.

In short, you're starting the year with yet more uncertainty and change on the horizon, because the change in the standards, the high stakes testing, the curriculum and the evaluation system over the past few years wasn't enough change and now we'll need more of it.

Steve McLaughlin put all of this in perspective with a tweet (as McLaughlin is so good at doing):

Cuomo's act is the same every time; insist something be done fast, wreak havoc, deny responsibility, then claim he'll fix it. #CommonCore

— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) September 7, 2015

And that's exactly what we have again this year.

The one thing on the education agenda Cuomo doesn't want reviewed is the APPR teacher evaluation system he shoved through in the budget, the one that makes test scores 50% of a teacher's rating and gives districts the discretion to fire teachers for two consecutive "ineffective" ratings and forces districts to fire teachers for three consecutive "ineffective" ratings.

That he doesn't want APPR reviewed even though the evaluation system is based in part upon teachers being able to teach the Common Core State (sic) Standards that are currently under review and the Common Core curriculum that is currently under review (EngageNY) as well as garner high test scores from their students on the Common Core tests that are also under review says a lot about how this year is going to go.

That evaluation system got shoved through last budget though almost nobody other than Cuomo's education reformer/hedge fundie donors wanted it and now Cuomo refuses to let it go.

Indeed, he is on record calling that system the "bedrock" of his education reform agenda, so you know it will be the kind of thing that has to be clawed out of his cold, handcuffed hands.

The new evaluation system is supposed to be in place by November or districts lose an increase in state aid, though there is a waiver system in place for districts that have a "hardship" in coming to an agreement under that timeline.

In any case, as the year starts, teachers do not know whether they will be evaluated under the old system or the new system and they don't know if the Common Core State (sic) Standards, Common Core curriculum and Common Core tests are going to get tweaked, changed or completely overhauled by Cuomo's vaunted third education commission/panel that will meet in the near future and hand Cuomo recommendations that he can announce in January.

Given all the uncertainty, this would seem to be an excellent time to step back and say "Time out!" from all the accountability measures for teachers and schools, but of course that isn't going to happen.

Indeed, Renewal Schools that the state has targeted for receivership have either one or two years to "improve" or get handed over to a charter operator or some other outside entity, all this uncertainty and change to the system be damned.

Same goes for teachers declared "ineffective" in the 2014-2015 year - get another "ineffective" rating and your district can fire you in an expedited process.

It doesn't matter that the whole system is under review, that all the reforms that got shoved through and implemented faster than you can say 3020a disciplinary process are falling apart and need to be "reviewed".

That's because the one real goal Cuomo has with public education - to "bust" the public school monopoly (here and here) - continues to be served by all the havoc Cuomo and his reformer buddies at the Regents and NYSED create with their half-baked schemes and reforms.

So welcome back, teachers, to another fear-filled year, another year of uncertainty and churn, another year where the powers that be look to destroy you, your school, your profession and public education.

As Sgt. Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues used to say:

Unionization Key To Closing Racial Wage Gap

Turns out busting public schools is NOT the secret recipe to closing the racial wage gap:

A study released on Friday, noting the gains made by black union workers in New York City, said that raising the rate of unionization among black workers across the country would help narrow the racial pay gap.

The study, conducted by two professors affiliated with the Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies at the City University of New York, which issued the report, described high unionization rates for black workers who live in the city compared with national rates.

Nearly 40 percent of black workers who are city residents are union members, compared with roughly 13 percent of black workers nationally.

The difference between the rates of black and nonblack unionization is also especially pronounced in New York City. The black unionization rate is nearly double that of nonblacks in the city, a difference that is much smaller nationally.

The authors, Ruth Milkman and Stephanie Luce, found that black union members enjoyed higher wages than black nonunion workers, and were also likely to have better access to employer-sponsored health care benefits and pensions.

“Unionism offers black workers a substantial economic advantage in regard to earnings — to a greater degree than is the case for nonblacks, reflecting the fact that larger numbers of blacks than nonblacks are employed in low-wage jobs,” the study said.

Gee, who'd a thunk it?

Workers with union protections and wages have economic advantages that workers without union protections and wages have.

Maybe reformers should try to stop trying to bust the public school "monopoly" and push for union jobs if they actually care about closing the racial wage gap.

But they don't actually care about any such thing.

The rhetoric around closing the racial achievement gap or racial wealth gap is just the cover story for their real aim - the privatization of the school system and the busting of the teachers unions.

Senate Dem: Cuomo Is Like Scott Walker, Out To Destroy Public Schools And Teachers

From State of Politics:

Queens Democratic Sen. Michael Gianaris in an interview on Monday compared Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s education reform policies to anti-labor measures being enacted under Republican Scott Walker in Wisconsin.

“Resources are being diverted out of the public school system to private schools, an attack on the teachers who sacrifice so much to work in our schools,” Gianaris said on NY1’s Inside City Hall. “If I wanted Scott Walker to be the governor, I’d move to Wisconsin. But we’re here in New York. I think we should be a progressive champion that stands up for working people who stand up for public schools first and foremost and then we should help the entire school system.”

The comment underscores the deepening level of antipathy from Senate Democrats in the mainline conference toward Cuomo.

Many of us in the education blogosphere and twitterverse have compared Cuomo to Walker before.

Now a member of the mainstream Democratic conference in the State Senate is doing it.

If I were NYSUT, I would take the clip of Gianaris comparing Cuomo to Walker, bundle it into an ad and run it all across the state.

Cuomo's at his lowest approval rating ever in the last Siena poll, but that number will be bounce back up after his minimum wage political ploy (and make no mistake, that's what it is - albeit, some good will come from it) and news his consort Sandra Lee has cancer.

But overall we want the trend to be downward.

It's imortant to keep Cuomo's numbers down - the unions should be running ads to do just that.

This Gianaris clip seems tailor made for that task.

Cuomo Says Teachers Are An "Industry" That Resists All Change

The guy who sucks up hedge fund and Wall Street industry money like he's a guy in the desert who just found water says this:

In touting teacher evaluations proposal, @NYGovCuomo referred to education as an "industry" that resists all change.
— Yancey Roy (@YanceyRoy) March 28, 2015

There was more:

Education policy, which Assembly Democrats and the governor have been locked in protracted negotiations, has been the most arduous, Cuomo indicated.

Cuomo said he wants “a really comprehensive transformation of probably what’s one of the most entrenched systems in the state of New York, what’s called the public education system. It’s probably as not as good as it should be, but has always defied change.”

The rhetoric from before the election hasn't changed.

We're a monopoly that needs to be "broken" - and he's going to do the breaking.

The good news is, Cuomo also says this has been the hardest budget he's had to negotiate because the legislature isn't rolling over like they have the past four years:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the negotiations over this year’s state budget “without a doubt” the hardest he’s dealt with since taking office.

The bad news - Cuomo says it's close to what he wants on teacher evaluations right now. 

He also says a new teacher evaluation and plan for state takeovers of failing schools must be in the budget.

So no punting that to a post-budget deal when Cuomo will have less of a hammer to use to get his way.

In any case, no deal today or tonight.

Looks like we'll get a late deal and Cuomo will push it all through with "messages of necessity".

Cuomo Spokesman: The More You Protest, The Worse It Will Get For You

From Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY:

ALBANY—More than 1,000 teachers and public education advocates marched through the Empire State Plaza concourse on Monday, clogging security checkpoints into the Capitol and rallying on the Million Dollar Staircase in a boisterous protest of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s education reform proposals.

Led by New York State United Teachers, the primary opponent of Cuomo’s plans to overhaul the state’s teacher evaluation system and tenure laws and boost charter schools, protesters arrived from around the state in 15 buses as well as by car from local school districts.

Carrying signs and even a cardboard cutout of Cuomo adorned with a NYSUT scarf, they chanted, “hey, hey, ho, ho, this corporate greed has got to go,” “shame on you” and “this is what Democracy looks like.”

Members of both houses of the Legislature attended the rally as it reached the Capitol staircase that’s in between the Senate and Assembly chambers. Assembly education committee chair Cathy Nolan, a Queens Democrat, was met with cheers when she encouraged teachers to continue to fight for school funding and respect for their profession.

“You have to be here to make your voice heard, or you will not be,” Nolan said. “I know it’s not easy, but it matters.”

The response from the Cuomo administration?

Their voices were heard in the hallways outside the chambers, and apparently also by the Cuomo administration, whose offices are on the second floor. Their screams further motivate the governor to pursue his agenda, spokesman Richard Azzopardi said in a statement.

“The governor is fighting to reform a system that spends more money per student than any other state in the nation while condemning hundreds of thousands of children to failing schools over the last decade,” Azzopardi said. “The louder special interests scream to protect the status quo—and today they were screaming at the top of their lungs—the more we know we’re right.”

Classic authoritarianism from Cuomo.

He doesn't care that the polling shows the public backs teachers, he doesn't care that parents and teachers are fighting against his agenda.

All he cares about is ramming through a privatization agenda that has been bought and paid for by his Wall Street and hedge fundie constituency, one that will enlarge the charter school sector, set up more public schools for failure by putting ever more mandates onto them (but not on charter schools!) and put in place a state takeover policy of schools and school districts that will allow private entities to take them over, cancel union contracts and run them the way they want.

Cuomo's Out To Destroy Public Education - Why Aren't The Teachers Unions Trying To Destroy Him Politically?

Temperatures in the Garden State aren't the only thing hitting bottom:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s approval ratings have hit an all-time low, according to a new poll.

In a Rutgers University-Eagleton poll released on Friday, 53 percent of New Jersey voters view Christie unfavorably and just 37 percent hold a favorable view of the governor — down 7 percentage points in two months.

The possible 2016 GOP candidate’s job approval ratings are facing similar blows. Fifty-two percent of New Jersey voters disapprove of the job Christie is doing while 42 percent approve. In December, 48 percent of voters approved of Christie’s job performance.

Those questioned for the poll were able to elaborate on why exactly they hold unfavorable opinions of their governor. When asked, 20 percent cited his “attitude, personality and behavior,” while 15 percent specifically mentioned Bridgegate and 10 percent mentioned his national ambitions to possibly run for president in 2016 as affecting his ability to govern the state.

Christie's pal in NY State, Governor Andrew Cuomo, isn't much better when it comes to job approval - he enjoys a 47% job approval rating (51% disapprove.)

But Cuomo's got a favorability rating of 60%, as measured in the last Siena poll.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Cuomo's numbers after a bruising budget battle over ethics and education reform.

Cuomo's going to try and smear the Legislature as corrupt and unwilling to accept his ethics reforms package even as he himself is corrupt and refuses to put into place any ethics reforms that would affect him (e.g., closing the LLC loophole that allows him to raise money from the same source through multiple shell entities.)

Cuomo's also continuing his war against teachers and public schools, vowing to destroy both.

It's unfortunate that the teachers unions are fighting a half-assed battle against Cuomo, because if they really went at him, running ads like this or this against him, they could drive his numbers down and make him pay a real political price for his war of attrition against public education.

I don't quite get the strategy the unions are using here - Cuomo's out to destroy us, but for some reason, they've decided to only go so far in their pushback against him.

They ought to be running ads like the ones I linked to above, or this one:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo is a hypocrite.

Cuomo says he wants to go after tax deadbeats in New York State, taking away driver's licenses of anybody who owes more than $5000 to the state in income tax.

But the governor won't let the tax assessor into his home to assess the improvements that his girlfriend made to their house as detailed in various media reports including on The Today Show, thus saving himself thousands of dollars in extra taxes a year.

Cuomo says he wants to go after corrupt politicians in Albany and has threatened to shut down the government if the Legislature doesn't accept his ethics reforms package wholesale.

But he refuses to accept any ethics reforms that would affect him as governor - including a loophole that allows him to raise campaign donations beyond the legal limit through shell entities created just for that purpose.

Cuomo also says he wants to break the public school system and has vowed to shut down the government if the Legislature doesn't accept 100% of his education reform agenda that promotes charter schools and state takeover of school districts.

But Cuomo has raised millions of dollars from campaign donors who will directly benefit from these education reforms, including from for-profit charter school operators who are licking their lips at the money they will make once Cuomo hands them entire school districts to run.

Governor Andrew Cuomo talks a good game when it comes to tax issues, ethics reform, and public education.

But when you watch what he does on these issues rather just listen to what he says, you see that he is as corrupt and hypocritical as anybody else in the cesspool that is Albany politics.

Cuomo's people already allegedly asked for the "attack" ads the unions are running against him to be pulled, though the unions haven't done so and continue to run them.

That's an indication that running ads against him is doing some damage to him, driving some of his internal numbers down.

But Cuomo's playing for keeps while the teachers unions are playing with kid gloves on, jabbing at him over school funding in ads that are pretty lame without REALLY going at him on issues that could make him cry "Uncle" in a matter of weeks.
 
As I posted yesterday, I suspect the unions aren't really looking to win this fight, that they're putting on a show for their members while selling us out behind the scenes (thus the secret Mulgrew/Magee meeting with Cuomo aides last week.)

It's a shame, too, because with a little work, Cuomo's numbers could be down near Christie's and we could make him regret he ever told a Forbes crowd and the Daily News editorial board that he planned to destroy public schools in his second term.

Nothing Would Make Me Happier

Ken Lovett reported that UFT President Mulgrew and NYSUT President Magee met with Cuomo aides on Friday after the unions unveiled attack ads against Cuomo's education budget and reform agenda.

Lovett wrote:

Sources say the unions during the meeting may have agreed to temporarily pull their attack ads, leaving some insiders to question whether the sides are trying to hammer out some type of agreement on how to move forward.

Norm Scott heard "secret meeting" between Cuomo aides and the union heads and smelled sell-out.

So did I (here and here.)

Because whenever I hear the words "secret meeting" and Cuomo, I have these painful flashbacks to the meetings they had to bash out the APPR agreement back in 2012 or the CCSS test safety net deal that Cuomo reneged on - so why wouldn't I smell sell-out since that's what's happened before?

But my friends on Twitter, many of them part of locals around the state, assure me I have nothing to fear - here's a few tweets from Martin Daly that do a good job of explaining their perspective:

@perdidostschool DOn't let one article blind you to all that is happening across the state- the union is fighting this war on may fronts.
— Martin Daly (@marty10707) February 10, 2015

@perdidostschool @NYGovCuomo I have seen no evidence of a deal or of the union backing off.
— Martin Daly (@marty10707) February 10, 2015

@perdidostschool @klnynews I think the union is keeping @NYGovCuomo on the defensive - we'll negotiate from strength
— Martin Daly (@marty10707) February 10, 2015

Now, nothing would make me happier in life than for Martin to be right about this and me to be wrong.

Seriously.

But I'm a little skittish, both as a UFT member who's seen his share of "compromises" from the leadership that ended badly for teachers and as an NYSUT member who's seen at least two in the last few years between NYSUT and Cuomo (the 2012 APPR deal and the CCSS safety net deal.)

So forgive me if I'm a little skeptical when I read a report from a reputable, excellent reporter like Ken Lovett (who broke much of the Moreland story before anybody else) about secret meetings between Cuomo aides and the union heads.

I'm glad to hear Martin Daly say the unions haven't pulled the ads, that there is no evidence that the union is backing off from the fight against Cuomo.

Nothing makes me happier than to hear that.

But the "secret meetings" thing concerns me a bit, because now is NOT the time to be doing any talking to Cuomo.

As I wrote yesterday:

There is no reason the unions should be talking about anything with Cuomo, not after he broke his promise over the CCSS safety net, not with him taking heavy damage from both political sides.

The unions ought to be doubling down on the ads, running more of them, exposing more of the Cuomo agenda for the brutal vendetta it is, weakening him so that when the time to talk does come, he's soft and pliable from the beatings he's taken.

The time will come for talk, but it surely hasn't come yet - there's more attacking to be done to make sure that when the talk time does come, Cuomo's beaten up enough to actually listen to what other people have to say.

I stand by those words today.

We didn't want this war but Cuomo brought it on us.

The time for talk will come - but we're not there yet.

Cuomo wanted a war.

Well, let's give it to him.

Cuomo Started This War, Why Won't The Unions Fight It?

Ken Lovett reported that the teachers unions may have pulled attacks ads they were running against Governor Cuomo at the behest of some Cuomo aides.

Teachers union leaders are said to be in talks with Cuomo's aides on how to make the peace, which Norm Scott reads as the unions surrendering to Cuomo (I read it that way too.)

There is no confirmation that the unions have surrendered to Cuomo already, but UFT President was a no-show at the first UFT teacher's forum devised by the union to garner rank and file support against Cuomo's agenda.

This comes after Governor Cuomo "declared war" on public education (the words of the Daily News, not mine), after he promised to "break" the public school "monopoly," after he introduced a budget that ignores such parental and educator concerns like Common Core and overtesting to focus on ways to fire more teachers and privatize schools and school districts.

We're in war for survival and the union leaders appear to be ready to surrender just as we're getting going.

Cuomo wanted this war, not teachers.

Cuomo is the one who made this personal, as a group of New York Teachers of the Year explained so eloquently in an opinion piece this weekend.

If the Lovett piece is correct, the union leaders at the NYSUT and the UFT may have agreed to pull their attack ads just as they were starting to get some traction against Cuomo.

Cuomo's education budget got beaten up in a budget hearing last week.

Politicians on both sides of the political aisle are condemning Cuomo's education budget and agenda (see here and here.)

Cuomo's said to be "rattled" by the federal investigations into corruption in Albany, with Fred LeBrun at the Times Union writing that Cuomo himself is the top target of the US attorney.

Cuomo's on the run, badly enough that he wants the attack ads pulled and what do the unions do when they're asked to pull them?

They pull them.

Is this any way to fight a war?

Cuomo vowed to destroy public schools.

That's not hyperbole - he actually promised to do this.

He declared war on public education.

That's not hyperbole - that's how the Daily News described his budget.

And how do the teachers unions fight this war?

With an aim toward losing it, that's how.

When a politician vows to destroy you, you do not compromise with this person, you do not look for a seat at the table to talk to him.

You pick up the seat at the table and you bash him over the head with it before he can do it to you.

There is no reason the unions should be pulling their ads down now, not when Cuomo's getting beaten up all over the place for his reform agenda, not when he's under attack from both sides of the aisle over it.

There is no reason the unions should be taking about anything with Cuomo, not after he broke his promise over the CCSS safety net, not with him taking heavy damage from both political sides.

The unions ought to be doubling down on the ads, running more of them, exposing more of the Cuomo agenda for the brutal vendetta it is, weakening him so that when the time to talk does come, he's soft and pliable from the beatings he's taken.

Cuomo is out to destroy public education.

It is only fair, right and just that we counterattack and try to destroy him politically.

There is no other way to handle a battle with Cuomo.

There can be no compromise with a guy out to destroy us.

The time will come for talk, but it surely hasn't come yet - there's more attacking to be done to make sure that when the talk time does come, Cuomo's beaten up enough to actually listen to what other people have to say.

Why Would NYSUT And The UFT Agree To Pull Down Attack Ads On Cuomo When He Has Promised To Destroy Public Education?

Ken Lovett at the Daily News:

Shortly after unveiling ads last week attacking Gov. Cuomo's education plans, the heads of the city and state teacher unions met with aides to the governor, the Daily News has learned.

City teachers union President Michael Mulgrew and New York State United Teachers President Karen Magee attended the meeting on Friday at the state Capitol.

Sources say the unions during the meeting may have agreed to temporarily pull their attack ads, leaving some insiders to question whether the sides are trying to hammer out some type of agreement on how to move forward.

...

 “We talk to elected officials all the time," said Mulgrew spokeswoman Alison Gendar. "We use strategically-placed ads to move the education discussion in the right direction. At this moment, the UFT and NYSUT, our parent organization, are engaged in the largest grass-roots campaign in recent memory to empower teachers and to protect our students.”

Norm Scott reads this as a sell-out:

Sources say the unions during the meeting may have agreed to temporarily pull their attack ads...

This goes into the category of Mulgrew "threatening" to go to court to enforce the CFE lawsuit over state funding that was "won" 10 years ago. Threatening. Why not wait another 10 years to go to court? 

Cuomo puts outrageous demands on the table and the unions put nothing on the table. So they negotiate from where Cuomo started and even if they split the baby -- 4 year tenure instead of 5? 35% based on eval instead of 50%? It is  - as Fearless Forecaster often says -- a LOSS.

I agree - this is the union leadership at NYSUT and the UFT putting up the white flag of surrender just as the battle has gotten started.

Why would NYSUT and the UFT agree to pull down their attack ads on Cuomo when he has threatened to destroy public education?

We know what his agenda is because he told us publicly back before the election:

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.”

This wasn't the first time Cuomo had publicly vowed to break public education - he had said pretty much the same thing at a Forbes forum attended by AFT President Randi Weingarten in June 2014:

CUOMO ON TEACHER EVALUATIONS AT FORBES SUMMIT -- At a private Forbes magazine-sponsored discussion forum in June, Governor Andrew Cuomo told an audience of wealthy philanthropists that state-mandated performance evaluations should be the basis for hiring, firing and tenure decisions. Forbes published video clips and a transcript from the panel on Monday, with excerpts set to appear in its December 15 issue. Capital reported in October that Cuomo and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten participated in the discussion at the Forbes 400 Philanthropy Summit.

“As a general rule, I am against public monopolies,” Cuomo said at the event, a sentiment that he repeated later during a pre-election interview with the Daily Newseditorial board. “I am in favor of competition and incentives in any system. ... The teacher evaluations system, I think, is the bedrock of this issue. ... There will be incentives. You can promote the stronger. You can help the weaker, and that’s the way markets work and systems work that will break down the ‘public monopoly.’” Watch this clip for more: http://onforb.es/1yaTglY

When Cuomo proposed his budget for the year, the promise to "break" the public school system was at the core.

In fact, the Daily News declared that Cuomo had "declared war" on it:

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo on Wednesday declared war on the state’s educational establishment.
“Our education system needs dramatic reform and it has for years,” Cuomo said. “I believe this is the year to do it.”

In painting a picture where 250,000 mostly minority and poor kids have been trapped in failing schools the past decade, Cuomo threw down the gauntlet with the teachers unions as he unveiled an ambitious education reform plan that would make it easier to fire bad or lecherous instructors, revamp the much-maligned teacher tenure and evaluation systems, and increase the cap on charter schools by 100.

Cuomo, in his combined State of the State and budget address, also proposed:

• Giving the state more power in trying to fix failing schools.
• Developing new standards that teachers must meet to enter the profession. The governor noted that nearly a third of incoming teachers were not reading at the level of a high school senior.
• Having the state cover the full SUNY or CUNY tuition for “top” graduates who commit to teaching in New York schools for five years.
• Rewarding high-performing teachers with a $20,000 bonus incentive and offering improvement plans to help those who score poorly.

He’s also pushing for a controversial education tax credit for those who donate money to private and public schools. But, as first reported by the Daily News on Wednesday, he linked it in the budget to the adoption of a state DREAM Act that would provide state tuition assistance to the college kids of undocumented immigrants.

Cuomo’s aggressive education agenda comes after months of heated rhetoric from the governor, who has vowed to break what he called the public school monopoly.

Hoping to provide lawmakers enough incentive to buck the unions and act, Cuomo pitched two different potential state education aid increases for the coming year — one for $1.1 billion if his reforms are enacted, and one for $377 million if they are not.

“Education, the great equalizer,” Cuomo said. “This is the area, my friends, where I think we need to do the most reform, and, frankly, where reform is going to be difficult given the situation in the way education is funded in this state.”

So Cuomo has declared on public schools and public school teachers, the unions launch an ad blitz (which I didn't think was very good, btw) and that ad blitz, along with the grassroots campaign the unions started to make sure legislators know Cuomo's reforms cannot be accepted wholesale, begins to do some damage to the governor.

We know the ads and the grassroots campaign must be doing some damage, otherwise Cuomo wouldn't be asking the unions to pull the ads down and pow wow over the education budget.

And what does the union leadership at NYSUT and the UFT do in response to Cuomo's crying "Uncle" over the ads?

They acquiesce!

They agree to pull the ads down while the two sides talk.

Are they kidding me?

Cuomo has declared war on public schools and public school teachers, he has promised to "break" the public education system, his agenda is not very popular around the state and the unions have gotten a little momentum going in the counterattack and now they agree to a ceasefire?

What they ought to be doing is doubling down on ads, run one like I devised that gets at the core of the problem of Cuomo's evaluation reform, and hammer him over and over and over until the war is won.

There is no compromise here - Cuomo has vowed to destroy teachers and public schools.

How does the union leadership rationalize compromising with a guy who has promised to destroy us?

Cuomo Will Hold School Aid Hostage To Passage Of His Education Reform Agenda

Just in case you think Cuomo won't get most of what he proposed on education policy today, see this:

This could be another indication that the Cuomo Administration is playing hardball or it could be in keeping with Wednesday’s unusual combination of holding the State of the State speech and budget presentation on the same day, but for the first time in recent memory, the Budget Division hasn’t put out school runs.

School runs are those lengthy listings of how much additional money each of the state’s nearly 700 school districts would get under the governor’s budget proposal.

They have been something of a tradition in local papers which for years and within hours of the budget presentation would dutifully put the estimates in charts in their papers, or more recently, in their on-line editions.

The runs outline various categories of school spending ranging from building aid to extra help for academics to transportation aid and even BOCES-related costs.

But this year, in a press briefing after State of the State, outgoing Budget Director Bob Megna, who is heading to the Thruway Authority, said there are no school runs and won’t be until the Legislature passes Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s education reform agenda which includes increasing from three to five years the time needed for tenure, allowing more charter schools and making state test results the basis for 50 percent of teacher evaluations.

These ideas have been rebuffed in one way or another by lawmakers, especially Democrats and the governor realizes he’ll have a battle ahead of him in getting them passed. Thus Cuomo’s stance that, before he releases a $1.1 billion school aid increase, he wants the reforms.

“The more important thing right now is getting the reforms done,” Megna told reporters at the budget briefing, which took place outside of The Egg’s Hart theater upstairs from the convention hall where Cuomo spoke.

“There’s no need to have school aid runs until we have an agreement,” he added.

Have seen a few optimists out there saying Cuomo won't get most of his reforms.

Hope they're right and I'm wrong.

But as I wrote earlier, Speaker Silver is already indicating the APPR and tenure reforms are negotiable and Cuomo is making clear, no money for schools unless he gets his reforms in the budget deal.

Obviously he'll have to fund schools eventually, but not providing the school runs is clearly an indication that school aid will be held hostage to his reforms.

Siena Poll Finds Just 18% Of NYers Trust Andrew Cuomo To Set Education Policy

From the same Siena poll that found Cuomo's job approval rating at 47%-51% and a 15% plurality looking to kill Common Core in NY State (49%-34%) comes this:

Voters trust education professionals over politicians to set policy, according to a new Siena College poll.

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo considers taking a greater role in developing education policy, 38 percent of voters say they most trust the state Education Department to set policy, while 23 percent say they most trust the Board of Regents. Eighteen percent put their trust in Cuomo, and just 8 percent trust the Legislature with setting the education agenda.

Cuomo is gearing up for what is likely to be a bloody fight also involving the Legislature and public school teachers over the direction of the state's system. It follows another bruising education battle over the implementation of the Common Core standards.

18%.

Not exactly a winning endorsement for Governor Cuomo's taking the reins of education policy.

And yet that is in effect what he is set to do in just a few hours with his State of the State/budget speech.

He's going to have some "harsh words" for teachers and schools, reiterate as he said yesterday that the public school system is the "single greatest failure of the state" and push proposals to "break" the system.

While the Legislature has to sign off on these proposals, he can push much of what he wants through the budget process and force much of it through.

And yet, only 18% trust him to set education policy.

Remember too that this is a governor who won re-election with the fewest votes of any governor seeking re-election since FDR in 1930.

Nonetheless, he's going to look to push through mandate-type reform that essentially destroys the public school system and the teaching profession.

18% trust him to set policy.

Fewest votes of governor seeking re-election since FDR in 1930.

But pushing a mandate-type reform to blow up the school system.

Governor Cuomo Expected To Have "Harsh Words" For Teachers, Schools In Budget Speech Today

From Ken Lovett at the Daily News:

The governor in his combined State of the State/budget address is expected to have harsh words for the public education establishment, which he has argued is only interested in maintaining the status quo.

Public education establishment?

That means teachers, administrators and schools.

We must not let him use euphemisms here when what he means to do is attack teachers, administrators and schools.

Cuomo Plans Destruction Of Public School System In New York

Does that headline seem extreme?

Check out what Cuomo said yesterday:

Cuomo has said repeatedly that he’s dissatisfied with what he calls the “education industry”, which he labeled the most “sophisticated political machine” in Albany. Cuomo, who has tangled with the teachers union in recent months, reiterated those concerns on Tuesday.

“It probably has been the single greatest failure of the state in many ways,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo says reform, including an overhaul of teacher performance reviews and fixing bad schools are at the top of his agenda. And he says simply spending "more money" is not the answer. He says it’s been tried in the past, with little improvement.

“And you know what it’s gotten us?” Cuomo asked. “A larger and larger bureaucracy, and higher salaries for the people who work in the education industry.”

The public school system is an education industry that is the single greatest failure of the state.

With that kind of rhetoric out of him yesterday, expect him to call for the complete destruction of the public school system today in his State of the State/budget speech.

Here's some insight into what's coming.

Anybody think a Twitter campaign is going to beat this assault back?

Me, not so much on that idea - at least not as the main strategy to fight back against Cuomo's outrageous assault.

The one saving grace out of all of this is, Cuomo's looking to push this all across the state.

I wonder how his "reforms" are going to go over in Scarsdale, Harrison, Larchmont and places like that?

Are parents there, most of whom do NOT think their schools are failing, going to go in for Cuomo's reform agenda that forces more evaluation compliance and test stress?

We'll see.

More later.

Andrew Cuomo Calls Public School System "Single Greatest Failure Of The State"

In case you're thinking tomorrow won't be an all-out assault on public schools and public school teachers, see this statement from today:

Cuomo has said repeatedly that he’s dissatisfied with what he calls the “education industry”, which he labeled the most “sophisticated political machine” in Albany. Cuomo, who has tangled with the teachers union in recent months, reiterated those concerns on Tuesday.

“It probably has been the single greatest failure of the state in many ways,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo says reform, including an overhaul of teacher performance reviews and fixing bad schools are at the top of his agenda. And he says simply spending "more money" is not the answer. He says it’s been tried in the past, with little improvement.

“And you know what it’s gotten us?” Cuomo asked. “A larger and larger bureaucracy, and higher salaries for the people who work in the education industry.”

As I pointed out earlier, one of the biggest concerns New Yorkers have with education is the Common Core implementation - 49% say it should be stopped while only 34% say it should continue.

Unstated by Cuomo is how the "failure" he claims for New York schools is in so many ways tied to Common Core - the CCSS tests that were rigged for 70% failure rates, the CCSS rollout by NYSED that even Cuomo acknowledged was a mess.

It's a shame the teachers unions support Common Core - sure would be a great pushback against this extreme rhetoric out of Cuomo.

At any rate, I wonder if he isn't going to overdo it with this rhetoric?

Seriously, the public school system is the "single greatest failure in the state"?

I dunno, maybe he's polled this and thinks he's got a winner here.

But it seems to me to declare the public school system the single greatest failure in the state is going to find some decent pushback from a lot of ordinary New Yorkers who don't see that about their own schools and may wonder how it is that Cuomo can claim this a year after he blamed SED and the Regents for the poor Common Core rollout.

Not A Progressive Reboot From Andrew Cuomo

Governor Cuomo is trying to make himself look a little more progressive with some of his announced proposals this past week, including student loan relief for low-income college graduates, a minimum wage hike across the state and economic development money for seven upstate regions.

But if you glimpse just past the headlines of the proposals, you can see that they're not all that "progressive" at all.

As I pointed out yesterday, Cuomo has raised SUNY tuition more than 25% over a five year period that will end in 2017 and has refused to increase the percentage of state aid to SUNY, thus setting up the likelihood there will be another tuition hike as soon as the current round is done.

If Cuomo really wanted to help students, he would couple his student loan relief proposal for low-income college graduates with more money for SUNY.

His minimum wage hike proposal is also under attack from advocates on the left for not going nearly far enough - and there is a cynical feeling out there that, as with the DREAM Act in the past, Cuomo will say he is in favor of a minimum wage hike, then not put much effort to getting it passed and signed into law.

As for the economic development plan, that has been dubbed "Cuomo's Hunger Games" by Republican Assemblyman Steve Mclaughlin for pitting seven upstate regions against each other in a "competition" for economic development money that only three can win.

And of course, there is the education reform agenda he's expected to announce on Wednesday:

Perhaps the most divisive part of Cuomo's address will be his education agenda. Thus far, the only preview of his education agenda that Cuomo has given is a lengthy letter that he had a commissioner send to outgoing State Education Commissioner John King and Board of Regents head Meryl Tisch. Cuomo has made a significant number of public comments (and past actions) that indicate he will look to bolster charter schools and implement tougher evaluations for public school teachers. Last month Cuomo vetoed his own teacher evaluation bill saying that it didn't actually "fix the foundational issues with the teacher evaluation system."

Teachers unions took it as retribution for the fact that they refused to back him during the 2014 election cycle. In October, Cuomo promised to "break" what he called the public education "monopoly."

"It would be nice to hear him say something positive about the people who are teaching our children," said Assembly Member Deborah Glick, who chairs the Higher Education Committee. "If we want kids to respect their teachers then officials need to display some as well and acknowledge it is a difficult job."

Not a chance he offers anything other than a fist to public schools and public school teachers at his "Opportunity Agenda" speech on Wednesday  - after all, it's a fist that's needed to "break" the public school "monopoly" as he has promised to do multiple times.

The only thing standing in the way of his getting everything he wants on education reform - a "toughened" teacher evaluation system, an increased (or eliminated) charter cap, more money for charter schools, less money for public schools, and increased say in education policy - is the Assembly.

So notice this news from today:

Gov. Cuomo this week will propose a commission to consider a pay raise for state lawmakers and agency heads, the Daily News has learned.

Cuomo’s plan would require for the first time a two-tier legislative salary structure — one amount for lawmakers who don’t have outside income and a lower amount for those who do, said one source.

But before anyone can get a raise, the commission will be required to recommend a specific cap on outside income, require greater public disclosure of what lawmakers actually do to earn their outside salaries, and bar legislators from representing clients who have business before the state.

...

Legislators were livid with the governor late last year when talks over a pay raise went nowhere.

The commission, which Cuomo will propose Wednesday as part of his state budget proposal, would be made up of one appointee each by Cuomo, Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican, the source said.

The panel would also look at the other forms of taxpayer compensation legislators receive, including stipends and travel expenses while in Albany, and make reform recommendations as it sees fit.

State lawmakers, who make a base annual salary of $79,500, haven’t had a raise since 1999. State agency commissioner pay has also been frozen for years, making it harder to attract people, Cuomo has groused.

The state Constitution prohibits a sitting Legislature from giving itself a pay raise, meaning any legislation could not go into effect until 2017.

It's starting to look like he's going to bribe Assembly Dems pissed at him with a "Pay Raise Commission" to get them to go along with the rest of his agenda.

The last time he convened a high profile commission like this, he ended up under investigation for witness tampering and other meddling in the affairs of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption.

Cuomo ended that commission in exchange for a budget agreement with the Legislature, an act that received a public rebuke from US Attorney Preet Bharara, who grabbed the files of the commission after it was shut down and has continued to do its investigative work.

So Cuomo has to know that using a "Pay Raise Commission" to assuage Assembly Dems and get them on board with the rest of his agenda is dangerous business.

And yet, the cynic in me thinks that's exactly what he's doing here.

If you're a teacher wondering what's going to happen in the end, given the make-up of the State Senate with the five sell-out Dems joining the majority GOP, the make-nice effort coming from Cuomo on a pay raise for the legislature, and the ineffective strategy we've seen out NYSUT and the UFT to fight Cuomo, I would say Cuomo's going to get most of what he wants in his education reform agenda.

Hope I'm wrong about that.

But barring something unforeseen at this point in time (like an indictment of a major Albany figure) or a fast reboot from the unions to join with parents to fight the coming education reform agenda (especially on testing), I see nothing significant to stand in the way of Cuomo getting pretty much everything he wants except for power over either the Regents appointment process or control of NYSED.