Year after year the local school district faces the same old school budget uphill battle for votes. New Yorkers, especially those in New York City suburbs, are facing enormous pressure to come up with the dollars to fund their public schools. And year after year it becomes more difficult to do so.

This year Governor Cuomo offered public schools an enticing option: a tax cap PLUS a state funding reduction. He also appointed a commission to look in to unfunded mandates. Any findings this commission may have made have neither come to light nor found any relief, but the commission will politely listen anyway. The local school district has estimated that 20% of its budget is due to unfunded mandates. In light of the crushing property taxes New Yorkers are paying, would not unfunded mandates receive more immediate attention and action?

Governor Cuomo has taken the easy way out in reducing New York State spending. Cutting spending by reducing state aid to schools does not help overburdened property tax payers. The true budget-busters which are responsible for the lion’s share of property tax increases are caused by collectively bargained wage increases, retirement and other benefits, most notably (and most painful) are health care increases. These costs do not go away, and in fact, they increase every year. Governor Cuomo just signed us all up for higher property taxes to pay for the increases and to make up for what he does not offer in state aid.

Real fiscal reform will take real courage. Reform will need legislative action, not mere spending cuts. Real reform is a big job, not a quick fix to an ailing economy. Governor Cuomo has not shown yet that he has courage or intelligence to champion the necessary reform legislation for the unions, for health care or for the many unfunded mandates which are a part of the education business today.

Still feel like celebrating?

The PCN&R further stoked the flames of discontent among overburdened taxpayers by printing the salaries of every staff member in the local school districts. Is this education worth the money you are paying, it asks.

Voters in the three school districts whose salaries were exposed decided to support their school budgets, thus avoiding a re-vote or contingency budget. Despite the bald-faced attempt by the PCN&R to mislead voters and send them into a tax revolt, the voice of the people spoke loud and clear: you can’t fool us!

When politics and personal agendas enter the classroom and decide how and what students should learn it is the end of rational thought. The only possible outcome of this overt indoctrination is a sea of nodding heads, not critical thinkers. Responsible parents will have to flee the state so that their children need not be hampered by Texas-style substandard education.

This will certainly go down in history as the worst and most irresponsible decision ever made in education.

Read more about Texas’ Folly here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPQ3ktQNqImWyQ23yXKoCFXWrN1QD9EDD4EO0

http://voices.kansascity.com/node/8155

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/us/politics/11texas.html?src=me

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/education/11educ.html

See the draft of the standards here: http://www.corestandards.org/

Dr. Ravitch declares that she now recognizes the problems the accountability movement has created for education: testing requirements in math and reading have meant less teaching time for social studies, science and the arts. Ravitch also writes, “Accountability, as written into federal law, was not raising standards but dumbing down the schools.”

What does this about-face in thinking by one of our nation’s leading education experts portend for education reform? Will the United States undergo revolutions every ten years to policy, philosophy and practice? And what does this mean for our students?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/education/03ravitch.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

“Today, we’re announcing a bipartisan, open, and transparent effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind–a law that we all agree is in need of major reform. It will start with a series of hearings in the coming weeks to explore the challenges and opportunities ahead as we work to ensure an excellent education is available to every student in America. With a real commitment to innovation, we invite all stakeholders who share our serious interest in building a world-class education system to e-mail us their suggestions.”

NCLB desperately needs an overhaul, and the House Education and Labor Committee is interested in hearing from stakeholders about how to repair this law. E-mailed comments will be accepted until March 26, 2010 at: eseacomments@mail.house.gov.

https://www.mysecurecyberspace.com/

The most dramatic changes will occur in funding opportunities. President Obama plans to offer grants and funding programs that encourage reform, relieving some of the pressure of the huge unfunded mandate that is No Child Left Behind. This could encourage reform based on excellence, not on mediocrity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/01/AR2010020101129.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/education/01child.html

No Child Left Behind, which probably really should be completely scrapped, is up for a rewrite. This, in conjunction with some financial support from the federal government, may be some of out first baby steps toward education reform.

Read about it at the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604586.html