GOV. Paterson’s plan to close the state’s budget gap in cludes $686 million in mid- year cuts in state aid to public schools. Yet even as he asks for these steep cuts, Paterson has done nothing to help New York get hundreds of millions of federal education dollars from the highly competitive $4 billion Race to the Top program.
Stepping into the void, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt this week offered a package of education reforms that, in Hoyt’s words, would move New York “to the very top of the charts” in education reform and thus position the state to receive much-needed Race to the Top dollars.
Two top Hoyt proposals:
* Lift the current cap on the number of authorized charter schools.
* Eliminate a statutory “firewall” that now prohibits districts from considering how well a teacher’s students actually are learning before granting a teacher lifetime tenure.
Hoyt claims that he discussed his package with Paterson, who privately encouraged him to press forward. Yet, once the proposal became public, the governor’s staff said that Paterson had “no position” on Hoyt’s plan, The Post reported.
Paterson’s unwillingness to take a stand on Hoyt’s plan to eliminate the charter cap was especially noteworthy because Paterson himself had called in the past for lifting it. In other words, Paterson now has “no position” on his own position.
When Paterson became governor in March 2008, Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform captured the optimism of the moment: “As longtime fans of David Paterson, we are extremely confident that the hard work of providing a quality education for every child in the state will not only continue, but will take on a whole new sense of appropriate urgency.”
Now, 19 months later, I’m not sure Paterson’s “no position” quite reflects a sense of “appropriate urgency.”
Educators and politicians might be willing to understand the need for the governor’s school-aid cuts if they knew where Paterson wanted to lead them on education issues. But they don’t know, because Paterson frankly doesn’t know.
In striking contrast, President Obama does know where he wants to lead the nation on education. Obama’s Race to the Top initiative offers New York the enviable option of doing what’s right and receiving hundreds of millions of education dollars — money that could help mitigate painful education cuts. But New York first must show it is serious about education reform.
While New York dithers, other states’ governors and legislatures are changing their laws in a bid to secure Race to the Top dollars. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — facing fiscal challenges even greater than New York’s — nonetheless proposed sweeping educational reforms in response to Race to the Top. This month, California repealed a law that prohibited student test-score gains from being considered in teacher evaluations — a threshold step for Race to the Top dollars.
Major educational reforms also are being pursued in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Tennessee, among other states.
While those states are indeed trying to “race to the top,” Paterson’s only major educational initiative has been a fight against childhood obesity, snack foods and trans fats. If Paterson wants to be taken seriously on education, the Race to the Top funding priorities offer a place for the governor to start.
Following Hoyt’s lead, Paterson should propose lifting restrictions on charter schools, unrestricted use of student data to improve classroom instruction, an overhaul of ineffective teacher-preparation programs, compensation plans that reward excellent teaching and a streamlining of the process for removing bad teachers.
Paterson also should embrace providing needy students with enough time — through longer school days and a longer school year — to get the education they deserve. The hundreds of thousands of children across New York seeking better educational opportunities need a governor who’ll lead — not one who takes “no position” on their future.
Thomas W. Carroll is president of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability.