As everyone knows it’s one thing to make promises in speeches and another thing to work to keep them. Here’s a bird’s eye view of Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State “Opportunity Agenda”. Since he wants to rate and evaluate teachers, let’s do the same for him…good, bad and hopeful.
Let’s start with the most important- Education. Our rating is BAD.
He doesn’t understand it at all.
By calling for more charters, he ignores charter school failures which have produced two startling results: NYC schools are the most segregated schools in all of the United States and only one in five charters anywhere in this State or country produce better results than traditional schools. And that’s being kind to them. Additional charters have made no improvements.
He wants stricter evaluation of teachers to ferret out the ‘bad’; wants evaluation to be based 50% on the results of student test scores and 50% on performance before local school officials and an independent educator. He wants to give bonuses to highly rated teachers and all tenure to be increased from three to five years. These are all punitive and pressure methods. There is nothing positive; there is little or no incentive except for job loss.
Cuomo gives no thought to the Liberal Party’s concerns: significantly improving teacher education in Schools of Education; to post-graduate training and skill improvement; to whether heavy testing of children proves learning is going on; or most importantly perhaps, to the fact that almost half of our teachers quit the field in less than five years because they have not been taught how to perform successfully and so give up.
For Cuomo none of these powerful issues exists.
His formula: Same old + same old = continued failure. All but brain-dead on the issue he is caught up as usual in political decisions not substantive ones. We are disappointed that he has learned so little.
Legislative Salaries. Our rating BAD. Andrew continues to play his political hardball games in his effort to control the State Legislature. He is forming a commission to study whether the Legislature should receive a raise and tying the ‘raise’ issue to whether they should continue to receive an income from outside business activities. As long as the commission is studying those issues Andrew controls those raises…and the thinking goes, the votes of the legislators.
We suggest a cost of living increase and continuation of their outside income. Instead we recommend the institution of term limits which would put a serious dent in the pay for play atmosphere that has made the New York State Legislature the most dysfunctional (read crooked) in all of America. (See Sheldon Silver).
Cuomo would increase the quality of life for women in NY State; put an end to discrimination against transgendered New Yorkers; reform the criminal justice system so that the public could look inside the Grand Jury process and independent monitors would consider Grand Jury decisions; develop a comprehensive infrastructure program to modernize and repair airports, ports and rail, roads and bridges.
Our rating for all of these program elements is GOOD.
Multi-level approach to minimum wage. Our rating is GOOD.
Taxes. Our rating is HOPEFUL because this is all part of a budget to be negotiated with the Legislature.
He wants to lower property and small business taxes.
Reports that the Governor is sounding more liberal now that he has for the past four years are pleasing. We like the word liberal and what it means to be so identified.
But Andrew plays hardball politics and has an eye for higher office. Performance not words are what counts. Let’s see.