SHERBURNE – Parents, teachers, and administrators called on Albany to reconsider Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent education reform policies and restore funding to upstate schools during a community forum held at the Sherburne-Earlville Central School on Monday.
Monday’s forum hinged on a number of issues impacting public education, including the significance of local control over schools and the crippling effects that state-mandated testing has had on teachers and students in recent years. Speakers rallied against high stakes testing, teacher evaluations, and new threats of funding cuts if schools don’t adhere to the proposed teacher evaluation standards that are coming down the pike.
Opponents of newly proposed education reform say the policies put forth by the governor during his state of the state address in January would take money away from public schools in order to fund more charter schools in urban settings. Furthermore, the governor’s proposed policies would limit the power of school boards, allow a takeover of the NY Board of Regents to give full control over public education to the governor, increase testing, and withhold preliminary funding amounts necessary to formulate a school budget if schools don’t agree with the state’s terms.
All this on top of the already damaging effects caused by the hastily implemented Common Core, funding cuts of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA), and increasingly rigorous teacher evaluations, some argued.
Sherburne-Earlville Superintendent Eric Schnabl said the governor’s latest budget proposal creates an even greater risk for schools that are already fighting an uphill battle.
“After Governor Cuomo announced his budget proposal, it became clear that the example to be set is one of speaking out against his agenda which we as professional educators see as an attack on public education,” said Schnabel.
Schnabel explained the financial risks of not agreeing to the governor’s proposals and the consequences it would have on S-E’s budget. The district has already lost more than $5.1 million in revenue since the GEA was enacted in 2009.
“As the state now boasts a $5 billion surplus, we ask that the state phase out the (GEA) and increase foundation aid in a balanced manner to support our local rural schools,” Schnabel added.
Monday’s forum further attacked add-ons of the Common Core which typically provide scripted lesson plans for teachers, – a move that some educators say take away their flexibility and zest for teaching. Dr. Elizabeth Bloom, an associate professor of education at Hartwick College, called the standards a form of “mind numbing drill and kill.”
“No matter how creative and child-centered your child’s teacher may be, or you may be as a teacher, you will be inevitably forced to teach to the tests,” she said, adding that this takes student engagement and imagination out of the classroom.
Bloom also cited the erroneous effects of stripping control of schools away from local school boards and the parents, teachers and administrators who “know their own communities and what’s best for the children in them.” Under the governor’s proposal, failing districts would be handed over to other nonprofit or private entities.
Others speakers at the forum pummeled high stakes testing which many educators say has gone from bad to worse since the “No Child Left Behind Act” was signed into law in 2001. Educators argue that such federal laws trickle down through states and then individual communities, causing stress in local classrooms.
“What we have seen over the past 15 years through this particular kind of implementation of high stakes testing in this country is that it has not worked at all,” said speaker Mark Stern, an assistant professor of educational studies at Colgate University. “There is no data from what I know to suggest that reform driven standardized testing has decreased the achievement gap in this country. In fact, what we see is a widening in the achievement gap over the past 14 years.”
According to Stern, recommendations for education reform laid out by Gov. Cuomo lack scientific backing. “The research does not support any of the kinds of reforms the governor has put forth, which he suggest has the backing that makes our students learn better,” he said. “I think that’s an interesting disconnect between the kind of rhetoric and sentimentality the governor has used to garner certain kinds of support and actually what we see on the ground.”
State Senator James Seward, who also spoke at Monday’s forum, supported the call for change during a time when state and federal officials have created a “perfect storm in public education.”
“These have been very challenging times in public education. We have seen in recent years what I would call the disasterous roll out of Common Core, the implementation of the teacher evaluation, and this emphasis on standardized and high stakes testing ... All this is happening at the same time the (GEA) has withheld billions of dollars to our local school districts,” Seward said.
Seward additionally cited flaws in the governor’s idea to hold back funding, and even preliminary budget runs, if schools do not buy into his proposed education reform policies. As a longstanding member of the senate Education Committee, Seward promised to advocate for fair funding in upstate schools and education programs to give students more opportunities post graduation.
“We have a lot of work to do over the next six weeks or so as we put a new state budget together,” he added. “It’s been a priority of mine, and I can say on behalf of the majority of the coalition in the senate, that our number one priority this year is getting rid of the Gap Elimination Adjustment which has been a curse for our local schools these last few years ... Let’s forget about those so-called reforms the governor talks about. The best thing we can do for our schools, our students, and local communities is adequately fund public education.”
A petition that motions to keep local control of schools, provide adequate state funding, and overhaul mandates for high stakes testing is slated to be sent to legislators in Albany as budget negotiations get underway. That petition was supported Monday by Senator Seward and the S-E Teachers’ Association.