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Education
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The Topic
"Education" refers to the organization and performance of the public schools and public support institutions established for teaching children from pre-K-12th.
The Context
NYC's public education system is the nation's largest. Over a million pre-Kindergarten through 12th-grade students attend its 1,100-plus schools. The seven-member Board of Education and the Chancellor share custody. Thirty-two separate school districts manage their elementary and middle schools. Run by the superintendents, each district elects its own community school board to set educational policy. High schools report directly to the Board of Ed. There is extraordinary variety across the system: schools of every size and stripe, and at every echelon from first-rate to failing. Less than half of each high school class graduates in four years--and, even with extra time, only 70% of NYC kids can count on a diploma.
The Reporter
Jessica Wolff is a public school parent and Director of Policy Development at the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, a not-for-profit coalition working to reform New York State's education finance system to ensure adequate resources and the opportunity for a sound basic education for all students in New York City.

by Jessica Wolff

Election Special--Accountability, School Funding, and Privatization

(Oct-Nov '00)

Pay attention to candidates' ideas on the following education issues, which will be critical in the coming couple of years.

Accountability. Nearly everybody agrees on the need for accountability in education. Differences of opinion arise around questions of who should be held accountable for what and how. New York has already adopted many accountability measures. New York City requires failing kids to attend summer school and to be held back if they're not successful there. Teachers must pass exams to become certified to teach.

Principals and superintendents work under performance contracts linked to student outcomes. New York State requires all kids to meet standards and pass Regents exams in order to graduate from high school. Both the state and the city publish annual school report cards evaluating the performance of individual schools.

Additional accountability policy proposals abound. They include withholding federal funding to poorly performing schools, linking educators' salaries to student performance, and linking federal funding to mandatory teacher testing, as well as requiring states and school systems to provide the conditions necessary to offer students the opportunity for a quality education.

School funding. A judgment in the school-finance lawsuit Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York is expected later this fall. The State Supreme Court will then decide whether the state's system for distributing education aid needs to be reworked to ensure adequate funding for a sound basic education for all the state's students. Whatever the outcome of this case, however, legislators can act to create a funding formula based on the actual costs of education, as well as to increase school funding to bring needed resources for competitive teachers' salaries, teacher professional development, class-size reduction, longer school days, longer school years, intensive reading programs, and other measures proven effective in improving student outcomes

Privatization. The noisiest privatization issue is school vouchers, giving parents public funds to spend on their choice of private and religious schools. Other issues include the extent to which public school systems may "outsource" some of their functions: for example, allowing for-profit education management companies take over running low-performing schools, as Chancellor Levy has proposed in NYC, or allowing school superintendents to shop around for private vendors for goods and services usually provided by the Board of Education.

During the election campaign, here is where the candidates have stood on these three issues:

Accountability: Both Clinton and Lazio support greater accountability. Both have endorsed teacher testing with Lazio tying testing to job retention. On the state level, at present, there is wide public support for improved accountability in public education that crosses party lines. So, no matter who wins, more rather than fewer accountability measures are likely in the state's future.

School funding: Many believe that, even if ordered by the court to change the school finance system and increase funding to needy districts, state Republicans are likely to attend to interests of better-off districts. Democrats are thought to be inclined to push for greater changes and a bigger budget. Democrats in the State Senate think this election is an opportunity to gain the majority that Republicans now hold, or at least narrow the 11-seat gap. If they succeed, it may increase the level of school funding in the city. Both Clinton and Lazio support significant increases in funding for public education, with Clinton pushing for the higher budget of the two. (But federal funding makes up only 7 percent of the state education budget.)

Privatization: Lazio has endorsed vouchers. Clinton opposes them.


Sites For Beginners:

  • NYC Board of Education - By far the easiest way to get information from the Board of Education. Check out this site for NYC public education facts and figures, policy details, and "school report cards" -- annual reports on the performance of each NYC school. Also available is the Chancellor's Plan for School Leadership Teams, a new initiative to make parents partners in school decision making.
  • NY State Department of Education - Lots of info here about state policies that now drive city reform efforts -- learning standards, assessment requirements and results, universal pre-K, charter schools, registration review and more. The Office of NYC School and Community Services page posts city-specific info. Also available: curriculum resource guides to help teachers and families ensure classwork is aligned with state learning standards.
  • NY State School Boards Association - A good place to check for the status of the state budget and up-to-date information on legislation and legal issues important for public education. Also culls newspapers statewide for school-related articles.
  • Education Week on the Web - Great site for national coverage of education issues. Includes daily digest of education articles from newspapers around the country. "In Context" section decodes jargon and provides background for the week's education news.


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