Press release:
“I cannot, in good conscience, support a budget that allows the state to have power over the needs of individual school districts and classrooms. The education component of the budget gives the State Department of Education (SED) too much latitude in implementing the teacher evaluation system. We should have included teacher groups and school administrators in these decisions instead of leaving it up to bureaucrats and armchair educators. Furthermore, this budget makes no mention of exceptions for special education teachers’ evaluations, whose students will likely struggle with Common Core testing, and we will likely see a large number of students score poorly on Common Core Assessments.
“I cannot support budget measures which include funding for the SAFE Act. The Capital Projects and State Operations budget bills appropriate millions to be used for the SAFE Act database and personnel. It is unfortunate that good legislation is often tainted with politically advantageous appropriations. I refuse to vote for legislation that funds an irresponsible and shameful measure that was passed in the middle of the night without public input or adequate time for discussion and debate.”
Judging by the above press
Judging by the above press release it would appear that Assemblyman Hawley voted against passage of the 2015 Budget. If so I give credit where due and thank him for the no vote. However it's been known all along that Cuomo's Budget would easily pass in the Assembly [even though there were 55 NO votes]. BUT the real outrage happened in the Senate, where EVERY single GOP Senator voted YEA for passage of this really poor Budget. Yes that means Michael Ranzenhofer! A Budget that not only includes new funding for NYSAFE, but also increased funding [equals spending] in numerous other areas.
Q. Where in hell is the money coming from for all of this increased spending?
A. Where it usually comes from, dummy.
http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/senate-passes-2015-16-state-budge…
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Thank you, Assemblyman
Thank you, Assemblyman Hawley, for sticking up for the students of New York State! I cannot imagine being a teacher in this climate of governmental micromanagement by those who often times are not even educators by trade. It is a shame that educators have been removed from this process and their disenfranchisement can have only negative consequences in the long run on our children and the future of this state. I am curious to know if those in support of the direction public education is going would go to a career politician if they had cancer? I would definitely be going to a cancer doc myself because I would want an expert to help me. The same should be true for public education.
It should be noted that there are several uncontrolled for factors that go into student response on test day, not simply whether or not they are a student with special needs. Many children have anxiety. Many hours are spent on these tests which are written 2-3 grade levels above the students. Many hours are spent teaching to the tests. There are districts that do not even have recess anymore, or that have it only once per week. There are impoverished children who may not have eaten all weekend and who are undernourished in general. There are children who live in violent areas and who do not sleep well because they hear gun shots in the night, or because they are anxious about their family members who may be engaged in nefarious activities. There are children who live in violent homes or who don't sleep because they are worried about their parents who did not return home last night. Homelessness is quite prevalent as well. Imagine having to take a test or concentrate at all in school when you are living out of a car or sofa surfing. There are children who do really well on medications that they might not have on test day because their insurance lapsed and their families cannot afford to buy the meds out of pocket. There are children who's parents can buy the meds, but who may have forgotten to call the doctor for a new script before the office closed for the weekend. There are any number of other traumatic events that may have occurred such as parent was recently diagnosed with cancer, sibling is ill and no one knows why, grandparent died, dog got hit by a car, cat disappeared. Not to mention the numbers of children with special needs who are also appropriately mainstreamed, but who may have learning issues that affect their test outcomes and thus, their gen ed teacher's ratings. Finally, don't forget about the children who have special needs, but who have slipped through the cracks. This is just what I thought of off the top of my head and I am sure there are more factors that others can come up with.
Many factors are societal factors that are not being addressed appropriately and that do not get left outside the building when the children walk in. To say test scores accurately reflect a teacher's ability to teach is to treat education in isolation and shows a lack of understanding of children and of the nature of education today.
They had to pass the budget
They had to pass the budget full of backroom deals by the 3 men in the room to find out what was in it at 3am. this should be criminal. They snuck in a provision at the end of one mundane section that will form a commitie to allow the pay raises of part time legislatures already making $70+K a year. along with the governor and judges. this is Cuomo's retaliation on the teachers union for not supporting him in the election, doubling down on common core. Its all about $$ and power with Cuomo.
ETA: Every single republican senetor voted for it by the way.
the money came from cuomo"s Billion doller slush fund is where it came from, not to mention according to Assemblymen Bill Nojay that Cuomo cut the upstate DOT budget by somwhere between 30 and 40 % this year
And yet the masses will sit
And yet the masses will sit on the sofa and watch American Idol while twiddling their thumbs and saying... dammit all, I wish someone would do something to stop the corrupt political ways of Albany, and stop raising my taxes. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....
The worse part of the budget
The worse part of the budget is no property tax relief for homeowners, especially those who are struggling to keep their ends met.
However, if you spend $230000 or more on a yacht or private plane, you can get a sales tax break on the purchase, or if you own a winery you no longer have to charge sales tax on wine or cider, and further more, if you own a technology company, you get instant tax breaks and credits just for hiring interns.
Nice job NYS, screwed the little guy over yet again.
*stands in awe*