Like the infamous CRomnibus, Cuomo’s education policy wish-list was written by Wall Street. The Governor’s education ‘reform’ letter was written by the same hedge-fund billionaires that paid for his campaign. We cannot let hedge funds do to our schools what they did to our economy. Our children’s education is not an item to be speculated with. Governor Cuomo has given Wall Street billionaires personal tax cuts, corporate tax cuts and estate tax cuts – and now he wants to giveaway our public schools. If the governor wants true reform he should pay back the $6 billion dollars the state owes our public schools.
The billionaires who bought Albany and took control of our state Legislature will continue to spend millions to corrupt and undermine our democracy.
Their first goal is to privatize public schools across the state and move billions of dollars from taxpayers into private corporations.
Yesterday, the Cuomo administration issued a letter to Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and outgoing-Education Commissioner John King outlining the governor's plans.
The letter confirms Cuomo's plans to destroy public education, which he has ridiculed as "one of the only remaining public monopolies”.
Like the infamous CRomnibus, Cuomo’s education policy wish-list was written by Wall Street, and his education "reform" letter was dictated by the same hedge-fund billionaires who paid for his campaign.
Governor Cuomo has given Wall Street billionaires personal tax cuts, corporate tax cuts and estate tax cuts – and now he wants to give away our public schools.
Cuomo's scorched earth plan to destroy public schools seems out of the Hunger Games. It’s starve, test, and destroy.
If the governor wants true reform he should pay back the $6 billion dollars the state owes our public schools by funding the Campaign for Fiscal Equality.
We cannot let hedge funds do to our schools what they did to our economy. Our children’s education is not some stock market speculation.
What Cuomo should immediately do is:
1) STOP THE STARVATION: Increase school funding for all school districts in this coming budget and give priority to needier districts.
The funding gap between New York's 100 wealthiest and 100 poorest school districts is a whopping $8,601 per pupil. We need a $2.2 billion increase over current funding - we can't take any more classroom cuts.
2) PROTECT PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Don't raise the charter cap, and don’t use our limited public funds for charter school facilities.
Privately-run charters can't call themselves public schools if they don't take all of the public's children – and they don’t. Let's add tough accountability to make sure they serve English-language learners and special-education students -- and that they don't waste valuable tax dollars.
3) STOP THE SUBSIDIES FOR PRIVATIZATION: Don't use public money to subsidize private schools.
Education tax credits are a fancy way of drawing public dollars out of public schools and sending the money to subsidize private and parochial schools. Last year's version of education tax credits would have cost public schools across the state some $300 million in funding.
Listen to us -- not the hedge fund billionaires who seek to profit off our children.
Our students and our schools need more resources, not less. As New Yorkers we can't have two school systems, separate and unequal. We need great public schools that serve all of our children.