NYSUT, the New York statewide teachers’ union, is demanding that Governor Andrew Cuomo sign legislation passed by the State Senate and Assembly last summer authorizing the appointment of monitors for the Hempstead and Wyandanch school districts on Long Island. The bill was the initiative of local state representatives, Assemblywoman Taylor Darling and State Senator Kevin Johnson. The bill authorizes the State Education Commissioner to appoint two oversight members for each district with a third member selected by the State Comptroller
According to the NYSUT release, “The fiscal monitors required by this legislation would provide transparency, community engagement, and oversight over the contracts and expenses of the school districts. That additional state oversight would help to ensure a greater chance of success for the students of the Wyandanch and Hempstead school districts…and also help return the joy to both learning and teaching in these districts.”
Cuomo has 10 days, not including Sundays, to sign or veto a bill once it is sent to his office. If he declines to act, the bill automatically becomes law. However, if the Governor refuses to acknowledge receipt of the legislation, as Cuomo has done so far with this bill, it passes into temporary limbo. When the new legislative session begins in January, if the Governor still refuses to acknowledge it, it dies in thirty days.
The Hempstead and Wyandanch school districts are in dire academic straits with students performing well below state average. Nassau and Suffolk Counties are divided into 124 micro-school districts that are largely racially, ethnically, and economically segregated. The student population in both Hempstead and Wyandanch is over 98% Latino and Black. Both school districts are surrounded by largely white communities with much higher performing schools.
Roger Tilles, who represents the Nassau-Suffolk region on the state's Board of Regents, believes the districts are plagued with financial mismanagement and low academic scores with school boards more concerned with patronage job than student performance.
According to Assemblywoman Darling, “We need to do something drastic. Our kids deserve excellence. I am done with our school district being a piggy bank for a lot of people. We sat here for decades. It’s time to do something, and on my watch, it will be done.” A Change.org petition supporting state intervention was posted by Melissa Figueroa, a local activist who works in Darling’s office. A Newsday editorial also endorsed appointment of oversight monitors.
Cuomo knows what is going on. Two years ago, in January 2018, Cuomo stated in a CBS News broadcast that if the Hempstead school district did not have a “real credible immediate plan for correction, then the state should come in and take over the school.” The children of Hempstead and Wyandanch have been cheated for too long. Governor Cuomo should stop weighing the political advantages and sign the monitor bill.
You can email your views to Governor Cuomo using the NYSUT website.
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