I just watched the gubernatorial debate in New York. It included four candidates and is the only debate that will be held as Cuomo did not want to give his opponents any free air time. So there was Governor Cuomo, running on three lines (democrat, Working Families Party, Women’s Equality Party); His Republican opponent, Rob Astorino, running on three lines (Republican, Conservative, and Stop Common Core); Howie Hawkins, Green Party; and Michael McDermott, a Libertarian Party.
There were two education questions.
One was, what’s your position on Common Core? All four candidates opposed it. The Libertarian said his nine-year-old daughter can’t understand her homework, and neither can he. He said something along the lines of, “8+6=14, but why ask her to add 8+2+7-4-3?”
Cuomo insisted he had nothing to do with adopting Common Core and blamed it on the Board of Regents. He said he doesn’t appoint them, the Legislature does.
Then came a question on charter schools. Howie Hawkins opposed any expansion of them and said we must fully fund our public schools. Astorino said he was a product of public schools, his children attend public schools, and his wife teaches special education. He didn’t say where he stands on charters. McDermott denounced charters and said they undermine local control, which he strongly favors. Cuomo said nothing about charter schools and talked about taxes and other subjects. He changed the subject instead of acknowledging his fervent support for charter schools. Cuomo did not take credit for passing legislation that requires New York City to give free public space to charters or to pay their rent in private space.
The takeaway? None of the candidates supports Common Core (not even Cuomo, who has been an enthusiastic supporter of the standards until recently and has insisted on making test scores the basis of educators’ evaluations), and charters (which enroll 3% of the state’s students, received no endorsement, even from their biggest cheerleader, Governor Cuomo.
With his campaign chest of $45 million, Cuomo has a big lead over his challengers. But the Governor would not publicly endorse Common Core or charters. He left a sour taste, as there can be no doubt that his current rhetoric is campaign mode and that he will revert to supporting Common Core, high-stakes testing, teacher-bashing, and charters after he is re-elected.k
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Cuomo claimed that he has a FIVE YEAR MORATORIUM on the “use of Common Core test scores” now in effect. That’s news to me? Anyone have a clarification on this?
It’s still two years as far as I know.
http://nypost.com/2014/06/19/albany-oks-common-core-reprieve-for-low-rated-teachers/
That’s what I thought. But he clearly stated that it was a five year moratorium
This is a recent campaign pledge of his, maybe within the last week or so.
He tried to claim credit for the moratorium but he hasn’t actually signed the bill yet.
If he has publicly absolved students who are taking these tests, his moratorium undermines their efforts on these exams. This should completely invalidate the scores.
So this is now all for show? Or is it what I suspect; campaign rhetoric that he will walk back once elected.
Oh he has a use for the tests. They won’t count for the kids, but just wait. He’ll demand a uniform, statewide teacher eval system and up the percentage those tests will count for our APPR.
That would decimate the ranks of public school teachers, put the final nail in NYSUT’s coffin, and give him such a rush of pleasure he’ll need a cigarette afterward.
I missed the debate. I assume no one question Cuomo about his forcing NYC to provide free space or pay the rent of charter schools.
No one asked that question, Michael. The question was, what do you think about charters. Astorino dodged the question, Cuomo changed the subject, the word “charter” never crossed his lips. The two minor party candidates were strongly anti-charter.
There was a very general question about charters. Cuomo and Astorino both changed the topic and never addressed charters at all. It was a joke of a debate. Actually quite embarrassing for our once great state.
Cuomo has been pretty amazing in dodging heat on all educational issues, but I’m not as certain he’ll revert to his old approach, because he has his eyes on the presidency.
Astorino and Cuomo barely answered any questions, including on education. They sat there like two kids arguing on the playground, trying to throw dirt on each other. It was really pathetic.
Howie Hawkins is the only candidate for those who care about education (and, additionally, clean water and air).
Said Perfectly
Cuomo is one of those committed to end public education and bring in charters… period.
Cuomo will retract any educational proposal until after the election. We’re not fools. This is the same man who publicly stated that he won’t make a long-awaited decision on fracking until after said election. I ask you how on earth has it come to this?
I trust your commentary and analysis, Diane, but this article said that Cuomo supported the Common Core in the debate:
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/albany-politics/finding-best-ways-to-help-cities-is-key-theme-as-candidates-spar-20141022:
“If there is some common ground in this race, it appears to be in three of the four candidates’ opposition to the state’s controversial education standards, which Astorino referred to as “Cuomo’s Common Core.” Astorino even started a “Stop Common Core” party line that will appear on the November ballot.
Cuomo is the lone candidate supporting the rigorous standards, which are being adopted all over the country.”
Thank you for the re-cap!
And the NYTimes endorses Cuomo in part because of Astorino’s opposition to the Common Core: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/opinion/election-2014-andrew-cuomo-for-governor-of-new-york.html?_r=2
“Mr. Cuomo’s Republican opponent, Mr. Astorino, has not shown that he is ready to take over such a large and diverse state. He was re-elected in 2013 to a second term as executive of Westchester County, a relatively wealthy swath of suburban New York City. He is against abortion rights, and he has said that he wants to weaken the Cuomo gun-control law. His tax policies would provide even more rewards for the wealthy than Mr. Cuomo’s. His continuing attempts to fight a 2009 court order to end segregation patterns in zoning have resulted in the loss of millions of federal dollars to his community. Mr. Astorino also wants to get rid of the Common Core education standards, a crucial effort to improve academics across the state. That would be another mistake.”
Ohio Algebra II teacher, you said that “Mr. Astorino also wants to get rid of the Common Core education standards, a crucial effort to improve academics across the state. That would be another mistake.”
On the contrary, we must get rid of the CC standards; they are devastating. Our old NY State Standards are far superior and well grounded in research. I analyzed just a small portion of the CC – the reading section for primary. For the most part the same problems are found throughout the grades; viz, closed reading- restricting interaction essential to learning and emphasis on non fiction. The problems are far more extensive as I elaborated on my web site.
Also, “Cuomo insisted he had nothing to do with adopting Common Core and blamed it on the Board of Regents. He said he doesn’t appoint them, the Legislature does.”
Something isn’t right here. My understanding was that the State governors signed on to the CCSS.
National Governors Association did and does endorse CCSS. This information is on the CCSS Web site…a lot of marketing re: a bad idea.
I would think he’s correct, technically. He wasn’t governor until 2011.
Cuomo rushed NYS into this mess by single-handedly pushing for the Race to the Top money, which he won on the second round. The $700 million prize was the largest awarded by the feds. Cuomo was convinced that his zealous tactics would add “educational thought leader” to his resume when pursuing his presidential ambitions.
No, Ohio Algebra II Teacher didn’t say that. The New York Times did. It’s a quote.
Dienne is right, Mary. That’s not my quote. I’m always upset that Cuomo isn’t lumped in with the Rhees, Gates, Duncans, and Obamas when it comes to education policy…even — at least in his own part of the world — he’s as harmful as any of them.
All good, Mary. I tend to point out where the media runs counter to points made on this blog, so I run into this from time to time.
“Our old NY State Standards are far superior and well grounded in research.” Glad you said that, Mary. That’s the problem with these top-down pronouncements from the fed Dept of Ed, the one-size-fits-all mentality for states even though their standards and needs cover a wide spectrum.
Sorry, Algebra, for missing the quotes.
They are all rotten except Howie.
I’m voting for Howie.
But Howie should advise Brian Jones to keep his mouth shut on other-than-education politics. Stick to education, to equity in public school funding, to taxing the very wealthy more fairly to fund public schools, to getting far more from our federal tax dollar that goes to waste on Syria and Afghanistan and drones, to militant opposition to vouchers and charters, to evaluation systems that are fair and don’t factor in test scores, to transforming our system to be far more like FInland and France, and to standards that are appropriate for differently abled children and English language learners.
Please, Brian, there is no need to start comparing Palestine to Israel. People can and should feel passionately about that issue no matter what their view is, but you will kill your campaign if bring in what is far too extraneous to the immediate crises at hand. Think before you speak because once you say something, you cannot get it back. It’s a one-way valve with the public.
But I digress.
Cuomo and Astorino are the same recipes, but their virtually identical ingredients just use a different label. The fruitcake in the end from both fools tastes the same, and may as well be packaged along with the vapid line of pastries put out by Little Debbie and Hostess . . . .
I hope Cuomo and Astorino get shoved into a giant 40 foot long twinkie, where they can both eat their way out, given their voracious appetites for sweet, sugary, evasive rhetoric that says nothing and indicates everything . . . . .
What smart people and great responses.
None of the ed reform politicians promote their love of charter schools in debates. In fact, DC Democrats are trying to hold on to their seats by claiming Republicans don’t support PUBLIC schools. Republicans don’t of course, but either do Democrats.
The whole gang re-discovered public schools this month, but only when it’s politically convenient. Our schools will go under the ‘ol campaign bus the moment the election is over and we’ll go back to all charters, all the time.
I have a different perspective, Chiara, on Cuomo and public schools.
I think his recent positions, unfortunately, were taken to benefit him in a natlonal, presidential run in this Obama-Duncan-corporatized culture.
But back in 2008, when he was NYS Attorney Genl, Cuomo had to pinch hit for then Gov Paterson at the very last moment in giving the keynote speech at a Columbia Teachers College grad school commencement. I was in the audience.
He spoke off the cuff and chose to focus on public schools, hitting the nail on the head in describing their meaning and importance. He spoke as a New Yorker who hailed from a city that had a tradition of superior public schools; schools that had trained so many children of immigrants who attained national prominence in varied fields. His talk was reminiscent of his father.
I was surprised and disappointed in his recent positions. But, Ohio Algebra II teacher, he is not a Rhee, Duncan or Gates. He is a politician, and will do what makes good political sense to him–which is why the backlash is so important. Make him change.
You do raise an important distinction, janebb. While I do consider the others politicians, as well, the fact that they are unelected and aren’t seeking the presidency does make Cuomo the slightest bit more accountable than the others. My biggest point is that he generally manages to bat and deflect all criticism aside. I hope that you are right that deep down he may have a respect for the profession that I haven’t seen.
“Chicago Public Schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett said Wednesday that she’ll ask the federal government to delay the rollout of a new and controversial state exam for grade school students this spring.
Byrd-Bennett told school board members that fully implementing the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, test is “unwarranted,” and that she will instead talk to the U.S. Department of Education about expanding a limited pilot program for the test.”
That’s funny. Arne Duncan said the only people who were worried about this test were those silly. vain “suburban moms”. Byrd-Bennett is one of the ed reform “rock stars” and CPS isn’t a suburban system. I think Duncan owes those women an apology. They were right.
I’ll offer a more general comment on the current state of our political system as we are in the throes of the US Electoral Dog and Pony show circa 2014.
Supporting Democrats is a serious political disorder, like alcoholism or returning again & again to an abusive spouse who repeatedly lies to you. It’s easy to fall off the wagon, to make excuses & rationalizations for it.
Even many whose views are developed enough to recognize such truths as the fundamental rottenness of the 2-party system & the complicity of Democrats in all of the Republicans’ major crimes, are still unable to draw the logical consequences of these insights. (Those so naive that they still conceive of Democrats as being the “opponents” of Republicans are another case altogether.)
The central point is this: capitalist society permits the Democrats to be one of the 2 allowed parties for a very definite reason. It’s not because the Democrats “serve the people.” It’s because in a subtle but effective way, they help the capitalists keep the populace under control by providing them with the illusion of possible change. TPTB don’t want the people “served.” They want them managed, or controlled.
It is the job, the central social function of the Democrats to always be dangling before the people’s noses vague pseudo-hints of possible change, so as to keep them from bolting from bourgeois politics altogether. It is the Democrats’ intention to never deliver meaningful change, but rather to keep dangling hints of it alluringly forever. This produces control — a populace habituated to remain safely within the lines required by ruling class interests.
This is why the Democrats NEVER paint a picture of US history that’s the slightest bit accurate — they want a brainwashed population every bit as much as the Republicans do. This is why they NEVER are willing to set forth an honest socioeconomic analysis of why things are as they are — they much prefer that people not understand such things.
As long as a large chunk of voters can be deceived by the seemingly “nicer guy” act of the Democrats, there is no hope whatever of coming to grips with the core problems of our society. The most dangerous trends — a wasteful consumer society, environmental destruction, grotesque social inequality, and an uncontrollable propaganda/war machine — cannot even be approached within the framework of bourgeois politics, because they all serve ruling class interests. This is what is really being protected, when people opt to support Democrats just because they seem less blatantly cruel on TV.
The difference between NE Democrats and Democratic politicians in the midwest is funny, too.
Ed reform has absolutely screwed MI and OH public schools, so Democrats actively run away from it here, to the point of holding a rally in opposition to an ed reform panel:
All politics is local, as they say 🙂
http://www.eclectablog.com/2014/10/the-education-achievement-authority-takes-its-dog-and-pony-show-on-the-road-to-ann-arbor.html
You do know that NE is the abbreviation of Nebraska; is that a redundant statement or is NE considered western.
Howie Hawkins has my vote…only candidate who stuck to the issues in the debate and answered decisively and with a plan in all areas.