Mark Naison of Fordham University writes:
When Democracy Died in the New York State Assembly
Something inside me died tonight in the New York State Assembly. Democratic legislator after Democratic legislator, some who claimed to be lifelong friends of public education, some who were once teachers themselves, caved in and voted for a bill that was going to add to the test burden on the already over tested children of the state, subject teachers to more scripting and more intimidation than they already had to endure and strip power away from principals and local school districts.
Many knew what they voted for was wrong. Many said so in their remarks. But they caved in and voted for a measure that was going to make the lives of their constituents miserable, our of fear, cowardice and a refusal to consider how their actions might look in the broad sweep of historical events
And their actions alerted me to something I had feared for some time. That the voices of ordinary citizens had become so smothered by the power of great wealth that all social policies were now held hostage to the pursuit of private gain. That political leaders, irrespective of political party, no longer felt a moral imperative to consider the “public good;” that they could pay lip service to that ideal in communicating with constituents, but when the chips were down, they would always vote for the interests of the rich and powerful.
I had used certain language, I once though loosely, to describe our current predicament. Words like “Oligarchy” and “Plutocracy.”
Tonight, I realized that those terms were rather precise descriptions of our current political arrangements
The interests of the children, the families, the teachers, the principals and the elected school board of our state were treated as impediments to a vision of educational transformation that handed power and funding over to private interests whose contributions filled the campaign coffers of officials of both parties. That such a give away of power and money took place in a Budget bill that included “ethics reform” made it all the more ironic
This was one of the most blatant displays of political cynicism and political corruption that I have seen in my lifetime.
It was quite literally sickening
I mourn for the children. I mourn for the teachers. I mourn for the principals. I mourn for the schools that will be closed; the school districts that will be taken into receivership.
And I mourn for the democratic spirit, which has disappeared from the political culture of the state and nation in which I live.
I will never accept this as the norm. I will never accommodate to cowardice and evil
And I will not be alone.
A friend of mine who has tenure was going to apply for a job in a bettesr district. She won’t do it now because of the new TEnure rules.
Glad they could get the yacht tax break through. I’ll be buying one soon.
And this observation comes to us on April Fools day.
But sadly the joke is on us….
As a BoE member I will be reading a similar statement next Wednesday night. I am both a registered nurse and an educator. I do not have to recertify for my nursing license. Today we witnessed a serious blow to democracy, local control, teaching as a profession and the real results of this action will be evident in the next 5 to 10 years. Teaching programs will diminish and people will leave the field for the private sector. Special education children will be left behind because no one will want their evaluations to be brought down by their scores. Sad, sad day…
THANK YOU for your support of public education. I wish more BoE members were that supportive.
The Boards of Education are independent bodies, each with the power to say, “No!” to this state corruption. It’s time they did. Refuse the money used to extort the school districts, turn their backs on the State’s ridiculous pedagogy and curricula. You each have the power; using it would be the ultimate in democracy.
However..Boards of Education are fodder for the big money oligarchs who seek to rule it all. In LAUSD, they, such as Bloomberg, the Waltons, Murdoch, and local overlord Eli Broad, dump fortunes into our School Board races in order to attempt to control outcomes as to imposing charter schools. Our state had the most charters in the nation, and even when investigated by the FBI as with Gulen’s Magnolia charters, they get whitewashed.
(WARNING: The following material maybe unsuitable for those having sensitivities to angry, colorful acerbic writing. Parental Guidance is suggested.)
Some of the representatives from Long Island said they hated this bill in all ways, but they voted for it anyway because it was going to infuse much needed funds into their schools districts. This was an appalling but predictable display of cowardice.
It will be interesting to see how constituents who opposed this bill will think of their elected officials who voted for it.
Specifically: Will money soothe the savage beast, or will the overall policy and its effects on education still keep constituents enraged? THAT is a key question, knowing that money trumps many but not all things in 2015 America.
Trust me when I say that the NY State pension system, which has always been well funded because of our state constitution, is the very next target Cuomo and friends will be aiming at. He will defund the pensions of every civil servant, save for the police and firefighters (a plutocrat’s best friend), by allowing municipalities to borrow money to pay for pension fund dips instead of laying out money from their own direct coffers.
All of one’s “That cannot possibly happen in New York State” sentiments will soon have to morph into “It’s actually happening in New York State.” I’m personally practicing my southern and midwestern accents because one day we will be a right to work, low tax, low wage, low income state like many in the south and midwest. I know that sounds a bit like being a snotty northeast New Yorker, but sometimes, there’s something good about being a snotty northeast New Yorker.
In principle, I hope the state and national education unions do not collapse, but in practice, it would make excellent sense because – HELLO – they have not been pushing back from any of this reform movement beginning with NCLB. But they have been taking our dues. And COPE? COPE has been the rope they have used to hang us in New York State. The state and national unions have cooperated with the reform movements exchange for a “seat at the table”, when all along they have been dishes on the menu. How many time have we heard that beaten-to-death but true cliché?
Critics were not kidding that Cuomo wants to transform New York State into Wisconsin.
And now boys and girls, here’s an except from a new fairy tale I’m writing and illustrating. Please notice the author’s tone, craft, and structure:
“Moo!” said the residents who voted for Cuomo.
“Woo-Hoo!” said Cuomo.
“Hooray!” said Mulgrew.
“Not so bad, but not so good!” said Weingarten.
“Kind of not so good!” said Magee.
“Too late!” all five chorused together, as they held hands and pulled the covers over themselves as they snuggled warmly in the big oversized bed one frosty, chilling night. The residents who voted for Cuomo, later on that night, were restless and could not sleep. They got out of bed and left to go home to think some more . . . .
I thought THIS would have been an interesting alternative path to take:
1. The bill does not pass.
2. Neither base nor additional money comes into the districts.
3. Districts are literally crippled and paralyzed to operate.
4. The ultimate mayhem and chaos arises from a decimated school system.
5. Children and parents are left without proper resources to continue a free and appropriate public education.
6. The pressures would have been so great that politicians would have had to put pressure upon the governor and the Regents to change their tune.
7. Cuomo’s and Heastie’s ratings would have plummeted even more, ensuring that they not get elevated to any other political position in history.
8. Emergency legislation would have been put in place that would have funded the schools properly without any of these draconian measures.
9. Lots of harsh drama with politicians caught with their pants down would had to have reached mainstream media, let alone alternative media because it sells a paper (or am I waxing too optimistic here?).
9. The overclass would actually have learned, practically through shock therapy, that listening to constituents really does matter.
Alas, none of that happened.
Next steps anyone?
Personally, i’d like to know that if I have to register with the state very five years to let them know I work for a public school (when they have so many other officially systematized ways of knowing that and my ratings) do I have to PAY a FEE to the state each time I register, and if so, how much will that fee be?
Don’t you love capitalism?
It will be fascinating to see if parents and taxpayers will still push back as they have been or if they will be numbed by the anesthetic administered to them as money comes into their public schools.
Stay tuned. Excessive testing without any consequences to children did not seem to work in the past. If Albany gives the same tests but lower the threshold of passing so that many more children perform well, it can turn around and declare, “You see? The new system is working well! You have nothing to be concerned about!”
Stay tuned. This has to play itself out, all of this new legislation. Better test scores by adjusting the cut-offs, reduced or eliminated pensions that will look as thought taxpayers are saving money, union busting and watered down or eliminated collective bargaining rights, teacher and principal turnover increased to about 15% or more every two years . . . .
Y’all fasten yaw seat belts, y’hear?
Great comment. If I could just add … The Boards of Education are independent bodies, each with the power to say, “No!” to this state corruption. It’s time they did. Refuse the money used to extort the school districts, turn their backs on the State’s ridiculous pedagogy and curricula. Each BoE has the power; using it would be the ultimate in democracy.
This is most disgusting. The OLIGARCHS and PLUTOCRATS are running the DEMS and the REPS. Guess the politicians thinks of themselves as the OLIGARCHY and we, of course, are their hired help to keep them at the top and us as their well…slaves, to do as they say without question. This is what this country has become. Fight back or be slaves for the Oligarchs and Plutocrats.
Bill Moyers re: “The Oligarchs”:
http://billmoyers.com/2014/04/18/bill-moyers-on-americas-mad-dash-toward-oligarchy/
http://billmoyers.com/2014/12/01/oligarchs-destroyed-major-american-city/
Bernie Sanders: http://billmoyers.com/2015/02/10/bernie-sanders-keeping-us-becoming-oligarchy-struggle-must-win/
The only thing we Americans really have left is peaceful civil disobedience and boycotting.
Are we up to the challenge and willing to do some heavy lifting?
Will suffering motivate us and give us the smarts and the strength?
THOSE are seminal questions . . . .
Robert I’m glad that the original colonists didn’t feel that they were confined to peaceful civil disobedience and boycotting else things would be mighty different in this country, wouldn’t they?
I’m waiting for our Boston Harbor tea moment. I won’t call it a party due to those loathsome crackpots that stole the term. But I have no doubt that moment will come, eventually.
We have had a few of those moments here, Chris. Look at Ferguson. It frightens me.
Violence is, in my opinion, an unacceptable solution.
But historically speaking, it has been shown to be effective.
I have been thinking a lot about our nation’s revolutionary past; and thinking our forefathers would be disgusted by our elected officials (and by us for allowing it to go unchecked). Their efforts seem to have been in vain.
“Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that ever I took half the pains to preserve it.”
…John Adams
One of the ways we know our democracy is working is that everyone is upset, everyone is going without something they want. We are in many ways more like fifty nations than fifty unified states. We are very diverse with interests and expectations that are not just very different but also a bit contradictory. There has to be give and take that leaves everyone upset about what doesn’t go their way and pleased by what does, but we tend, as human beings, to want most what we don’t get. We have seen this from the beginning, Adams and Jefferson were political enemies and opposites that did not “make up” till late in life. But in our culture there seem to be people that define tyranny as not getting their own way. The are unwilling to make the sacrifices and compromises necessary for our democracy to work and label the expectation to sacrifice and compromise as tyranny.
The danger arises when one side is getting things too much their own way. When that has started to happen in the past we changed our political leadership. In many cases it was pretty far advanced as when Mr. Astor told Mr. Roosevelt (T) he would send “my people to meet with your people.” Fortunately Roosevelt went ahead with his anti-trust programs and didn’t listen to Astor. The adults in the society have a responsibility to use the ballot box wisely to change leadership when the leadership becomes deaf to the people. Jefferson believed their should be an armed revolution every generation or so. And we have had a rebellion every generation of so, though not armed, Washington was the culmination of the first revolution, Andrew Jackson of second (which should suggest good and bad come with each revolution, Jackson was good for common folks, not so good for Native Americans), Lincoln was our third revolution, T. Roosevelt the fourth (maybe), F. D. Roosevelt the fifth, and Reagan the sixth. We are about ready for the ballot box to exert its authority again.
The problem with education is that rich and powerful people are making choices for the nation’s children that are not healthy and in many cases exploitative. I believe some of these people are sincere and well meaning but sincerity and a kind heart doesn’t make up for ignorance. But powerful interests motivated by self-interest are trying to hijack education and there is nothing sincere or kind about them and they must be resisted, like all bullies they need to be confronted, “stood up to.” I do not believe any generation has a greater responsibility than to prepare the next generation to manage the future. Each generation also has a responsibility to preserve what was given so that it can be handed over intact to the next generation. I think, unfortunately, that the bumper sticker “I am spending my children’s inheritance” that used to be seen quite frequently on cars about the country is become altogether too true in too many ways.
Cordially,
J. D. Wilson, Jr.
I think when the Supreme Court declared money equals speech they were in fact saying you had to have money in order to speak. Sort of like “Animal Farm” where we are told all animals are equal but some animals are more equal.
Cordially,
J. D. Wilson, Jr.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
One man asks what is right.
Another what is to come
And that is the difference between the free man and the slave:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer when Hitler was taking over the churches.
Words worth remembering now.
This just appeared on Daily Kos. If you can go to Daily Kos, you can watch this little girl. FANTASTIC!!!!!
Mon Mar 30, 2015 at 10:29 AM PDT
Florida fourth grader gives amazing speech to school board, audience erupts in a standing ovation
by Jen HaydenFollow
104 Comments / 104 New
Sydney Smoot receiving a standing ovation after her speech
attribution: screenshot from video
Bravo, Sydney!
Sydney Smoot appeared at a Florida school board meeting to voice her concerns about standardized testing that she believes unfairly judges students. She took her turn at the podium and by the end of her brief speech, the entire audience leapt to their feet in applause.
Watch her incredibly poised speech here:
Syndey suggested changes and railed against a provision she was asked to sign saying that she wasn’t allowed to discuss the test with her parents:
Sydney suggests tests be administered throughout the year, instead of once at the end of the year. “One test defines me as either a failure or a success through a numbered rubric.” That test score is not revealed until after that school year is over, according to Smoot.
She’s also concerned about a form in the test requiring students to refrain from talking about the test to parents. “I am not comfortable signing something like this,” Sydney said, “I have the right to talk to my parents about any- and everything related to school and my education.”
Tests or no tests, it’s clear that Sydney Smoot has a very bright future ahead. Bravo, Sydney!
Gordon, here’s the link:
http://foxct.com/2015/03/30/fourth-graders-jaw-dropping-speech-on-state-testing-gets-a-standing-ovation/
There is a neat and simple response to this outrage. All of us must ORGANIZE to OUST ANYONE in the NYS legislature who voted for this bill. Did Joanne Simon and Jim Brennan of uber-ultra liberal Park Slope vote yes? Did the slimy Senate Repubs from LI vote yes? OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! No exceptions! We need courage, not cowardice! ALL of them!
This is yet another reason that everyone reading this MUST break their addiction to voting for the two corporate parties and join the Green Party!! You are absolutely right that this betrayal by Democrats has everything to do with allowing money and power to speak louder than human needs and human rights. Even when well-intentioned Democrats try to do good, their party leadership makes it impossible because it is a “pay to play” electoral system where campaign contributions and political favors are the lifeblood of their system. We must get money out of politics! This one change alone would stop the corruption that is imbedded in current political and electoral system. The Green Party takes no corporate donations and works tirelessly each and every day to build a more just and sustainable future. If everyone who is refusing the tests would also join the Green Party and vote Green, we would grow even faster than we already are! Join Us! You will sleep better at night.
My 4th Grade son who attends the Brooklyn New School will be refusing the tests this year for the second year in a row. My husband James Lane is the Green Party candidate for Congress currently running in the special election in District 11 (the district where Eric Garner was killed and were Michael Grimm was ousted in a corruption scandal. http://www.votejameslane.org). If you live in Dist 11, please vote for James. If you don’t live in Dist. 11, please check out the website and give a donation. James is speaking out about this horrible state of affairs!
On the plus side – The Board of Regents will have the flexibility to minimize the impact of state tests on teacher evaluations….way better than the Governor’s plan.