A new poll by Siena College finds that public supports teachers, not Cuomo.
“Consider what voters said when asked about what hinders education in New York: Little parental involvement (37 percent), not enough money in schools (18 percent), the effects of poverty (17 percent), ineffective state oversight (12 percent), poor quality teachers (10 percent).”
The public backs teachers by 48-36.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In addition, since 1976, Gallup has rated the nation’s perception of honesty and ethical standards of professions and whenever teachers appear on that list, they are always ranked high in honesty and ethical standards as a profession.
The lowest teachers have ever been rated on trust was 67%. Since 1940, no president has ever received that high of a percentage of the popular vote—not once. Johnson won in 1964 with 61.1% of the popular vote and in 1972, Nixon won with 60.2%. Those two elections were the only time in 72 years that a president broke 60% in the popular vote.
By comparison, elected politicians almost always fall below 10% on Gallup’s trust scale and political lobbyists don’t do much better. In fact, when it comes to trust, people like Cuomo are almost always dead last in that trust comparison from Gallup.
Now watch their PR firms kick into high gear to change that public support into opposition. They will spend millions from the billionaire backers of reformist nonsense to bend the public to their will. It has worked in states like Kansas, Indiana, Maine, and Wisconsin where they are gutting all public services to the detriment of those who keep voting them back into office.
Will it work in NY? Time will tell . . . .
Ouch, despite a well-oiled and funded PR blitz, only 14-22% of New Yorkers are buying the “Cuomo is starving our schools” rhetoric.
It might be time to recalibrate or decouple what are two separate arguments. The problem is that the allies in the evaluation/testing fight–mostly well-heeled, mostly non-integrated suburban districts–are going to be the least receptive to the funding fight. They work hard to buy their homes and pay for their schools; they don’t want to pay more to educate all those kids in bad districts with uninvolved parents.
How exactly are they paying more to educate all those kids in bad districts with uninvolved parents? Explain the mechanisms of this statement . . . .
Yeah but Cuomo is taking aim at their schools too.
If he can rip city schools away, surely he could take from those in the ‘burns if he sets his sights on them…and that is where the money is.
Additionally, testing is a statewide issue and suburban kids are feeling this as much as the “bad kids” they don’t want to pay for which by the way is a horrible way to allude to other peoples’ children.
When faced with hurting their own kids vs paying more, suburban parents will pay more. And right now state testing is not an issue they can buy their way out of.
Nor will they be able to buy a non failing rating for their school which hurts property value.
And they don’t want to have to fight for a say in their child’s education.
They also don’t want to have to worry about having fund sucking charters dropped in their communities or the state chasing their schools to hand over their tax money to corporate coffers.
What else ?
The poll should be forwarded around as much as possible. That’s what I’m going to do…right now.