Merryl Tisch, Chancellor of the New York Board of Regents, denounced Governor Andrew Cuomo’s education policymaking via the budget process. Under the New York State Constitution, the Regents are in charge of education policy. That is their role. But last spring, Governor Cuomo imposed a new teacher evaluation plan as part of the state budget.
State Board of Regents chancellor Merryl Tisch Monday spoke out Monday against the new teacher evaluation system backed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying she doesn’t think education policy should be written into legislation or be part of the budget process.
“Our forefathers and mothers were very clever in how they designed the system in New York State, creating a state policy board that was separate from the executive branch,” Tisch told hundreds of school board members, educators and advocates at a panel discussion at annual New York State School Boards Association conference in Manhattan.
“I think now it’s going to be really hard to convince a lot of people who are up for election to go in and reopen the law that they really would kind of like to put behind them,” she said.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
While Tisch has a valid complaint regarding our reptilian governor’s usurpation of the Regents role, it’s nice to see the thieves falling out
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“I think now it’s going to be really hard to convince a lot of people who are up for election to go in and reopen the law that they really would kind of like to put behind them,” Tisch said.
Is this in reference to the fact that the BOR still has to officially finalize Cuomo’s Law?
Pretty fuzzy polito-speak.
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put it behind them by following it? Or put it behind them like “it’s not legal to ride your horse down the road on Sunday after 4:00” on the books but meaningless kind of put it behind them?
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Amazing how “smart” some people get when the heat is turned up…
😎
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Where was Regent Tisch when this law was rammed through? Has she finally heard the concerns of teachers, students and families in NYS? Has she just now read her job description?
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She is probably trying to save her position after so many people have been calling for her resignation. She wants to distance herself from Cuomo whose public support numbers have been plummeting.
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It is her plan! http://www.p12.nysed.gov/docs/nysed-malatras-letter-12-31-14.pdf
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Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Not only is she trying to save herself, she also finally realized her power is ebbing away, that will never do. Without power who cares about her opinions.
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Too little too late?
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So why didn’t she tell him to butt out last year instead of playing pen pals over the teacher evaluation process?
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Daniel Katz, good question. She gave him his talking points in a letter that was not shown to the other Regents. Cuomo took it from there.
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Sadly, it looks like little more than posturing for the legislators who are frustrated by Cuomo.
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VERY weird that she should say this. In her “memo” that the other Regents didn’t apparently get to see before being sent (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1387082-malatras-education-letter-12-31-14-1.html)
She says “In addition, since your letter seeks our input to inform the Governor on reforms that
may be considered for introduction in the Executive Budget process” it seems pretty obvious that since she said prior to that “While the Board of Regents and the State Education Department (“SED” or “the
Department”) appreciate the opportunity to opine on the issues raised in your letter, we
note, however, that the questions and concerns outlined in the letter relate to issues of
State Law, which are under the direct control of the State Legislature and the Governor, not
the Department or the Board of Regents. ”
That she is aware of domain of the questions being asked are not the Regents, and are being done through the process she now disapproves of. And then complies with making the laundry list of changes that they mostly implemented (with Cuomo taking their advice of making the exams 40% and instead going to 50%).
On one hand, it is indeed the legislature that did this. And did it through the budgetary process. On the other hand, Tisch got almost exactly what she asked for on behalf of the Regents.
So, was she incompetent in what she was asking for. Unaware that the legislature might give her some or all of what she asked for (CYA proposals for her). Or is she simply seeking political cover hoping we’d forget that she did have a very direct hand in establishing the very policies she’s in a roundabout way asking to be walked back by legislators (oh woe is me – no one will undo this no matter how much we want them to!)
What does Tisch actually want? Didn’t they have the power to refuse to respond and “answer” all the governor’s questions? Or to at least not propose the things they did?
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The Regents are assigned, not voted in, correct? The Governor is voted in. Take the power out of his hands (not that he uses it appropriately at all), and leave the public powerless in the decisions made concerning programs, testing and policies.
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The governor should have to put significant changes in policy before the voters. This is how lots of “reform” is being imposed on states and communities. Once they get the governor and key members of the legislatures in their pockets, they can hijack democracy. We have seen this same pattern in city after city and state after state. Governors’ power needs to be checked, and voters should have a voice. None of the educational changes are being led by parents; they are all manipulated by corporations and foundations.
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Beth,
The Regents are appointed by the Legislature. They have constitutional authority for education. The Governor has no role in education policy making. Unlike some other states, he does not appoint any members of the Board of Regents or the State Commissioner. He has grabbed control of the education agenda, because he received very large contributions from hedge fund managers who support privatization. The public is out in the cold.
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You know what they say about sinking ships.
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This is exactly the frustration I’m feeling.
Whose job is it? And right now are we just waiting until the next President to see what happens next? Are we in a holding pattern? If States have it in their constitution that the state provide for a free common uniform school system, who is supposed to be in charge of it? To what extent?
Too many cooks, it seems.
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This is quite interesting. I am from New York, and I believe our state is the only state where the Board of Regents actually oversees K-12 education.
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Tisch is telling the school board association what they want to hear. I am uncautiously pessimistic. I don’t seriously believe she will use her influence to change the eval system that’s being put into place.
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Dear Ms. Tisch,
If by chance you (or any other BOR member) are reading this, please understand that any decision to reassess the current APPR could go a long way to salvaging the counterproductive plan that is now n place. Teaching and learning will never be improved through reform policies based on the mis-trust of teachers or by threatening our careers and livelihoods. If the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers is made permanent, you, the rest of the BOR, and Governor Cuomo will completely own the disaster that you will have institutionalized. You will have wrecked and unraveled one of the best public school systems in the nation with a a flawed and inaccurate teacher evaluation system. Accountability is ingrained in our profession and your meddling is doing way more harm than good. Please help stop the testing madness by abolishing the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers.
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It’s good though. A process argument! She’s just trying to extricate them from the mess they made without actually holding anyone with any power or influence accountable for it.
A Safe Harbor to Save Face.
That’ll work like a charm 🙂
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I am of the feeling that, in the end, when more public schools are shuttered (I hate that term) and charters rise up in their places, or more charters are opened and/or share pubic school space then takeover more and more public school space, displacing the public school students, and more teachers leave the profession or are pushed out, in the end, it is a game that we, the public, cannot win.
Tell the people what they want, then do whatever the billionaires want via their bought politicians.
Ras Baraka ran a good campaign and won–now Cami Anderson is gone, in her place is worse, Cerf, and Newark is approving new and expanding charters left and right. Ras is photographed with a bunch of kids carrying a sign “Newarks for more Kipp Schools Now” and i doubt it was just a photo opportunity.
See here: http://www.bobbraunsledger.com/a-bad-day-for-ras-baraka-and-public-education-in-newark/
Tell the people what they want to hear, then “eff” them. Do whatever you want, bait and switch, and in the end…..the public loses, neighborhoods lose, and the privatizers and politicians win. Ain’t it grand?
Tisch is just posturing, no?
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from the link:
“Baraka has tried to walk a fine line between opposition to charter schools and support for traditional public schools. He has consistently said he doesn’t oppose charter schools but insisted that the Newark schools should concentrate on improving the traditional schools.”
Isn’t that mindset what got us where we are all over the place? That nobody would just say that charters are publicly funded private schools?
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Have “policy” in education and “law” always been so confusingly interwoven? Was there ever a time where lawmakers just deferred to state boards of ed to make policy and that was enough. Does achievement need to be legislated? When did this start?
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“Gaslight: To manipulate events and situations in order to make a person believe that he or she is crazy.” -Urbandictionary.com
What kind of mind games is Tisch playing? Is this woman trying to make hardworking, dedicated teachers feel insane? Is she “gaslighting” us? We didn’t create this mess. For the record, we’re not the crazy ones….SHE is.
“Having the incursion of the politics has really just made it more difficult to be nimble when adjusting education policy,” Tisch told POLITICO New York after the panel. “If we could change the regulations, believe me, we would do it. It’s unclear how much we can change the regulations.”
What crap! She’s the Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents and she doesn’t know what she can do about the rolling ball of madness that she has helped put into motion??
And, what gibberish…”incursion of the politics” and being “nimble”? Someone PLEASE send Tisch a copy of “Politics and the English Language.” George Orwell is rolling in his grave.
If Merryl Tisch cannot lead it is time she resign. Immediately.
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The Legislature gave Tisch exactly what she wanted, now she is blaming them? One thing for sure, we NY teachers will not forget our so called friends who voted ” with heavy hearts” to double down on high stakes tests, an unfair evaluation system and underfund our schools. And they know it!
Looking ahead I see;
Tisch’s days as Chancellor or ending soon.
Elia will try to pull off another Hillsborough
NYSUT and the UFT leadership will walk a fine line
The AFT will try to play nice in NY
NYS Senate Republicans will try to play hero
NYS Assembly won’t grow a backbone
Cuomo will try a compromise to boost his poll numbers
The Tax Cap will destroy our schools
More teachers will lose their jobs because of the tax cap
HST will continue and we will be told they are improved
OPT out numbers will soar
Presidential candidates will pander on education to the highest bidder
Hedge fund back reformers will continue to raid our nation’s most important asset
and children will suffer.
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Tisch is commenting now that she has a problem with cuomo’s educational policy interwoven into his spring budget? Little late for her to demonstrate her principal beliefs.
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