In 2011, with Governor Andrew Cuomo’s blessing, the New York State Legislature enacted a 2% property tax cap for spending on public schools. Expenses and inflation might be greater than 2%, but that doesn’t matter. The only way to raise the tax cap is for a district to pass a bill by a super-majority of 60%. This is blatantly undemocratic, since elections and referenda are typically adopted by a vote of 50% plus 1, not 60%.
Now, Senator John Flanagan–one of the state’s most virulent opponents of public schools–has proposed making the 2% tax cap permanent.
Flanagan loves charter schools but not in his district.
He represents an affluent district in Suffolk County on Long Island (including the beautiful town of Smithtown and portions of Huntington and Brookhaven), the epicenter of the opt out movement.
It is past time for the parents of his district to wake up and throw him out. Surely there is someone who can fairly represent the children and families of his district. He does not.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ah, the heart of Trump country in Suffolk county .
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Maybe a lawyer can explain to me how you can pass a “permanent” law.
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FLERP! get on this one, eh!
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Not permanent, but with no end date specified. The current caps have end dates. Permanent in this case would imply that a repeal would be necessary .
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As Joel notes, a “permanent” law is just a law without a sunset provision.
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If you have kids in a public school you should probably be aware that ed reformers are planning how to “manage” the “decline” of your local school.
They offer nothing positive to public school families- it’s really just a transition plan while they work towards eradicating public schools completely.
How lucky are public school students, to come along just when politicians and think tanks decided it was time to eradicate their schools!
” Replete with valuable information, sage advice, and constructive suggestions, it’s the product of a symposium in Houston (Sun Belt! Pre-Harvey!) supported by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Its advice will, however, cause some discomfort to both district and charter sectors, as it insists that the former must own their academic-quality and customer-satisfaction failings while the latter need “to have a credible answer to concerns about harm to districts.”
Why would any public school parent anywhere support these people? They offer public schools nothing positive- it’s all loss.
Gosh I hope the 90% of families in public schools don'[t get hurt during this corporate downsizing plan which is being conducted without any input from any public school or anyone who attends a public school.
Did you know your school had been officially designated a “school of last resort” by people who have never entered it? It has! So sorry.
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The Laura and John Arnold Foundation are writing the plan for how to downsize and eventually eradicate public schools?
Well. That should work out just super for public school families! An unaccountable and unelected billionaire’s foundation will be deciding which schools get “wound down”, which schools are the designated collateral damage in our quest for privatization.
I’ll make a wild guess and predict public schools will take the brunt of this downsizing plan.
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Chiara,
I understand your frustration and rage, and I share it. But I suggest you take a different tack. Instead of constantly bemoaning the corporate takeover, laugh at these clueless billionaires. They waste millions of dollars on failed projects. A whole lot of grifters and entrepreneurs are playing them like an orchestra of violins. Think of the billions that Gates has wasted on his failed reforms. Think of the millions poured into the Mass. Question 2 debacle. Think of the VAM disaster. Think of the millions in the Vergara rathole. These billionaires are suckers. The grifters are making a mint.
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One can laugh in a sick sort of way, I agree!
But in the meantime many, many students are deprived of the teaching and learning environment that they are entitled to, yes entitled to as stated in each states’ constitution.
So much harm to so many. It’s really hard to laugh at that.
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Diane you are totally correct on that. When you have essentially limitless amounts of money, spending a small fraction of it, (but still huge sums) on grifters who constantly tell you how smart and visionary you are isn’t even a blip on the financial radar. Not coincidentally, it’s one of the same methods prostitutes use to keep their clients coming back for more. Not a good way to drive the economy!
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Flanagan’s constituents support making the tax cap permanent by a 73-20 margin. And 95% (!) of Suffolk County residents feel that property taxes are a serious problem. If you included the question “is the sky blue?” to an opinion poll it wouldn’t get 95%!
Click to access LIA1216_Crosstabs.pdf
Any politician campaigning on ending the tax cap would be taking a big risk in Suffolk (and just about anywhere else in NYS).
Suffolk, of course, is Trump Country. His anti-Common Core message appealed to opt-outers and he crushed Clinton 53-44 (many other opt-out/anti-Common Core counties also went to Trump) and by a 53-33 margin Suffolk residents feel Trump’s policies will be good for Long Island. We have fallen a long way from Javits or even Al D’Amato.
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Trump lied about Common Core. He promised to get rid of it. Did he? He doesn’t remember the promise. He also doesn’t remember Common Core.
I live in Suffolk County. If you asked me whether I want lower taxes, I would vote yes. If you ask whether I would vote for more school funding, I would vote yes.
A 60% super majority is not only undemocratic, it demonstrates that Flanagan fears he would not win a fair election.
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“I will end Common Core. It’s a disaster.” Trump’s message resonated with opt-outers; the map of NYS counties outside of NYC where opt-out is strongest is a sea of Trump red.
New Yorkers are painfully aware that the vast majority of their local property tax bill goes to pay for their local schools. So when you say you want your taxes cut but to spend more on schools, what services are you cutting to make it happen?
The amount that states such as Utah and Oklahoma spend on schools is unconscionably low, even adjusted for their local costs of living. But New York is a cautionary tale in the other direction. Long Island’s schools will spend an astounding $28,200 per student this school year, more than $10,000 more than districts in high-cost-of-living CT, NJ, and MA, with no discernible difference in outcomes. In six years’ worth of elections and public opinion polls, voters have made their strong support for the cap abundantly clear.
Interestingly, the cap and the 60% override requirement are exactly the sort of thing that could be discussed in a constitutional convention. But I’m guessing you don’t support that ;-).
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The Constitutional Convention is a Koch-ALEC plan. You are working for them and Eva? You must be a very busy man!
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The constitutional requirement to have periodic votes for a constitutional amendment was added in 1894, which just slightly predates ALEC.
And there are many very progressive reasons to support a “Con-Con”: making abortion, environmental, and civil rights Trump-proof. Amending idiotic home rule laws that put people like John Flanagan in charge of New York City’s affairs (rent control, congestion pricing, income taxes). All those Common Core-hating, Trump-loving opt-outers sure are going to make things interesting!
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Tim,
A Constitutional Amendment is not the same as a Constitutional Convention. You knew that, didn’t you? Or did you? The Koch brothers and ALEC are pushing the latter.
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typo on my part. It was meant to read “The constitutional requirement to have periodic votes for a constitutional convention was added in 1894, which just slightly predates ALEC.”
New York’s government is a corrupt mess, its economy is crippled by insane property taxes, and its largest city and economic engine is held hostage by small town legislators whose districts are hundreds of miles away. That a rare opportunity to change a lot of awful laws may be forgone just because of the perception of a threat to the almighty pensions is depressing.
But again, those mad-as-hell opt-out, Common Core-rejecting Trump voters could make things very interesting!
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The people rejecting Common Core and opting out of testing are not Trump voters.
The people funding Eva Moskowitz are Trump supporters.
Ivanka and Paul Ryan visited her school, not a public school.
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With all due respect, that is baloney.
Load the 2016 presidential race on this map. Look at the concentration of Trump voters in opt-out hotspots. Note that Suffolk had by far the largest pro-Trump margin of any county with more than 1 million residents.
http://projects.newsday.com/long-island/politics/how-long-island-voted/
Opt-out, anti-Common Core, Donald Trump. Strange bedfellows.
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Tim,
The general population of Suffolk County is not synonymous with opt out leaders or parents.
I hi
E Flanagan gets defeated by the opt out parents.
Let’s stick with your boss Eva Moskowitz. She met with Trump. She brought Ivanka and Paul Ryan to her school. She had to be pressured by her staff to distance herself from Trump’s racism.
You troll for her.
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Flanagan crushed his opponent 63-33 last fall. The Dems nominated a 24-year-old who ran on a platform of eliminating Common Core.
Suffolk is red and getting redder by the year, and Flanagan’s stance on the cap is hugely popular. I wish whoever runs against him all the best.
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Tim,
Maybe your boss Eva could open charters in Flanagan’s district!
Make more $$$$!
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Flanagan’s district is only 12% black and Latino, and just 4.2% of households come from the bottom 20% of household income. As NYS laws are currently written, it is not an appropriate place to site charter schools.
And of course you know that I don’t work for or have any connection with Eva Moskowitz, Betsy DeVos, or any other reform or education-related person or institution.
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Tim,
No one defends Eva M day after day with such ferocity unless they are on the payroll.
There are poor and segregated communities in Suffolk County, though Flanagan benefits by having few of them in his district.
Why not put his district where his mouth is and try to bring charter schools to Suffolk County? He is a hypocrite.
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That’s as silly as someone’s assuming that you are on the payroll of special interests like education schools and teachers unions because of your ferocious daily support of traditional public schools and credentialing.
Flanagan has supported legislation to eliminate the charter school cap and generally make it easier to open charter schools. His district is full of well-to-do Common Core-hating Trump supporters, not the critical mass of at-risk children required to be granted a charter.
I think it would be great if laws were amended so charters could operate anywhere, but NYSUT, the UFT, NYSCOSS, etc would probably disagree.
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Diane, I’ve become a fan of yours over the years. But this “Tim works for Eva Moskowitz” line is beyond weak. It’s the kind of thing that someone who’s losing an argument says. I don’t think you think you’re losing your arguments with Tim, so I can’t understand why you keep resorting to ad hominem attack (much less an ad hominem attack with zero factual support).
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FLERP,
Another blogger would have long ago blocked Tim. He has come here under more than one name. He consistently defends whatever Eva does. I can see the good and the bad in my allies. With him, it is always attack anyone who questions Eva’s virtue. His consistency is a giveaway.
But I think you are right in this respect. I don’t want him on my blog. He is nasty, snarky, and subversive. He hates public schools. I ask myself, why is he here?
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I will say just a couple things. Tim is hardly not alone in the snark category. He’s far less nasty than some regular commenters. Subversive, yes, he may be that. But so may I.
Tim was the first person I ever saw criticize Success Academy’s backfill policy. I didn’t know what backfill was until I read his criticisms on Chalkbeat many years ago. For what it’s worth.
He’s also very smart, writes well, and is funny. I value his presence for those points alone. But I don’t run the show here.
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FLERP, I don’t know Tim’s last name or his real name so am not aware of anything he wrote elsewhere.
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If he wrote a criticism of backfilling here, I don’t remember it. You have a better memory than I do.
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There’s a lot to cover here.
Flerp, thanks as always for your kind words.
Diane, your post isn’t about Eva and my comments weren’t about Eva. You were the one who introduced her as a subject; you do this all the time. There is a big space between despising Eva and every one of her actions with unconditionally supporting her/them. I’m somewhere in the middle of that space.
When my children have aged out of or are no longer attending NYC DOE traditional public schools, I will tell you my full name and anything else you want to know. I trust you can understand why I don’t wish to disclose this information until then. Many of your most frequent and favorite commenters post anonymously or pseudonymously.
I’ve never, ever commented here as anyone other than “Tim”.
I’ve written too many comments here to count regarding Success’s backfill policy. This is the first one I could find using WordPress’s terrible search function: https://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/30/a-pta-writes-a-letter-to-eva-moskowitz-about-inclusion/#comment-2317345
(Success has taken mincing steps toward backfilling, but they still need to do much better. However, the network has gotten too big for it to be practical not to renew its charters as a consequence for not fully backfilling)
I am absolutely, fiercely devoted to charter schools and the authorization, legal, and oversight structure for them that’s in place in New York State. While there is no question that I am guilty of a snarky or nasty comment on occasion, I think it is the mere positions that I hold that you find objectionable, which seems unfortunate.
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If I have mischaracterized you, Tim, I apologize.
I don’t understand why anyone is fiercely devoted to charter schools, which are an establishment–or re-establishment of a dual school system. One system gets to choose its students, the other is required to accept all, even those kicked out by the charters. To me, that is a reversion to pre-1954 values.
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I appreciate that, Diane.
(And apologies for the messed-up formatting in my previous post.)
We obviously don’t agree on the idea that charter schools select their students (charter schools are open to all; there simply isn’t evidence supporting the accusation that “counseling out” is widespread) or that public schools have to accept every student (the public school system does, ultimately, but the success and desirability of individual public schools is essentially judged by what kids can be excluded by real estate or an admissions test).
Where we might find common ground is in questioning the conclusion that Brown meant something to black children living in de facto segregation in the north and Midwest. Northern legislators took great pains to define “de facto” segregation as “accidental”. Brown triggered an explosion of white flight, and when court-ordered integration plans were put in place, they were met with great hostility and resistance (see Flint, Boston, Chicago, etc.). In most of the urban areas where charters are most popular, there never was a non-dual system of public schools, and whites in power were quite content with the idea of “separate but equal.”
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Sorry, meant “hardly alone” or “not alone,” not “hardly not alone.”
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I know the opt out leaders. With only one exception, all are Democrats.
Eva is the Trump supporter. He even interviewed her and passed over her for Betsy
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Yes, he LIES! He chose DeVoodoo. Dump is illiterate, too. And he’s what he eats…JUNK!
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But in Utah, 70% of taxpayers would pay higher taxes it they were to fund public school classrooms.
It’s the legislature in Utah that won’t raise taxes for schools.
So, I wonder how the questions were phrased, to get such a dichotomy.
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Diane,
Please don’t be fooled by Tim’s claims.
The most he has ever criticized Eva Moskowitz for is a very mild rebuke for her backfill policy, and even then he simply dismisses it as not important since of course her charters are “too big to fail”! Tim has the greatest faith in the SUNY Charter Institute to do oversight! Despite there being no sign that they will ever do oversight. Got to go lists? It’s an anamoly! Empty seats. It’s an anomaly! Principals who refuse to send renewal forms home with kids? it’s an anamoly. Suspension rates of over 20% in charters with lots of poor kids and almost no white kids, and suspension rates a fraction of that at charters where all the white students are concentrated in disproportionately high numbers? The SUNY Charter Institute agrees with Eva that some kids just happen to have natural tendencies toward violent behavior. Right, Tim?
Highest attrition rate of almost any charter network in NYC?
Shhh, please believe Tim when he tells you that many poor parents just don’t like keeping their kids in the highest performing charter in the state once they get a look at how their children are treated in them if they don’t make the cut. It’s not the charter’s fault that their kid isn’t worthy.
Success Academy loses more students than almost every other charter network in NYC. It’s attrition rate is twice as high as many mediocre charter networks. They push out kids. We all watched the video of how it is done. Remember, that was the model teacher demonstrating the model teaching techniques that lead to high scores. It’s called getting rid of the low scoring students.
An African-American dad gave public testimony to the NAACP that described exact;y how it is done.
Tim keeps insisting that dad is a liar and Eva Moskowitz is the honest one. After all, Eva Moskowitz gave us her word that Betsy DeVos was a wonderful choice for Secretary of Education so we know that she is the most honest educator in history. Can’t tell a lie. Only speaks the truth.
So when Eva Moskowitz says lots and lots of 5 year old African-American children come into her school with such a violent nature that her teachers can’t handle them, Tim always insists we should believe her. Believe the woman who told us that Betsy DeVos was a wonderful choice and fought so hard to make sure DeVos was running the show.
Why wouldn’t Tim support a charter leader with the kind of upright character that leads her embrace everything about Betsy DeVos and help get her confirmed? She and Tim have alot in common. Sometimes I suspect they are the same person.
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Diane,
I will very briefly suspend my policy of completely ignoring and not engaging with this anonymous commenter (it’s too bad that this platform doesn’t have a “block” feature, like Disqus) to note:
I’m not Eva Moskowitz.
When I read the NAACP’s recent report on charter schools, I was struck by the testimony of “Clarence Sprowler”. I was certain that I had heard the story before, many years ago, but from a mother, not a father. Sure enough: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/nyregion/charter-school-sends-message-thrive-or-transfer.html.
I’m sure this was just an innocent transcription error made by the NAACP and the interest groups that helped write their report, not an intentional attempt to make it seem like a single discrete event had happened to multiple families.
It’s also worth noting that the mother in this case ended up at Success because she was desperate to avoid her troubled traditional neighborhood school, and that she happily accepted Success’s assistance in getting her child placed in a popular special education program in a school for which she was not zoned. It’s ultimately a powerful testament to the value and necessity of school choice.
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And if you want any proof that everything I wrote about Tim’s love of Eva Moskowitz is 100% correct, Tim just proved it with his post above.
Notice that like Eva Moskowitz, Tim immediately focused on proving that an African-American student came into the school as a troubled and violent 5 year old who was unworthy of his seat. According to Tim and Eva Moskowitz, it’s important for us to understand that any complaints come from parents of violent and unworthy African-American 5 year olds and should therefore be dismissed without question because a white charter CEO who always tells the truth said the child needed to go. It was all the fault of the child, says Tim. And who do you believe, says Tim. The lying parents of a violent and unworthy African-American child? Or the white charter CEO who demanded that Betsy DeVos be confirmed because she was a terrific pick for Secretary of Education? Tim says we should believe the CEO. Which tells you alot about Tim.
And Tim had no facts to contradict the rest of what I wrote — that Success Academy has a suspension rate over 20% for many of their schools that have almost no white students and mostly poor ones and a suspension rate that is a fraction of that in their schools that have lots of white students and affluent students of all backgrounds and a disproportionately low number of at-risk students..
And that studies showed that Success Academy’s attrition rate is the second HIGHEST of any NYC charter network! That’s right, Tim wants us to believe that parents don’t actually like top performing charters as much as they like mediocre ones. Except they DO because the number who sign up for the lottery is much higher. It’s just that so many of the lottery winners have unworthy children like the one Tim attacks here in a way that is very reminiscent of Eva Moskowitz criminalizing the behavior of 6 year olds when they dare to tell the absolute truth about her practices. Since she can’t defend the facts, like Tim she prefers to tell the world that the 6 year old child has such naturally violent tendencies that he has no place among “normal” children. Like Tim, Eva desperately hopes the nasty things she says about 5 and 6 year old African-American children will help white folks ignore the fact that her attrition rates are sometimes twice as high as mediocre charter networks serving similar students.
For shame. Tim. For shame. Although no doubt you, like Eva Moskowitz, see nothing wrong in attacking anyone who doesn’t make your school look good. Even if they are 5 or 6.
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Diane wrote this great article:
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/09/25/harvard-shames-itself-staging-koch-sponsored-betsy-lovefest-no-dissenting-voices
Thank you, Diane.
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The epitome of a hypocrite!!
His kids enjoy the best of public education in Suffolk County, but now he wants to kill the very system he lived off.
“I got mine – to hell with everyone else.”
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