Archives for category: Cuomo, Andrew
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New York: SUNY Moves Ahead with Plan to Lower Entry Standards for Charter Teachers, Due to High Teacher Attrition at Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
October 9, 2017 //
93

The State University of New York charter committee, which contains no educators, made a few tweaks to its plan to lower standards for new charter teachers and is forging ahead. Charter schools in New York have high teacher attrition and constant need to hire new teachers. The best way to help them is to lower standards for new teachers. Charter teachers with a fast-track license will not be qualified to teach in real public schools.

Whereas real teachers need to pass three tests to become certified, charter teachers will have to pass only one test.

When the Regents dropped the number of tests required for new teachers from four to three, “reformers” howled that the Regents were lowering standards. Now that charter teachers need pass only one test, the howls are not heard at all.

This means that students in charter schools will not have fully qualified teachers. It means that the charters are self-certifying their own teachers. Above all, it is a slap in the face to the teacher education programs at SUNY, which prepare teachers to meet all requirements to be professionals.

But charters in New York have a special status due to their relationship with Governor Andrew Cuomo. His campaign donors from the financial industry want more charters and don’t believe teachers need any professional education. Cuomo appoints all the members of the SUNY charter committee. The Board of Regents, supposedly the ultimate education authority in the state, cannot override decisions made by the businessmen and lawyers on the SUNY charter committee.

A sad state of affairs.

Categories Charter Schools, Cuomo, Andrew, Teachers and Teaching

Cynthia Nixon: Why Won’t Cuomo and the Legislature Fully Fund Our Public Schools?

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2017 //
28

The story has circulated in the media that megastar Cynthia Nixon may run against Andrew Cuomo for governor. You may have seen her on television or on Broadway, but what you don’t know if that she is a public school parent in New York City and cares deeply about public education.

In this article, she explains that New York City public schools have been denied funding that was promised by the courts. She also explains that Andrew Cuomo is no friend of public education. He is a cheerleader for the charter industry, whose wealthy patrons have underwritten his past campaigns.

Nixon knows more about education that any other candidate who will be on the ballot in 2018 in New York state.

She writes:

As a public school parent, I am fearful about what our new U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has in store for our nation’s public schools.

The Trump-DeVos agenda includes more support for privately run charter schools — which in DeVos’ home state of Michigan are known for being some of the worst performing in the country — and a dramatic expansion of school privatization through vouchers. It could also greatly reduce federal funding for public schools. For New York State that could mean a cut of up to $2.5 billion.

Frightening. But equally frightening is how much Betsy DeVos and Andrew Cuomo’s policies echo each other.

Governor Cuomo wants to eliminate New York’s obligation to provide schools statewide with $4.3 billion in additional funding, including nearly $287 million for schools in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. There is no doubt that high-needs schools require this support: Guidance counselors in Yonkers carry a caseload of 750 students. Ossining and Peekskill struggle to find resources to serve a growing influx of English language learners. And parents in Mount Vernon are suing the state to receive their fair share of education funding. We have the same problems in New York City.

In 2001, on the day my oldest child Sam began kindergarten, I was shocked to find that two thirds of the school’s paraprofessionals, the art teacher, the music teacher and the assistant principal were all gone since the spring tour I had taken a few months earlier — casualties of a woefully inadequate budget. On that day, I joined the fight for New York State to fully implement the ruling from the landmark Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit against the state…

In 2007 and 2008, the state made progress towards its constitutional obligations to students by funding Foundation Aid, but after Cuomo took office he did everything he could to avoid paying this debt, and now he wants to eliminate Foundation Aid outright.

He also wants to increase the number of privately-run charter schools in New York City by more than 50 percent. And he has been a loud proponent of private school tax credits, essentially a backdoor voucher system. These are policies we expect from Betsy DeVos, but from Andrew Cuomo?

Whoever runs for office in New York and in other states should go on the record about whether they support public schools. We know the answer from Cuomo. He wants more charter schools. This will be an albatross around his neck if he runs for president in 2020. That is, unless Cynthia Nixon beats him!

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Cuomo, Andrew, Funding, New York

Eva Moskowitz Chastises Dan Loeb, Ever So Gently

By dianeravitch
August 18, 2017 //
8

Billionaire Dan Loeb has raised many millions for Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter chain. He has also donated generously to the chain, to Cuomo, to the breakaway Democrats who enable Republicans to control the State Senate (and block tax increases for billionaires), and to Congressional Republicans (who want to remove health care from millions of Americans and give tax breaks to billionaires).

Loeb said something bad. He compared the leading Democrat, a black woman, to the Ku Klux Klan and said she was worse.

So Eva had to say something about the chair of her board. She said his vile, racist rant was “insensitive.”

But she said he has done many wonderful things, which apparently overshadow the one time he let his true feelings show in public.

So, don’t judge this man, says Eva, for his one racist comment. Offensive as it was, he must be allowed to raise more millions for Eva, Cuomo, Congressional Republicans, and the charter industry.

Categories Billionaires, Cuomo, Andrew, Harlem Success Academy

Civil Rights and Education Groups Demand Cuomo Disassociate from Dan Loeb, Return His Campaign Contributions

By dianeravitch
August 11, 2017 //
23

A group of civil rights and education organizations called on Governor Andrew Cuomo to return the money he has received from hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb. Cuomo hopes to run for president in 2020: what matters most to him? Campaign funding or the civil rights constituency?

PRESS RELEASE

CIVIL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON GOVERNOR CUOMO TO ENTIRELY DISASSOCIATE HIMSELF FROM DAN LOEB, RETURN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FOLLOWING RACIST REMARKS

ALBANY, NY (August 11, 2017) — In the wake of hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb’s racist attack on State Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Wednesday, 14 organizations have released a letter calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to disassociate himself from Loeb, a Cuomo ally and supporter, and to return the more than $170,000 in campaign donations that he has received from Loeb.

The organizations made the demand in a letter addressed to Governor Cuomo Friday morning. The letter states, “Loeb’s extremely offensive and racist attack on Senator Stewart-Cousins requires swift and dramatic action. As a longstanding ally of Loeb, and the leader of the State of New York and of the Democratic Party in New York, it is essential that you provide leadership to show that such racist statements will not be tolerated in any way. This must begin with you: It would be unconscionable to keep Mr. Loeb’s money and to continue to allow him to influence policy in Albany after his un-American attack on Leader Stewart-Cousins.”
“It is imperative that you disassociate yourself entirely from Dan Loeb and send a clear message that he has no place in public policy in New York State,” the letter continues. Read the full letter here.

The organizations that signed the letter include Action Potluck, Alliance for Quality Education, Badass Teachers Association, The Black Institute, Brooklyn Movement Center, Citizen Action of New York, Hedge Clippers, Justice League NYC, Make the Road New York, New York Communities for Change, New York Indivisible, Strong Economy for All, True Blue NY, and Working Families Party.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Civil Rights, Cuomo, Andrew, New York, Racism

Daniel Loeb, Hedge Fund Manager and Chairman of Success Academy, Slanders African-American Legislator

By dianeravitch
August 11, 2017 //
18

Daniel Loeb, billionaire chair of the board of Success Academy Charter Schools, slandered State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, an African-American woman who is the Democratic leader of the State Senate.

The backstory is that Cuomo has collaborated with a group of breakaway Democrats who side with the Republicans in the State Senate. Although Democrats have the majority in the Senate at 32-31, the so-called Independent Democrats vote with the Republicans, assuring that Republicans continue to control the Senate even though they are in the minority. Charter supporters, like Daniel Loeb, know that the interests of both charters and the financial community are safe with the Republicans. If Democrats had enough votes to control the State Senate, Senator Stewart-Cousins would be majority leader. Cuomo likes having Republicans in control because it allows him to be the broker between the Assembly and the Senate. Cuomo prides himself on his fiscal conservatism, so he is happy to have Republicans running the upper chamber of the legislature. It also guarantees that Cuomo won’t be forced to veto progressive legislation.

In a private meeting with Democratic members of the State Senate, trying for unity, Cuomo noted that most of the Senate members were from New York City, and that the leader of the Independent Democrats, Jeffrey Klein (whose district is mainly in the Bronx, with a sliver in suburban Westchester), had a better understanding of the suburbs than the city representatives. At that point, Senator Stewart-Cousins objected and pointed out that she represents the suburbs of Westchester.

After this story appeared, Daniel Loeb hurled a slur at Senator Stewart-Cousins on Facebook.

The hedge fund manager Daniel S. Loeb, a prominent supporter of charter schools and a major financial backer of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and congressional Republicans, accused the African-American woman who leads the Democrats in the New York State Senate of having done “more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood.”

Mr. Loeb made the reference, apparently to the Ku Klux Klan, in a posting on Facebook in response to an article in The New York Times this week in which the Democratic leader, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, confronted Mr. Cuomo about prejudging her based upon race and gender.

In a private meeting last month, The Times reported, Ms. Stewart-Cousins said to Mr. Cuomo during a debate over who best understands suburban voters: “You look at me, Mr. Governor, but you don’t see me. You see my black skin and a woman, but you don’t realize I am a suburban legislator.”

Mr. Loeb weighed in on behalf of Senator Jeffrey D. Klein of the Bronx, the leader of a group of Democrats that has split from Ms. Stewart-Cousins.

“Thank God for Jeff Klein and those who stand for educational choice and support Charter funding that leads to economic mobility and opportunity for poor knack kids,” Mr. Loeb wrote, with “knack” apparently a typographical error for “black.” “Meanwhile hypocrites like Stewart-Cousins who pay fealty to powerful union thugs and bosses do more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood.”

Mr. Klein leads a group of eight Democrats who in 2011 broke away from the main Democratic conference, led by Ms. Stewart-Cousins. Mr. Klein’s group, the Independent Democratic Conference, has in the past sided with the Republicans in the Senate to keep Ms. Stewart-Cousins out of the powerful post of majority leader.

Daniel Loeb is a major player in the charter world because of his chairmanship of Success Academy. He is also a major player in politics because he is a big donor. When Ivanka Trump visited New York City, Loeb escorted her on a tour of one of Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter schools.

Mr. Loeb and his wife have donated more than $170,000 to Mr. Cuomo in recent years, state records show. He has also supported Republicans, with contributions including $500,000 to a super PAC that supported Jeb Bush in 2015, $150,000 to the Republican National Committee that year and $700,000 to a super PAC supporting House Republicans in 2016.

Carol Burris wrote recently that Loeb had given even more money to Cuomo than the Times reported:

Success Academy Chairman Daniel Loeb, founder and chief executive of Third Rock Capital, and his wife, have directly contributed over $133,000 to Cuomo. Since 2015, Loeb has added $300,000 to Moskowitz’s PAC, and another $270,000 to other PACs that support Cuomo. That’s more than $700,000.

Daniel Loeb shows the true colors of the charter industry in New York City. He doesn’t pretend to be a liberal. He has the nerve to call an African-American legislator “worse” than the Ku Klux Klan. What do you call a man like this? Indecent? Shameless? Arrogant?

For many reasons, I place billionaire Daniel S. Loeb on this blog’s Wall of Shame.

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Cuomo, Andrew, Education Reform, New York, Privatization, Wall of Shame

Cuomo Wants to Find Rich Sponsors for Subway Stations; de Blasio Wants to Fix Them

By dianeravitch
August 10, 2017 //
39

Donald Cohen of “In the Public Interest” lives in California but has been following the debate about repairing the NYC subways.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_598c9d3fe4b0caa1687a5e6f

A couple weeks ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York City subway stations could soon be renamed after corporate sponsors under a new “adopt-a-station” program. Sponsors, which already include MasterCard, BlackRock, and the private equity firm Blackstone (whose CEO, Stephen Schwarzman, happens to be a key advisor to President Donald Trump), would also help Cuomo “develop private-sector solutions to problems facing the system.”

“We’ve done this in the parks system, and it worked,” Cuomo said.

Actually, it hasn’t, and that’s exactly why the “adopt-a-station” idea is dangerous. New York City’s public parks are suffering from what ails many of the country’s public goods: chronic underfunding. Yet some, like Bryant Park and the High Line, appear to be thriving. What’s going on?

While parks in the poorer outer boroughs fall into disrepair, those in the wealthiest areas rake in massive private donations for improvements and maintenance. Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson—also a Trump backer—gave $100 million to Central Park a few years ago on the condition that none of it be spent on other parks.

When funded by the whims of corporations and Wall Street, public goods meant to serve everyone become separate and unequal systems that further divide communities and perpetuate inequality. One can imagine sponsors lining up for the busiest subway stations, while those in poorer areas continue to suffer the brunt of budget cuts.

Now, New York City’s subway system, like much of America’s infrastructure, needs substantial investment—but funding must be sustainable and with no private strings attached.

Luckily, such funding is on the table. On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a “millionaire’s tax” to help fund repairs. A portion of the ongoing revenue, collected from an estimated 32,000 wealthy New Yorkers, would even go to subsidizing fares for the 800,000 city residents living in poverty.

Whether the tax will pass will depend on the people of New York that want a fair and prosperous city and state. But the choice between a handful of New Yorkers paying their fair share for a world-class transit system and selling sponsorships to multi-national corporations is clear.

One supports a thriving city in which everyone, no matter which neighborhood they live in or how much money they have, can get to and from work, the doctor’s office, and the grocery store. The other is, well, just another ‘America for Sale’ sign.

Categories Bill de Blasio, Cuomo, Andrew, Education Reform, Privatization

Arthur Goldstein: The Sooner “Reform” Dies, the Better for Career Teachers

By dianeravitch
August 9, 2017 //
10

Arthur Goldstein gives a close reading of Eliza Shapiro’s article about “why New York City is no longer the national leader of reform” in education.

When he read it, he felt heartened by the thought that “reform” was on the ropes, withering on the vine, falling apart, use whatever metaphor you want. Going, going, gone.

And yet he knows how demoralized the teachers in his building are.

He shows the error of Shapiro’s framing of the teacher tenure issue. “Reform” apparently means the utter elimination of any job rights for teachers. “Reformers” want to be able to fire any teacher at any time, without cause, just because they want to. Reformers agree that teachers should have no rights at all, and they wonder why there is a growing teacher shortage.

He writes:

Reforminess is something Trump is strong on, because he doesn’t believe in protecting the rights of working people. With him, it’s all about profit, hence Betsy DeVos, who’s pretty much decimated public education in Michigan. They can wrap themselves in the flag all they want, and claim to care about the children. Those of us who wake up every morning to serve those children know better.

And then there is Andrew Cuomo, who first ran on a platform of going after unions, who appeared at Moskowitz rallies and frothed at the mouth over the possibility of firing as many teachers as possible. Cuomo could not possibly anticipate that parents would become informed and fight back against the nonsense that is Common Core. He could not anticipate that parents would boycott his tests in droves.

What reformies failed to count on was the opportunism of Andrew Cuomo. As a man with no moral center whatsoever, he is driven by rampant ambition. This year, he watched Donald Trump win the presidency against neoliberal Hillary Clinton. Cuomo decided to position himself as Bernie Sanders Lite and pushed a program to give free college tuition to New Yorkers (albeit with a whole lot of restrictions).

Cuomo is now best buds with UFT, judging from what I hear at Delegate Assemblies. While I don’t personally trust the man as far as I can throw him, I’m happy if that works to help working teachers and other working people. So what is education “reform,” exactly?

As far as I can tell, it’s piling on, How miserable can we make working teachers? How can we arbitrarily and capriciously fire them? How can we give them as few options as possible, and as little voice as possible?

It’s ironic. The MORE [MORE is a progressive caucus within the UFT] motto is, “Our teaching conditions are students’ learning conditions.” I agree with that. Take it a step further, and our teaching conditions are our students’ future working conditions. When we fight for improvement of our working conditions, we are fighting for the future of our students as well.

Two of my former students teach in my school. They are the first of their families to be college educated, and the first of their families to get middle class jobs. I will fight for them, and for my other students to have even more opportunity. Betsy DeVos and the reformies, on the other hand, can fight to maximize profits for fraudulent cyber-charter owners and all the other opportunist sleazebags they represent so well.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Cuomo, Andrew, New York City, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure

Carol Burris: The Link Connecting Charter Schools, Cuomo, Political Donations, and Teacher Certification

By dianeravitch
August 3, 2017 //
34

Carol Burris has written a bombshell piece exposing the links that connect charter schools, political money, and teacher certification.

Wall Street gives heavily to Governor Cuomo. Hedge fund managers love charter schools, those entrepreneurial start-ups that they identify with. Charter schools in New York have a serious problem retaining teachers. Some charters have a teacher turnover rate exceeding 50% every year. Several charters authorized by the State University of New York (SUNY) had teacher attrition rates of at least 70%. The charter committee of SUNY was appointed by Governor Cuomo. It is considering a plan to allow new teachers to bypass the state’s high standards and to gain their teaching credential from the charter. This credential would not be recognized by any public schools in New York State.

Want to know what’s behind all of these machinations?

Let’s look at the confluence of Cuomo-appointed SUNY board members to large contributions of charter boards to Cuomo’s campaigns[1].

“The corporation with the largest number of charter schools under the control of the SUNY Charter School Institute is the Success Academy charter chain, run by Eva Moskowitz. Her political action committee, the Great Public Schools PAC, contributed $65,000 to Cuomo in 2011-2012 and another $50,000 to date in 2017. Success Academy Chairman Daniel Loeb, founder and chief executive of Third Rock Capital, and his wife, have directly contributed over $133,000 to Cuomo. Since 2015, Loeb has added $300,000 to Moskowitz’s PAC, and another $270,000 to other PACs that support Cuomo. That’s more than $700,000.

“Other Success Academy present or former board member families who contributed over $100,000 either directly to, or to PACS, supporting Cuomo include: Andrew and Dana Stone ($280,000), Bruce Kovner ($130,000); Joel and Julia Greenblatt ($280,000), John and Regina Scully of California ($110,000), John Petry ($130,000) and Daniel Nir and his wife Jill Braufman ($152,500). An additional nine other Success Academy Board members, including three who live outside New York state, collectively contributed hundreds of thousands directly or indirectly to Cuomo. Most of the contributions are direct donations.

“The Success Board is only one example of many. Paul Tudor Jones is the founder of Excellence Boys Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant, which is also authorized by the SUNY Charter Board. He and his wife, who both live in Connecticut, contributed $400,000, with most of the contributions going into PACs that gave to the governor. Even the charter-loving Waltons, who don’t live in New York, have jumped in — nearly $100,000 in direct contributions to Cuomo and over $100,000 into PACs. And it doesn’t end there. Charter board members from the Harlem Children’s Zone to Hebrew Academy Charter Schools contribute large sums of money to Cuomo.”

That kind of money buys a lot of friendship.

We will see if it is enough to establish a special route for charter school teachers: one with lower standards.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Cuomo, Andrew, Education Industry, Harlem Success Academy, New York, Privatization, Teachers and Teaching

Charter Allies Pouring Money into Cuomo Re-Election Campaign

By dianeravitch
July 19, 2017 //
14

It’s no secret that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would like to be the 2020 Democratic nominee for president. But first he must be re-elected in New York in 2018. He has already stockpiled more than $25 million, which will intimidate potential challengers.

The 1% are on board with Cuomo. Read about his fundraising cocktail party in the Hamptons at a home that cost $147 million.

Among his biggest donors are charter supporters.

“Ravenel Curry III, founder of Eagle Capital Management, chipped in $65,000.

“Great Public Schools PAC, which is headed by Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz, contributed $50,000. Financier John Petry on the Success board, donated $20,000

“Walmart heir Jim Walton, a charter-school advocate, and Carrie Penner, the granddaughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, each gave $25,000.”

Curry is a founding member of DFER.

Who knew that Eva has her own political action committee?

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Cuomo, Andrew, Privatization

New York: Who Is Behind the Effort to Allow Charter Schools to Hire Uncertified Teachers?

By dianeravitch
July 14, 2017 //
40

In this article, Alan Singer of Hofstra University connects the dots behind the effort to allow charter schools to hire uncertified teachers. He follows the money, and it leads to one man: Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Charters need to hire uncertified teachers because they churn through teachers and need newcomers who can devote long hours to the job without the diversion of a family.

“The finger points at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Politicians and wealthy business leaders with ties to Cuomo are behind the push to exempt some of the state’s charter schools from hiring certified teachers. It is a move that would weaken University-based teacher education programs, undermine teacher professionalism, and seriously hurt the education of children across the state.

“Cuomo has long been a supporter of expanded and minimally regulated charter schools. In 2014, while preparing to run for reelection, Cuomo spoke at a pro-charter rally on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Albany. In his speech he praised charter school groups and Republican and independent Democrats who were joining with him to “save” charter schools, although there was no movement trying to destroy them. Curiously, Cuomo never discussed pulling the children out of school and shipping them to Albany for a staged rally.

“In 2016, while no one was paying close attention, the State Legislature with Cuomo’s endorsement extended the regulatory authority of the Trustees of the State University over charter schools. The SUNY Charter Institute, a sub-committee of the Board of Trustees, now claims this legislation empowers them to permit charter schools under their jurisdiction to hire uncertified teachers and train them according to their own guidelines.

“The Trustees of the State University of New York currently authorize 165 charter schools in New York State including those operated by some of the most politically connected networks. Six SUNY charter schools operate in the Capital Region (Albany and Troy), six are in Buffalo, two are on Long Island, and over 140 are in New York City. The New York City charters include seven sponsored by Carl Ichan, ten affiliated with Achievement First, and 38 Success Academy Network Schools operated by Eva Moskowitz. Ichan is a corporate raider and real estate magnate with ties to the Trump Administration. Achievement First is connected to former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein who left the city’s Department of Education to work for Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. Eva Moskowitz is New York City’s Charter School Queen with political ties to Andrew Cuomo and hedge fund companies and foundations.

“According to a 2015 expose by Juan Gonzalez for the New York Daily News, between 2000 and 2015, 570 hedge fund managers made nearly $40 million in political contributions to New York State candidates, including $4.8 million to Andrew Cuomo. Several of Cuomo’s 2014 reelection campaign donors including Carl Icahn, of Icahn Enterprises, Julian Robertson of Tiger Management, and Daniel Loeb, of Third Point LLC, are major supporters of charter schools.”

Cuomo appointed all four members of the SUNY charter school committee that will make the decision.

Cuomo needs the hedge funders to finance the presidential run everyone expects he wants. But, as Alan points out, he also needs the votes of the public so he may be open to suasion.

That is why I hope you will use this link to protest this unwise decision before it is too late.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Cuomo, Andrew, Privatization, Teacher Education, Teachers and Teaching
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