Cuomo announced yesterday another politically motivated and biased Commission to raise his poll ratings — with no representation from parents who led the Opt Out movement, early education classroom teachers, or Common Core critics of any kind.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 4, 2015
More information contact:
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education www.nysape.org
The Message of 220,000 Opt-Outs Has Not Been Heard: Elia Calls Opt-Out Parents “Unreasonable”
and Cuomo Continues Trampling on the NYS Constitution
For over three years parents across New York have called on Albany to substantially change the direction of education reforms built on the flawed Common Core, its intertwined high-stakes testing and fundamentally broken teacher evaluation system.
Despite outrage with the appointment of an education commissioner without a public process, parents initially withheld their concerns with MaryEllen Elia and the reports of her support for Common Core reforms coupled with a heavy-handed, non-collaborative approach that factored in her firing in Florida.
Just a few short weeks into her appointment in New York however, Elia has proven parent skeptics right. She has adopted the “tough-talk” tactics of Andrew Cuomo and Merryl Tisch, apparently as cover for a governor and chancellor who have dramatically softened their education rhetoric to the public. Elia has labeled opt out parents as ‘unreasonable’, opt out supporting educators ‘unethical’ and threatened funding cuts if opt outs are not stopped.
In a press release yesterday expressing “sympathy” for parents, Cuomo called for a review of the Common Core in New York, blaming the State Education Department’s implementation while vowing to revive his Common Core panel to review the mess.
Parents across the state are not fools. They know the problems are hardly limited to implementation of the Common Core, but the actual Common Core itself, its excessive testing, and a fundamentally broken teacher evaluation system.
Parents know that Andrew Cuomo is not part of the solution. Cuomo is the problem.
It is Cuomo who forced his unproven teacher evaluation system down parents’ throats.
It is Cuomo who slashed and underfunded the State Education Department staffing.
It is Cuomo who accepted ‘Big Donor’ campaign money and enabled the build-up of a privatized, unaccountable shadow government within the State Education Department –The Regents Research Fellows—who created the “Implementation” mess Cuomo now blames.
It is Cuomo who repeatedly tramples on the New York State Constitution–which gives a NY Governor NO authority over education policy—with his serial habit of forming pro-corporate education reform stacked panels, complete with Washington lobbyists salivating to eliminate parental consent for data profiling of children.
Parents of New York are outraged and will continue the fight to take back their schools and classrooms from the Albany shenanigans of Andrew Cuomo, Merryl Tisch and MaryEllen Elia.
“In New York, Governor Cuomo and Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, teamed up for the past five years to turn theory and promise of the Common Core into a living nightmare for our children and their teachers. Parents see through the ploys and will not back down. We will continue to refuse to participate in the Common Core tests that are destroying our schools and our children’s education. Governor Cuomo’s role in this mess will not be ignored.” – Jeannette Deutermann, Long Island public school parent and Long Island Opt Out founder.
“The spirit of our children is being broken. When will Albany start really paying attention and make the changes that parents are asking? We want our classrooms back, we want our teachers to teach, and we want a well-rounded curriculum for all our children. More test prep or testing is not the answer to closing the achievement gap.” –Charmaine Dixon, Brooklyn public school parent and NYC Opt Out member.
“Parents will not stop fighting for their kids. Tests MUST be decoupled from teacher evaluations, state tests MUST be reduced, and student data MUST NOT be shared without parental consent.” –Eric Mihelbergel, Western NY public school parent and NYSAPE founding member.
“The corrupt influence of ‘Big Money’ and ‘Big Data’ Collection in New York has ushered in the most destructive education laws and policies in the nation based on model American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) legislation and “pushed” by the privatized Regent Research Fellows think tank. Parents very clearly see how profit motives are driving the loss of local control in their children’s classroom…and they reject it.” -Lisa Rudley, Westchester public school parent and NYSAPE founding member.
“The results of the recent annual PDK/Gallup education poll are telling. An overwhelming majority (64%) of Americans say there is too much emphasis on testing in schools and a majority of public school parents oppose the Common Core. How much longer will parents in New York tolerate what Albany is doing to their children’s classrooms? The next election cycle will be very telling,” said Jessica McNair, Central NY public school parent, educator, and CNY Opt Out founder.
NYSAPE, a grassroots organization with over 50 parent and educator groups across the state are calling on parents to continue to opt out by refusing high-stakes testing starting on the first days of school. Go to http://www.nysape.org/resources.html for more details on how to be part of the Great Opt Out of this decade.
As part of the 2015-16 budget bill as it relates to education, the state raised the impact of Value Added Measures (VAM) on teacher and principal evaluation to a whopping 50 percent.
On Tuesday, August 4, 2015, NYSAPE steering committee members Carol Burris, Nancy Cauthen, Jeanette Deutermann, Leonie Haimson, Jessica McNair, Lisa Rudley, Anna Shah, Bianca Tanis, and Katie Zahedi along with Diane Ravitch sat down with the new Commissioner of Education, MaryEllen Elia.
Yesterday, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) released the results of the 2015 3-8th grade English Language Arts (ELA) & Math exams.
http://nysape.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/nysape-eliamtg-handout.pdf
New York State Allies for Public Education, a statewide coalition of more than fifty parent and advocacy groups, reject Governor’s Cuomo’s tax-credit scheme clearly linked to ALEC model privatization legislation t
With the secretive appointment of MaryEllen Elia to the post of NYS Commissioner of Education, the Board of Regents has ensured that the opt-out movement will continue to grow.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 7th, 2015
More information contact:
Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) – www.nysape.org
New York State Parents Reject Proposed Legislation that Does Nothing to Protect Students
Recent legislation proposed by both Senator Flanagan and Assemblywoman Nolan is a far cry from the changes demanded by over 200,000 families who chose to opt their children out of harmful state tests and test driven public education. Parents in New York State will not be satisfied with legislation that does nothing to correct the Governor’s efforts to double down on testing and fails to protect our children. Senate Bill 5124 and its companion bill in the Assembly merely provide a one month delay of a deplorable teacher evaluation system that hurts students and will continue to diminish the quality of instruction in our public schools.
While this bill has bipartisan support, it fails to amend the ill-conceived policies that have been foisted upon NYS public schoolchildren, policies devoid of any research, evidence or expert knowledge. Parents demand that those in power rescind the flawed and invalid use of test scores to judge teachers and takeover schools. As today’s Learning Summit will prove, the disastrous education policies voted into law by our legislature leave little discretion for the Board of Regents to reduce the use of draconian test and punish strategies and neither does the Nolan/Flanagan bill.
“I am outraged by the disregard for the way in which our children are being robbed of the education they deserve in favor of test prep, test driven instruction and a narrowed curriculum. It does nothing to address the unthinkable burden placed upon young students who must sit for hours and hours of tests with the full knowledge that their unreliable scores will be used to evaluate their teacher. It is clear that our elected officials are either not listening or are unwilling to put our children ahead of politics,” said Lisa Rudley, a Westchester County public school parent and Co-Founder of NYS Allies for Public Education.
Bianca Tanis, Ulster County public school parent said, “Education policy should be created by those who have experience teaching children, not those who rarely set foot inside a classroom. Would you bring your car to the dentist for a tune up? It’s time for our legislators to stand up to the Governor. Our children deserve an education governed by research and evidence, not political vendettas. Until the tests are decoupled from high stakes, parents will continue to refuse these tests.”
“The current legislation prohibits student work samples, parent communication, and lesson plans from being used to evaluate teachers. This is clearly absurd and illogical yet Nolan and Flanagan’s proposed legislation does nothing to fix these egregious lapses of common sense,” said Jessica McNair, Oneida County public school parent.
Jeanette Deutermann, a Nassau public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt Out said, “As parents we are tired of disingenuous attempts to placate us. Absent from this legislation are truly independent and scholarly studies of the Common Core Learning Standards and the appropriateness of test passages and questions. Leaving this analysis in the hands of the Commissioner with token educator input is akin to leaving the fox in charge of the hen house. This bill is nothing more than political smoke and mirrors. Until they get it right, we will continue to refuse the tests beginning on the first day of school.”
Until policy and lawmakers ensure that public education in New York State is driven by thoughtful, research based policies, New York State Allies for Public Education urges parents to continue to opt out of harmful education practices.
For the past two years, New York State Allies for Public Education has warned elected and appointed officials about serious concerns related to excessive high-stakes state testing based on flawed and experimental learning standards, as well as the collection and sharing of private student data.