Monday, January 27, 2014

How you can help ensure we get new and better Regents members now!


Commissioner King and most of the members of the Board of Regents have been totally unresponsive to parents and the elected leaders of both parties.  They have refused to pull back from inBloom, data-sharing and the high-stakes testing linked to the Common Core, despite huge opposition.   

Commissioner King is appointed by the Regents, who are appointed by Speaker Silver and the members of the NYS Assembly.  Four of the sitting Regents have their terms up in March; these individuals have not said a word against King’s agenda,  and all of them have refused to fill out our survey, asking for their positions on these issues, despite repeated requests.

Class Size Matters and New York State Allies for Public Education have endorsed three new candidates for these seats, who are either parent activists or long-time educators:  
District XIII (Staten Island)- Michael Reilly (click here for survey results and resume
District III (Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster)  - Regina Rose (click here for survey results and resume)  
At-Large - Audrey Marie Baker (click here for survey results and resume)
Michael Reilly is a highly respected parent leader from Staten Island, a current CEC member, and would be the only member of the Regents with a child currently in the public schools.  Audrey Baker and Regina Rose are both highly respected educators with years of on-the-ground experience, especially in the area of special education.  All of them agree that the current policies of State Education Department are severely damaging our schools and our kids.

Please call Speaker Silver’s office, and your own Assembly member and urge them to support these three candidates for the Regents.
 

For more on this campaign, see the NYSAPE press release here, and our action alert here.

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