[VIDEO] NYC KidsPAC Education report card for the Mayor press conference

Video taken by Michael Elliot at our NYC KidsPAC press conference on April 19 where we released our education report card for Mayor de Blasio.

NYC KidsPAC Parents and Advocates release Education report card for Mayor de Blasio

Media outlets that reported on our report card include News 12-TV, Wall St. Journal, NY Post, WCBS radio, and Epoch Times (in Chinese).  Please take a look at the grades we awarded the mayor on education issues below, and leave a comment on the blog.  thanks, Leonie 

For immediate release: April 19, 2015


Contact: Shino Tanikawa, 917-770-8438, estuaryqueen@gmail.com

Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329, leonie@classsizematters.org

NYC KidsPAC releases Education report card for Mayor de Blasio

Grades range from As to Fs in many crucial areas

Today, Sunday April 19 at noon, in front of the Department of Education headquarters at Tweed, NYC KidsPAC released a report card for Mayor de Blasio, based on how many of his campaign promises he has fulfilled in the area of education policy after more than a year in office. NYC KidsPAC is a political action committee made up of parent leaders and advocates who work for better schools by issuing candidate surveys, informing the electorate about the results, and supporting candidates who have demonstrated a commitment to improving our city’s public schools.


NYC KidsPAC provided the DOE and the Mayor’s office with this report three weeks ago, and received no response. They will now provide the report to the leaders and members of the State Legislature, to help them decide whether to renew mayoral control.

In 2013 NYCKids PAC endorsed Bill de Blasio for Mayor, citing the hope he would “stop the rampant privatization of our schools and the overemphasis on testing, will listen more closely to the concerns of parents and communities, and will push for new investments in expanding preK, improving classroom conditions and alleviating school overcrowding.” We believe that De Blasio has a better understanding of the issues than the previous administration, and has made several positive changes, most notably the expansion of preKindergarten, but has yet to live up to his promises in other important areas.

The grades the Mayor received from NYC KidsPAC are decidedly mixed, ranging from “A” and “A-“ on cell phones, school closings, and arts education, to a “B” on testing, and a “D” on co-locations, space planning, parent engagement and input, special education and student privacy. He received an “F” on class size, transparency and accountability and diversity.

Shino Tanikawa, president of NYC KidsPAC and a Manhattan parent leader explained: “We thank Mayor de Blasio on his reversal of the cell phone ban and halting school closures, two issues that are important to many parents. We are also encouraged by his commitment to arts education. The Mayor expressed some very promising ideas for improving the governance of our school system during his campaign. For example, he proposed fixed terms for the Panel for Educational Policy members, and to ask Community Education Councils to vote on changes in school utilization including co-locations. Then PEP members would be required to refer to those votes in their decision-making. None of these reforms have yet occurred, and we have seen many damaging co-locations approved without reference to the priorities of parents in those communities. Our report gives him a “D” in the category of Co-locations, and an incomplete in Governance. Though we hope that he will deliver on more of his promises soon, we must oppose the renewal of mayoral control without real checks and balances and more decision-making power given to parents and community members.”

Eduardo Hernandez, a member of Community Education Council in District 8 in the Bronx, said: “NYC kids have just endured three strenuous days of ELA testing and will sit through another three days in math next week. We gave the Mayor a “B” in this category, because the DOE has acknowledged that parents have the right to opt out their children out of testing, and engage in another activity. However, the DOE has not publicized this sufficiently, and many parents remain unaware of their rights. The Mayor has neglected to reform the admissions process to gifted programs and to the five selective, specialized high schools under his control that still rely solely on test scores. Though when he ran for office, he pledged to make admissions to these programs and schools based on more holistic factors, they are still based solely on high-stakes exams with racially disparate outcomes.”

“Overcrowded classrooms and rising enrollments are pervasive problems that have plagued our children’s schools for far too long. We gave him an “Incomplete” because so far the de Blasio Administration has failed to act follow up on his promises to alleviate overcrowding by improving the school capital plan, which is months overdue. The current version of the plan doesn’t meet one third of the actual need, given existing overcrowding and enrollment projections, and without improvement, NYC kids are likely result to be subjected to even more crammed conditions in the future,” said Andy Lachman, head of Parent Leaders of Upper East Side Schools (PLUS).

As Gloria Corsino, president of the Citywide Council for District 75, pointed out, “Bill de Blasio gets an “F” when it comes to transparency and accountability. Our education budget is no clearer than under Bloomberg; huge consulting contracts are still approved by the PEP with little or no explanation, including a $1 billion contract that was awarded to a company that had engaged in a kickback scheme. Luckily, City Hall reversed that decision at the last minute, but this is a contract that should never have been proposed in the first place. Freedom of Information requests are responded to no more quickly, and the DOE still refuses to count all the kids in trailers, including hundreds of students with disabilities, and thousands of high school students. The recommendations of the Blue Book working group for improving the accuracy of DOE’s figures on overcrowding have still not been released to the public.”

Karen Sprowal, a parent leader in Upper Manhattan, gave some of the reasons why the Mayor received a “D” for Parent engagement: “It is very disappointing that parents have so little input under this administration. The Chancellor now claims in court that School Leadership Teams, composed of half parents, have only advisory powers, which is contrary to state law. The DOE revamped their parent survey without any input from parents, and took out what we considered the most important question, as to which improvement strategy we would most like to see in our schools, a question that has been asked by DOE since 2007. Too often at Town Hall meetings, the Chancellor responds to parental concerns with a dismissive attitude. Sadly, we have also heard from many CEC members that they still feel their views are not consulted before important decisions are made.”

Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters, said, “The Mayor gets an “F” on class size, because he has fulfilled none of his promises on this critical issue, the top priority of parents according to the DOE’s own surveys. Despite his commitment to reduce class size significantly, and if necessary, raise funds to do so, class sizes remain at a fifteen year high in the early grades, and the administration has taken no action in this area or indicated that they intend to follow through in any way. In fact, the Chancellor has repeatedly ignored the concerns expressed by educators and parents, and has stated that class size is not a problem that needs to be solved, despite the decision of the state’s highest court that NYC children are denied their constitutional rights because their classes are too large. “

“NYC KidsPAC gives the Mayor an “F” for diversity, as the well-documented segregation in NYC schools has not been addressed despite his campaign promises. The administration has failed to respond to communities asking for district-wide solutions that have been shown to increase equity of access in numerous school systems across the country. Mayor de Blasio has failed to live up to his obligation to address this civil rights issue by amending the admissions policies that stratify our schools,” concluded Lisa Donlan, President of Community Education Council in District One on the Lower East Side.

The Mayor’s report card, along with an analysis of the Mayor’s performance on this and other issues, can be downloaded here and viewed below.  It is also posted at www.NYCKidsPAC.org

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Mayor Bill De Blasio's Report Card (Final)

NYSAPE Governor's Candidate Scorecard; take a look!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  September 1, 2014

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

Governor Cuomo’s Education Positions Aligned to Privatize Public Education

New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE), a coalition of more than fifty parent and educator advocacy groups throughout the state, released a scorecard http://www.scribd.com/doc/238348598/NYSAPE-Gubernatorial-Candidate-Scorecard-2014 comparing the key education positions of the candidates running for Governor. NYSAPE personally communicated with all the candidates’ campaign teams. NYSAPE is committed to communicating the most accurate information on issues that matter to parents, teachers, and other friends of public education. New Yorkers who care about public education will have a clear choice for the Democratic primary on September 9 and for the general election on November 4.

Governor Cuomo is the only candidate among the five who supports the Common Core standards.  When it comes to the hot-button issue of teacher tenure, Rob Astorino opposes the law as it stands now. Zephyr Teachout, Howie Hawkins, and Randy Credico support teacher tenure.  However, the Governor is noncommittal as his reply was, “Any change to the current law would have to be carefully reviewed". Similarly, the four challengers are opposed to keeping John King as Education Commissioner. The Governor’s response to NYSAPE was, “It is inappropriate to comment on specific individuals in this context”.

The four challengers also oppose APPR, which ties teacher evaluation to student test scores, while the Governor, a prime sponsor of the law which created the system, fully supports it. All candidates support significantly rolling back time spent on standardized testing. However, the Governor claims that the recent legislation banning K-2 testing and capping test prep time will significantly roll back testing. In reality, it does nothing to reduce standardized testing time for 3^rd through 8^th grade students.

As to education spending, the Governor opposes fully funding Foundation Aid, Rob Astorino is noncommittal and said “it depends on the state’s financials”, while the other three candidates – namely Zephyr Teachout, Randy Credico and Howie Hawkins – all support full funding.  The candidates are similarly polarized when it comes to charter schools. The Governor supports the expansion of charter schools; Astorino who supports charters schools is noncommittal to the expansion, while the other three candidates do not support their expansion.  

Lisa Rudley, Westchester County public school parent and founding member of NYSAPE said, “Governor Cuomo has failed to listen to parents and he continues to ignore our concerns. Unlike every other candidate, he does not oppose keeping John King as Commissioner, who has disrespected our views when it comes to our opposition to the Common Core and our need to protect our children’s privacy.”

Jeanette Deutermann, Nassau County public school parent and founder of Long Opt Out said, “We must put an end to the test obsession that has hijacked our classrooms. It’s clear from this scorecard that Governor Cuomo, while he claims he supports a significant rollback, his record says otherwise.”

"The governor boasts the passage of four on-time budgets in a row and that he closed the budget gap. Do not be fooled; these claims are self-serving at best. Cuomo siphoned billions of precious dollars away from public education to satisfy cronyism and business interests. We must remember this come September’s Democratic primary election and November’s general election," said Anna Shah, Dutchess County public school parent.

“Governor Cuomo used his power in Albany to subsidize charter schools in NYC at the expense of our public schools and against the wishes of our democratically-elected mayor,” said NYC public school parent, Nancy Cauthen. “Our neighborhood public schools are hugely overcrowded, with thousands of students sitting in trailers or on waiting lists for kindergarten. And now city taxpayers will have to provide charter schools space in our public school buildings on demand or pay for their rent in private space,” Cauthen further stated.

“NYSAPE is providing this scorecard because it is imperative that voters in New York understand the positions of each candidate running for Governor. APPR, the teacher evaluation system imposed by the Governor, is harming students and teachers who are unfairly judged by this damaging system,” said Katie Zahedi, Dutchess County principal at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York.

"I find it startling that Governor Cuomo won’t commit to supporting teacher tenure, but says that he would have to ‘carefully review’ the law.  It is only because of tenure that teachers have the courage to stand up for their students when student rights are abused,” said Chris Cerrone, Erie County public school parent, special education teacher, and Springville-Griffith Institute CSD Board Member.

Tim Farley, Columbia County public school parent, educator, and member of NYSAPE said, "The current Governor refuses to listen to the concerns of parents and educators from across the state to make major course corrections in his educational policies. We demand an end to high-stakes testing and the flawed APPR system, and we want our children's sensitive data protected once and for all. If he refuses to listen, we will put someone else in office who will."

Highlights of Mayoral candidate education debate sponsored by principals union

credit: Epoch Times

Last night there was a lively education debate sponsored by the CSA, the principals union, with all the Democratic mayoral candidates and Tom Allon, who is running as a Republican.  I was busily tweeting throughout.  

Except for a rather tiresome exchange as to who had the best public school  alma mater, it was an interesting discussion, well moderated by Liz Willen of Hechinger and Pedro Noguera of NYU.  ( In case you’re interested, Liu went to Bronx Science; Allon attended Stuyvesant;  Bill Thompson graduated from Midwood HS;  and Bill De Blasio’s son attends Brooklyn Tech. Chris Quinn said she wasn’t “smart enough” to go to Bronx Sci or Stuy but actually she grew up on Long Island.)

Each of the candidates had his or her high points:

·         Bill de Blasio got the biggest applause of the evening; when he said that come January, Eva Moskowitz of Success Academy Charters will no longer “have the run of the place”; i.e. be running the school system in the city;

·         Chris Quinn pointed out that there's no evidence that merit pay for teachers works;

·         Tom Allon said we need an expanded capital plan and innovative ways to finance school construction to reduce overcrowding;

·         John Liu pointed there was no evidence that the schools had improved under Bloomberg by our test scores on the national exams called the NAEPs;

·         Bill Thompson said that the past ten years of damaging policies were the result of non-educators running the system, and that we need to focus on improving schools rather than closing them, as happned in the Chancellor’s district when he headed the Board of Education.

They all liked community schools and wrap-around services, as promoted by the UFT (though I'd like them to confront the reality that there is little or no room in most of our schools, which are already hugely overcrowded); they all said there was too much testing; they all promised to consult parents and teachers more; and most of them supported a moratorium on school closures and co-locations, all that is, except for Quinn and Allon, who said the implementation of these policies could be improved. 

There was a general consensus that the obsession with small schools by this administration was misguided,; and most agreed that the networks aren’t working and we need our geographically based districts back.  The only one who differed on that point was Quinn, who maintained that some principals liked their networks, and they should be able to keep them if they wanted to; though there didn’t seem to be many principals in the audience who agreed about this.  It turned out (as I suspected) that she was talking about the New Visions network, which has been fierce in protecting its revenue and turf.  Tom Allon and De Blasio also got into an argument about whether De Blasio’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for Universal preK would cause rich people to move out of the city (there’s no evidence for that, by the way.)

 At one point, Liz Willen asked the question of a student at Wagner MS named Sophia: what would they do about the chronic problem of excessive class sizes?  De Blasio said we would have to wait for the CFE money to come in.  Liu said the city had enough money to solve this, if we made it a priority. The others didn’t think there was much hope and seemed stuck in the status quo; extremely disappointing considering smaller classes are the number one priority of parents and a constitutional requirement, according to the State’s highest court.

Anyway, if you want more detail you can check out my tweeting at @leoniehaimson at twitter.com or see the articles at Epoch Times and  GothamSchools.