Take 5 minutes to help stop the expansion of privatization of education in NY State!

June 16, 2017

Only a few days are left in the NY legislative term, and the NY State Senate leadership and now Gov. Cuomo are pushing a deal to exchange the extension of Mayoral control in NYC for more charter schools and/or a tuition tax credit for religious and private schools.

One of the bills introduced in the Senate would extend mayoral control for five years while expanding charters & tax credits for private and religious schools. The other bills would offer one- or two-year extensions for more charters both statewide and in NYC.

Please take five minutes to call your Assemblymember and your State Senator TODAY, and tell them do not make any trade that would allow the further privatization of our schools and the diversion of precious education funds to private schools and charters.

Message to your Assemblymember: As your constituent, I want to thank you for holding tough against a deal to trade mayoral control in NYC with more charters or tuition tax credits – and please continue to do so. Can I count on your support? You can find his or her phone no. by filling in your info here.

Message to your State Senator: As a constituent, I want to strongly urge you to vote against any deal that would allow for the expansion of charters or a tuition tax credit for private and religious schools in exchange for extending mayoral control in NYC. Can I count on your support? You can find his or her phone no. here.

You can call either their Albany or district offices if the other phone is busy or not answering. Please also let me know how they or their staff responds by replying to this email.

Thanks so much, Leonie

PS A few seats are still available for our Skinny dinner Tuesday – but the room is almost full. If you want to come, please be sure to reserve your seat now!

The very real threat of privatization to our public schools, at the state and national levels

Gov. Cuomo   photo: AP

Several people have asked for a copy of the privatization presentation I gave at the meeting of the Westchester- East Putnam PTA meeting on Saturday.   It is below.

While Trump and DeVos represent a huge threat to our public schools, so do Gov. Cuomo and the NY State Senate.  Cuomo has proposed expanding funding to charter schools this year, eliminating the charter cap in NYC,  and entirely erasing the foundation formula in future years -- a formula developed to send more state aid to high needs districts after the state's highest court concluded that our school funding system was unconstitutional.

Betsy Devos  photo:Jim Watson / AFP - Getty

Meanwhile, the NY State Senate is likely to support all of these proposals and also to approve a voucher-like bill called the Education Tuition Tax Credit bill, which would siphon off millions of dollars of state funds to private and parochial schools and give huge tax breaks to billionaires at the same time.  More on this below.

The hedge fund community and other members of the pro-privatization and charter school lobby made up the largest donors to the GOP members of the NY State Senate in the November 2016 elections -- and have also been some of the largest contributors to Cuomo's campaigns in past years.  As he gears up to run for President, he may be counting on their support once again.

Privatization Westchester Pta 3.4.17 by Leonie Haimson on Scribd