Demands Improvements
Spitzer Budget Big On Education Aid

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The flood of new money for schools in Governor Spitzer's Jan. 31 budget proposal drew a warm welcome from education unions, but the plan fell short of their wish lists, which included a bigger emphasis on lowering class size and a substantial boost in City University spending.

GOVERNOR SPITZER: 'Paying for performance.'

The budget keeps overall spending increases to about 6 percent, finding savings in administrative costs and health-care cuts, while granting property tax relief and hiking education spending significantly. Echoing some of the themes of accountability that Mayor Bloomberg emphasized in his State of the City speech two weeks earlier, the Governor stressed that with the raft of new education spending proposals would come an increased demand for results.

'Have to Produce'

"It's no longer a question of resources, it's a question of performance," Mr. Spitzer stated during his Albany budget address. "With this much money being poured into the system, we will have to produce."

Mr. Spitzer proposed an increase of $7 billion in state school aid over four years, with $3.17 billion devoted to the city. Combined with the city's promised $2.2 billion increase in aid, the public schools here would receive an additional $5.39 billion annually within four years, close to the amount first awarded by a lower court in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. The Court of Appeals last year reduced the state's obligation to the city to a minimum of $1.93 billion in additional annual aid.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: A promising start.

After years of prodding former Gov. George Pataki to make good on the legal ruling, the United Federation of Teachers reacted positively to Mr. Spitzer's proposal. "The Governor has made a historic monetary commitment for education for the kids in New York City and has followed through on it," UFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement.

The city would receive $639 million in additional aid from the state next year, an increase of 9.5 percent. Combined with the city's addition of $532 million, city schools would have $1.17 billion more to spend if the proposal is adopted.

Wants Formula Revised

ERNIE LOGAN: Where are training funds?

Other large cities also would receive significant increases in aid under the Governor's plan, which is subject to negotiations with the State Legislature. A new funding formula would mean that historic advantages for wealthy, suburban districts would be reduced and high-needs, low-income districts would get more money. Nearly 80 percent of the new funding would go to the state's 207 high-needs school districts (including New York City), with 48 percent of the increase allocated specifically to the city.

The Governor also took a step toward making good on his promise to provide universal pre-kindergarten by specifically earmarking funds to achieve that goal. In addition, all high-needs and/or low-performing school districts would be required to offer full-day kindergarten programs by 2010-11.

Mr. Spitzer stopped short, however, of dedicating money to be spent on lowering class sizes, which is a top priority for the UFT. Ms. Weingarten said that the union would "continue to fight to make smaller class sizes as high a priority as universal pre-k."

STEVE LONDON: 'CUNY treading water.'

Instead, the Governor lists lowering class size as one among five criteria that will be used to hold school districts receiving a significant increase in funding accountable. The other four "measures that have been demonstrated to improve student performance" are: increased student time-on-task, Teacher quality initiatives, middle school and high school restructuring, and full-day pre-kindergarten.

'Everyone's Accountable'

Notably absent from this list is lengthening the school day, replaced instead with time-on-task, which refers to how much time a student is spending on academic learning, a much-preferred option by education unions over extending the school day or year.

Although Mr. Spitzer repeated the accountability theme throughout his education proposals, the UFT saw a difference between the Governor's measures and Mayor Bloomberg's.

Instead of focusing on holding Principals accountable for all quality control in a school by naming them CEOs, as city Schools Chancellor Joel Klein did, Mr. Spitzer spread the responsibility throughout the school district. "We applaud his proposals to hold Chancellors and Superintendents more accountable," said Ms. Weingarten. "His accountability plan will make everyone responsible - top to bottom, not just Principals and Teachers."

'Not Scapegoating'

The UFT also made a distinction between Mr. Klein's vision of tightening Teacher tenure requirements and Mr. Spitzer's. "The Governor recognizes the value of respecting tenure, but the Chancellor would like to blame it for all the ills of the school system," said Ms. Weingarten.

Mr. Spitzer referred to looking at "qualitative" measures to evaluate Teachers' fitness for tenure, which is different from Mr. Klein's emphasis on quantitative measures such as test scores. But it is still not clear how Mr. Spitzer intends to evaluate Teachers, and in a summary of his proposals, he said tenure should be granted in part on reviewing "data on student performance improvement."

The union's major disagreement with the Governor's proposals involved his decision to increase the number of city charter schools by 50 and put them directly under Mr. Klein's control. Ms. Weingarten said, "The Governor's proposal to give Chancellor Klein 50 charters to dole out as he wishes runs counter to his pledge of top-to-bottom accountability. The current chartering entities, SUNY and the Board of Regents, have strict accountability, and there's no reason to add another entity." She added that any decision to raise the cap should include other reforms such as transitional aid, labor rights and more parent input.

'He Listened to Us'

The state Teachers' union had only praise for the Governor's education budget. "Teachers know what works and Governor Spitzer has been listening," said New York State United Teachers President Richard C. Iannuzzi. "We look forward to working with the Governor and the Legislature on implementing this bold initiative."

The Governor said that Principals would be held accountable in a similar way as superintendents, by having the Board of Regents track their effectiveness using state test scores and graduation rates.

The head of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators reacted positively to the plans, in particular the increased spending and focus on early education. But union officials were critical of the lack of professional development. "One component noticeably lacking from the Governor's plans is an investment in recruiting, training and retaining quality school leaders," said CSA President Ernie Logan.

City and state universities saw more modest spending increases, with the Governor setting up a commission to study how to make improvements in the system. SUNY would receive $3.36 billion next year, an increase of 4.6 percent.

CUNY would also see a 4.6 percent increase in funding, getting an added $71.8 million to bring the state total to $1.62 billion. About $4 million would be earmarked for faculty recruitment. CUNY's community colleges would get $6.3 million in additional state funding, a 3.8 percent increase bringing the total to $169.7 million.

PSC Hoping for More

The Professional Staff Congress had mixed feelings about the budget. Officials noted that, in contrast with Mr. Pataki's tenure, there were no cuts to the Tuition Assistance Program and no tuition increase. But the union was hoping for more. "This essentially is a standstill budget," said PSC Vice President Steve London. "What the Governor provided was for mandatory cost increases, by and large, and the major portion leaves CUNY treading water."

Mr. London said there was no commission necessary to determine that CUNY had seen a cut of 26 percent in state funding since 1990, adjusting for inflation. He added that the number of full-time faculty has dropped from 11,300 in 1975 to 6,300 in the current school year, even though CUNY's student enrollment is at a 30-year high. About 50 percent of CUNY courses are taught by part-timers.

'Step Up, Legislators'

"This year we are starting from a better place," said Mr. London. "We are looking for the Legislature to step up to the plate and to provide operating funds necessary to make an advance."

The United University Professions was more positive about the funding increases, but expressed concern about the impact of health-care cuts on SUNY teaching hospitals. "These new state dollars will allow SUNY to build on last year's progress toward correcting years of underfunding," said UUP President William Scheuerman in a statement. "However, we want to ensure the SUNY hospitals are protected from the threat of privatization.

Mr. Spitzer attempted throughout his budget address to couple his call for increased investment in education with the idea that "simply throwing money at a problem" doesn't help. "The pervasive argument I will make is, what are we getting in return?" he said. "It really all is a question of the value per dollar spent."

Follow Jersey's Lead

He noted that although New York is number two in the country in per-student spending, it is third from the bottom when it comes to high school graduation rates. But in advocating for his massive spending boost, he also pointed out that New Jersey was number one in the country in per-student spending and in graduation rates. "Spending can bring results," he said. And referring to his education budget, Mr. Spitzer said, "That's real money; that's a ton of money."

Albany is well known for significantly altering the best-laid plans of Governors in years past. But Mr. Spitzer said he would hold the line, vowing to "market" his plan "aggressively" to the public.

I was elected with a mandate to change the direction of Albany and the direction of the budget of the State of New York," he said. "We are going to defend the principles in this budget. I will not become under any circumstances one more in the voices of a status quo paradigm that is destroying our future."