Klein: Principals' Call:
UFT and School Advocates Want Say on $360M Aid

By MICHELLE FRIEDMAN

Union leaders and education advocates joined the Chairman of the City Council's Education Committee May 6 in urging Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein to consult with them about the spending of $360 million of the $622 million in recently approved state aid to the public schools.

JOEL I. KLEIN: Rejects centralized planning.

The coalition, which includes the United Federation of Teachers and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity - whose lawsuit produced an agreement two years ago for a substantial increase in state aid - called for a revised Contract for Excellence to ensure that priorities are met through systematic programs with measurable results.

Call for Parent Input

Their Contract for Excellence calls for borough-wide public hearings to solicit parent and community input. It would allocate state aid to six areas: class-size reduction, Teacher and Principal quality, English-language learners, time on task, pre-kindergarten, and middle and high school restructuring.

"New York City public schools certainly need the resources they are getting from the state," said Michael Mulgrew, vice president of the United Federation of Teachers. "They won't get the full benefit unless the resources are used wisely and efficiently to get the most bang for the buck, and that requires planning. It's not enough to simply throw money at a problem and hope for the best. The Department of Education, which has demonstrated a penchant for waste and mismanagement, should collaborate with Teachers, parents and other education advocates to agree on spending priorities to focus resources on our system's most urgent needs."

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'CAN'T THROW MONEY AT PROBLEM': United Federation of Teachers Vice President Michael Mulgrew says the Department of Education's past waste of school aid should have convinced it to consult unions, parents and education advocates on how to best spend hundreds of millions of dollars in additional state funding.

The DOE however, was not receptive to the proposal. "We will not micromanage schools' use of their budget through a centralized plan," said a spokesperson. "The best-qualified people to determine how schools spend Contract for Excellence funds are not bureaucrats or advocates, but the leaders of the schools. Principals, evaluating classroom work and performance data with their staffs and conferring with their School Leadership Teams, will ensure that these funds will be allocated in ways that meet the unique educational needs and goals of their students while conforming to state standards for the allocation of Contract funds. Our accountability system provides them with tools to raise achievement and holds them responsible for results."

Contract for Excellence advocates cite the lack of success with a direct funding plan last year as reason to integrate the community in the planning process this time around.

"The DOE is planning on distributing the funds right to the Principals. We must make sure they don't release the money so quickly," said Geri D. Palast, executive director of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which developed the Contract for Excellence.

Questions Aid Reduction

Mr. Jackson said he was disappointed by the Mayor's proposed budget. "When the Mayor announced the new budget last week, he said education would be getting $200 million more. When a reporter came over and asked me how I felt about that, I told him not to believe the hype. They are cutting $428 million. Where's that gonna hit? In the classrooms where your kids attend. There is an expected surplus of $4 billion in the budget. Then why are you cutting $428 million from education? That is totally unacceptable."

He was referring to the fact that although the Mayor's plan would increase school spending by about $200 million in the coming year, that is more than $400 million less than originally expected, before DOE was required to join other city agencies in cutting its budget.