On New York state’s public education system
From The Poughkeepsie Journal:
As families with school-age children find themselves back in a familiar routine, New York is still struggling mightily to reconcile profound problems with the education system. Those stiff challenges range from implementing the controversial Common Core standards and getting curriculum better aligned with what actually appears on tests, to ensuring all schools have the necessary resources to teach children in the modern-day era.
To be frank, when it comes to educating children, there can never be enough resources. And that’s despite the fact New York already spends more than any other state on the effort. With that in mind, it’s imperative school districts make the most of those dollars and look for ways to be innovative.
The Poughkeepsie Journal recently published a story by our reporters and the USA Today Network’s Albany Bureau that also revealed the deep problems with the state-aid school formula, inadequacies that have existed for a long time. Those shortcomings or questionable priorities include using a formula that, at times, relies on out-of-date information and doesn’t do enough to help so-called “high-need” districts that have a lower property-tax pool – and that still struggle to close the achievement gap.
Legal cases about these issues have been kicking around the court system for more than a decade, including one involving small-city schools, such as the Poughkeepsie and Kingston districts. These problems need to be settled, but it would be far better for state elected officials – not judges – to do it.
In recent years, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers have increased state funding and ended the socalled “Gap Elimination Adjustment,” which reduced state aid to schools during the recession. But the state aid formula itself could use an overhaul.
Spending, of course, is only part of the education equation. New York contributes $24 billion a year to schools, but it has not always seen a correspondingly strong return on this critically important investment. Everything from pension reform to school and administration consolidations could help the education system become more efficient, but they are often resisted. Consequently, even in an era of declining school enrollments, districts and taxpayers are feeling the crush of pension and health-care costs related to education.
Finally, perhaps the state’s biggest education challenge is what to do about Common Core. While changes have been made in this area as well, sharp concerns about “over-testing” children remain. Nearly a quarter of a million students refused to take New York’s standardized exams this year, and that number has been dramatically rising in recent years.
Despite all these challenges, good teachers will find ways to connect with students, and learning will occur. But the state has a solemn obligation to help create a much better environment, one that ends the Common Core confusion and addresses long-standing problems with inequitable funding.