Where Do We Go from Here?
By Stuart Dunn

I shall not take up space analyzing the national elections. Enough has been written about the Democrat suicide and the Republican victory. But, I think it is important to look at the results in New York State and try to understand the ramifications for public education in New York City.

George Pataki won a well-deserved victory. He has, in his eight years of service as governor, matured as a speaker and a leader. His opponent, Carl McCall, came across as a nice guy who was in over his head, with little to offer in the way of programs. Alan Hevesi will be a fine comptroller and Elliot Spitzer has achieved national fame as an attorney general. The assembly and the state senate go along their merry way, gerrymandering the districts to reinforce party control. As usual, issues made very little difference to them in this past election. With the state governance divided between Democrats and Republicans, little help can be expected from Albany.

One thing is clear—we are in for a difficult time, financially. The nation, the state and the city are all looking at significant budgetary deficits, and voters are not inclined to watch their taxes increase. Although some revenue enhancement will be a necessity, New York City’s public schools will have to find ways to do more with less. We are fortunate to have a mayor who understands financial management. The question is, will he have the courage to do what is necessary?

Let me offer a few areas to be looked at for financial savings, which also might improve the education system: 1) Continue to reduce the administrative bureaucracy; 2) Restructure the special education and bilingual education programs; 3) Resist demands for further compensation increases by the UFT which are not tied to productivity and merit. Look for significant give-backs in the areas of teacher assignment and fringe benefits when negotiating the new contract next year; 4) Speed up the process of getting incompetent teachers off the city payroll; 5) Make better use of technology in classroom education; 6) Find ways to get disruptive students out of the classroom so that teachers can teach and children can learn (I expect this will be far more effective, and cost less, than reduced class size in improving the education of the children); 7) Examine school construction, maintenance and repair costs to eliminate waste and fraud.

Next year will be a very difficult one for public education in particular, and city services in general. Mayor Bloomberg will need all the help he can get in dealing with the budgetary crisis. Let’s all try to be as constructive as possible.#