2002: Education at a Crossroads
By Assemblyman Steven Sanders

The New Year will be a pivotal one for public education. Will the State continue to move forward and aggressively provide additional resources to school districts to help meet the rigorous new learning standards and testing requirements promulgated by the Board of Regents? Or will it retreat into a financial freeze, as it foolishly did 25 years ago during that fiscal crisis?

Public education and public safety needs are the two areas of government support that must be provided in good times as well as during lean years. There is no dispute about the fact that the financial underpinnings of our State and City budgets absorbed an unanticipated blow following the September 11th attacks on our country. And it is true that our economy was edging closer to a recession even prior to September 11th. Still, government officials cannot use these circumstances as an excuse to shortchange a generation of public school children when they need our help the most and when we demand they demonstrate greater academic skills than any generation before them.

There are several imperatives of public education that must be met this year so that we can keep our moral and financial commitments to our school children:

We must insure that New York City is able to place a licensed, qualified teacher in every classroom. To do this, the incoming Bloomberg administration will have to do what Rudy Giuliani did not–conclude a contract with the teachers, who have been working without one for 14 months. This contract will have to finally bring teachers’ salaries in New York City in line with those in the suburbs, so that we can stop the hemorrhaging of our best teachers to nearby school districts.

The Governor should stop his ill-conceived fight against necessary reform of State school aid formulas. Mr. Pataki should reverse course and direct the Attorney General to halt the State’s appeal of the ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, where Justice DeGrasse ordered the revamping of State education formulas to insure that New York City and other high needs school districts receive fair and ample shares of State education dollars.

It’s time for the Governor to issue an Executive Budget that keeps the promise to increase funding for early childhood education programs and for smaller class sizes in elementary schools. Most education experts agree that children who get on track and acquire the basic learning tools and knowledge in the early grades are on the best trajectory for success in the higher grades; also, that smaller class sizes, especially in the early years, allow teachers to concentrate their attention on their pupils’
individual needs.

Before government at all levels resumes discussions about financing expensive new sports stadiums or depleting resources even further by giving additional tax breaks to those with
the highest incomes, we must first make sure that every child is provided a sound public
education.

Two thousand and two should be a year where we insist that our schools provide a path to success for all of our students, with qualified and quality teachers, safe and modernized facilities, and a learning environment conducive to a 21st century education.

Steven Sanders is Chairman of the Assembly Education Committee. He can be reached at (212) 979-9696 or by e-mail at sanders@assembly.state.ny.us.

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