Published by Denton Publications, Inc.
The Burgh • March 7, 2015 | 5
www.the-burgh.com
“Call Out Cuomo” tour rallies hundreds in Plattsburgh By Pete DeMola
lungs -- the more we know weÕ re right.Ó
pete@denpubs.com
LOCAL VOICES
PLATTSBURGH Ñ Hundreds of teachers associations, activists and religious groups rallied at Plattsburgh High on Saturday morning to protest Gov. Andrew CuomoÕ s proposed education policies. The Ò Call Out Cuomo Tour,Ó explained New York State United Teachers President Karen E. Magee, was conceptualized to show that public education has widespread support in the community. The stateÕ s plan leans too heavily on test scores, she said, a measure that puts that moving the opposite direction of the feds, while issues like poverty, class size, unaccompanied minors are being ignored. Ò HELD HOSTAGEÓ At the rally, protesters held signs that said schools were being Ò held hostageÓ by CuomoÕ s proposed budget. CuomoÕ s comprehensive education reform agenda has tied the proposals to public education funding. If state legislators adopt the reform package, Cuomo will agree to a $1.1 billion school aid increase. But if legislators fail to do, the governor said aid will only increase by $377 million. The aid is just one part of the conflict surrounding education proposals in the $142 billion budget. Other controversial reforms seek to create a new, more stringent teacher evaluation system that increases the percentage of points based on student scores to 50 percent from 20. Magee said these changes make little sense: Ò ItÕ s a Ô test-and-punishÕ mentality,Ó she said. END THE GEA New York State United Teachers Secretary Martin Messner ticked off reams of evidence of what he said was CuomoÕ s desire to dismantle the stateÕ s public education system Ñ The GEA has stripped $250 million from North Country schools alone from, he said to a chorus of boos. The controversial device was implemented when the state needed to do that, said Magee, but itÕ s no longer necessary due to a rebounding economy. Ò ItÕ s disingenuous,Ó she said. Criticism of the two percent tax cap was met with hisses, as was the Common Core, which parents and educators decried as Ò data storage collection.Ó Ò Gov. Cuomo has been lying about the success of the public education system,Ó charged Messner. He also accused the chief executive of promoting a plan that would “fire the teachers” and eliminate local control.
Hundreds of protestors braved brisk temperatures in Plattsburgh on Saturday, Feb. 28 to rally against Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed education policies. Organized by NYSUT, other North Country stops on the “Call Out Cuomo” tour included Massena and Watertown. Photo by Pete DeMola
Ò The end goal is the privatization of the public education system for hedge fund managers,Ó he said. Ò We will oppose this to the bitter end,Ó he said, using the strong language that became refrain of the event, with the protestors stamping their feet in the bitter cold. United University Professions President Fred Kowal painted the dispute as a moral imperative: Ò The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,Ó he said, quoting Martin Luther King. Earlier that week, Cuomo rolled out a report chronicling a record of failing schools across the state. Only through his reforms, it said, can the sprawling education system be revamped. “The governor is fighting to reform a system that spends more money per student than any other state in the nation while condemning hundreds of thousands of children to failing schools over the last decade,Ó said Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor. Ò The louder special interests scream to protect the status quo Ð and today they were screaming at the top of their
Hundreds of protesters filled the parking lot. Minerva Central Librarian Sharon Stone held a sign Ñ Ò Welcome to Minerva: Home of the 59 percent who said yesÓ Ñ referring to last yearÕ s failed budget vote in the small district in southwestern Essex County. Stone said she felt inspired despite the cold: Ò IÕ m here for my students who lost their band program, lost their college credits and their distance learning,Ó she said, Ò among many other things Ñ we also lost good teachers.Ó Other local associations joined their peers in the teaching community, including the Ausable Valley and the ElizabethtownLewis Teachers Associations. Ò WeÕ re here for solidarity,Ó said Brad Schrauf, who called CuomoÕ s proposals an Ò egregious dismantling from the ground-up.Ó Schrauf said ELCS, among other districts, have a difficult time educating kids Ò the way they should be educated.Ó Anne Cotrona listed the number of areas that she would like to see addressed Ñ poverty, nutrition, domestic violence Ñ and said that CuomoÕ s proposal leans too heavy on test score. Angie Carlisto, a mother of two boys from Saranac Lake, said she feared for their future: Ò Classrooms are places where kids are now consistently taking tests,Ó she said. Ò The love of learning has been sucked out of the classroom.Ó Magee warned Cuomo Ñ a cardboard cutout of whom was presiding over the crowd with a contemptuous sneer Ñ that the group was Ò turning it up.Ó Public education, she added, is the Ò Great Equalizer.Ó Ò This is a movement that is growing,Ó she said, Ò and we expect our elected officials to do the right thing.” Elected officials also chimed in. Assemblyman Dan Stec criticized CuomoÕ s budget negotiation tactic of linking funding for New YorkÕ s college Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to the controversial DREAM Act that provides young adults who came to the United States illegally as kids educational benefits. Ò How is it that we have money to educate illegal aliens but we cannot afford to restore the GEA or fully fund our elementary and high schools,Ó said Stec in an email message. Ò The governor’s education budget initiatives should first address the needs of legal taxpayers before catering to those who are here illegally.Ó On Monday, March 2, the Call Out Cuomo tour reached Albany, where 2,000 protesters converged on the Million Dollar Staircase to state their case. The state budget deadline is March 31.