On the protection of students from Common Core, Hawkins said the protection of children from over-testing and privacy invasion were steps in the right direction, but that schools and teachers need protection from high-stakes testing linked to Common Core as well. “The education policies coming from the leadership of both major parties and embodied in this budget – from under-funding public schools and promoting charter schools to modifying but not ending the high-states testing regime – are pro-privatization and anti-public schools. They are promoting a dual school system, separate and unequal. We need to address the root causes of low performing students and schools in poverty, segregation, and under-funding schools in low-income communities,” said Hawkins. A report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles released last week found that schools in New York State are the most racially and economically segregated in the nation and have become more so over the last 25 years. New York State has the seventh most unequal distribution of school funding between school districts among the 50 states, according to “National Report Card” on school funding from Rutgers University. Hawkins expressed opposition to the Governors successful push to divert more tax funds to charter schools at the expense of public schools. Cuomo and Skelos were all for giving Mayor Bloomberg unilateral power to run the schools but now that de Blasio wants to do something else, suddenly Cuomo wants the state to increase their interference. Hawkins has opposed giving Mayors control over schools, advocating for increased community control. For the first time, the privately operated schools will be eligible for government funds to cover the costs of leasing classroom space in private buildings. And NYC we’ll be barred from charging rent to any charter school co-located in a public school building. The charter schools provide significant profits to wealthy hedge fund managers who spent $5 million on attack ads against Mayor de Blasio and who have heavily contributed to Cuomo. howiehawkins.org/hawkins_blasts_rich_man_s_budget
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 01:26:28 +0000
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