Presented by:
Dr. Patrick M. Phelan;
Assistant Superintendent
West Seneca Central School District
Response by:
Mr. Michael Deely;
Western Regional Director of
New York State United Teachers
May 16, 2012
 Special Thank You
 All
to:
Members of the Executive Committee
 Elisha
 Erin
Tomasello
Bowie
 Sandy
Luedke
 Economics
 Dynamics
– (Always seem to be a factor)
of the School Reform Movement
 vs.
 Impact
of New York State Education Law,
Commissioner Regulations and terms and
conditions in labor agreements negotiated
over the last 44 years.
Reduction
in State Aid and the
implementation of a cap on
property taxes to fund education.
More reduction in Staff through
attrition and layoffs than the
industry has seen in a generation.
Smaller student and general
population.
Change in demographics.
 Significant
role of the Federal
Government in Education/Funding.
 Implementation of what is known as the
“Common Core” Curriculum.
 Continued evolution of Charter Schools.
 Implementation of the Annual
Professional Performance
Review/Teacher Evaluation System
Caring and thoughtful people
are advocating, in a
democratic society, what they
believe is in the best interest
of the development, and
betterment, of the next
generation.
Males
White
Property
Owners
Males
All
and Females
races
Inclusive
of diverse social
and economic backgrounds
For 225 years Education
in the United States
was Governed by the
individual States.
That has changed!
“The legislature shall provide
for the maintenance and
support of a system of free
common schools, wherein all
the children of this state may
be educated.”





1. Teachers each day will fill
lamps, clean chimneys.
2. Each teacher will bring a
bucket of water and a scuttle of
coal for the day's session.
3. Make your pens carefully. You
many whittle nibs to the
individual taste of the pupils.
4. Men teachers may take one
evening each week for courting
purposes, or two evenings a week
if they go to church regularly.
5. After ten hours in school, the
teachers may spend the
remaining time reading the Bible
or other good books.




6. Women teachers who marry or
engage in unseemly conduct will
be dismissed.
7. Every teacher should lay aside
from each pay a goodly sum of his
earnings for his benefit during his
declining years so that he will not
become a burden to society.
8. Any teacher who smokes, uses
liquor in nay form, frequents pool
or public halls, or gets shaved in a
barber shop will given reason to
suspect his worth, intention,
integrity, and honesty.
9. The teacher who performs his
labor faithfully and without fault for
five years will be given an increase
of twenty-five cents per week in his
pay, providing the Board of
Education approves.
 Prohibited
strikes and required the
dismissal of public employees who
struck.
 After
being fired, striking employees
could be reinstated to a five year
probationary period at the same pay
level they received prior to striking and
could not receive a pay increase for 3
years.
 Teachers
week.
Earning = $2,600 per year/$52 per
 Common
for Female Teachers to take a
mandatory 2 year leave when they realized
they were pregnant.
 Prior
permission had to obtained from
Administrators before teachers could
contact elected officials.
Created
by the Department of
Education Organization Act and
signed into law by President
Jimmy Carter on October 17,
1979.
It
began operating on May 4,
1980
“If an unfriendly foreign
power had attempted to
impose on America the
mediocre educational
performance that exists
today, we might well have
viewed it as an act of war.”
 The
charter school idea in the United
States was originated by Ray Budde, a
professor at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst and embraced
by Albert Shanker, President of the
American Federation of Teachers.
 In 1988 Shanker called for the reform of
the public schools by establishing
"charter schools" or "schools of choice".
Minnesota
was the first state to
pass a charter school law in 1991.
California was second, in 1992.
As of 2009, 41 states and the
District of Columbia have charter
school laws.
 NCLB
supports standards-based education
reform based on the premise that setting high
standards and establishing measurable goals
can improve individual outcomes in education.
 The Act requires states to develop assessments
in basic skills.
 States must give these assessments to all
students at select grade levels in order to
receive federal school funding
State
Aid
Local Property Tax
Sales Tax
Grants (Race to the Top)
Utilization of Fund
Balance



When Governor Cuomo took office on January 1,
2011, the State faced a budget gap of $10 billion in
2011-12 that grew to nearly $15 billion in 2012-13
— a combined imbalance of nearly $25 billion.
An on-time budget approved by the Governor and
Legislature on March 31, 2011 eliminated the entire
$10 billion imbalance and significantly reduced
the budget gap for 2012-13 to $3.5 billion.
The two-year combined budget gap has declined
by over 86 percent from the level it stood at when
Governor Cuomo took office.
 The
Fiscal Year 2013 state budget began
on April 1, 2012.
 Lawmakers passed the $132.6 billion
budget on March 30, 2012.
 New York's school districts will receive
$20 billion in state aid for the 20122013 school year.
 An increase of about $750 million, or 3.9
percent, compared to 2011-2012.
 Rent
regulations are a top priority for the
Assembly Democrats, which draw many
of their members from the New York City
area.
 In contrast, Senate Republicans prioritize
a bill that would cap property tax
increases at 2 percent a year. Soaring
property taxes are a major concern for
their mostly suburban and upstate
constituents.
 New York
state legislative leaders reached
tentative agreements on rent control and a
property tax cap.
 Senate
Republicans agreed to a framework that
would limit annual increases in the tax levy -- the
total amount raised by school districts or other
local government entities -- to 2 percent or the
rate of inflation, whichever is less. It would allow
exceptions for legal penalties, some pension
costs and, in the case of school districts, voterapproved capital projects and bus purchases.
 The
$4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund is
an unprecedented federal investment in
reform.
 The program includes $4 billion for
statewide reform grants and $350 million
to support states working together to
improve the quality of their assessments,
which the Department plans to award in
September.
 Great Teachers
and Leaders
• Improving teacher and principal effectiveness
 Standards
and Assessments
• Developing and adopting common standards
(from the Common Core State Standards
Initiative)
 General
Selection Criteria
• Ensuring successful conditions for high-
performing charters and other innovative
schools
 Turning
Around the Lowest-Achieving
Schools
• Turning around the lowest-achieving schools
 Data
Systems to Support Instruction
• Using data to improve instruction
 New York
State has won about $700
million as part of a competitive federal
education grant known as Race to the
Top.
 State lawmakers passed legislation to
double the number of charter schools in
the state to 460 to improve the state’s
chances at securing the money.
 New York
also approved a plan that will
allow local school districts to use
student test scores in teacher
evaluations, a practice teachers’ unions
have bitterly opposed for years. But local
school officials will still have to
negotiate with the union over the
details of the evaluations.
 Administrators
 Teachers
 Instructional
Support - Aides, Nurses,
Social Workers, Counselors
 Clerical Support
 Technology Support
 Transportation
 Buildings and Grounds
 Food Service
 After
meeting the criteria for certification,
generally being employed in your area of
certification for 3 years, a Board of
Education can grant an individual “tenure”.
 Tenure means you own a property right to
your position and cannot be denied your
property right without the due process of
law.
 Due process of law in Ney York State –
Section 3020-a of the Education Law.
Growth on
State Wide
Assessments
/Student
Learning
Objectives
Locallyselected
Measures of
growth or
achievement
Other locally
negotiated
Measure of
Effectiveness
(60 points)
Overall
Composite
Score
Highly
Effective
18-20
18-20
To be
determined
Locally
91-100
Effective
9-17
9-17
75-90
Developing
3-8
3-8
65-74
Ineffective
0-2
0-2
0-64
 If
a teacher is evaluated as ineffective for
2 consecutive years there is an
“expedited hearing” but they can be
denied tenure and lose the property
right to their job.
 Some feel this is a game changer
 The
Common Core State Standards
Initiative is a U.S. education initiative
that seeks to bring diverse state curricula
into alignment with each other by
following the principles of standardsbased education reform.
 The initiative is sponsored by the
National Governors Association (NGA)
and the Council of Chief State School
Officers (CCSSO).
Currently
there are 697 School
Districts in New York State
By the year 2020 there will be
fewer School Districts
Continued involvement of the
Federal Government in
Education.
Are
you
smarter than
th
a 5 Grader?