Education
Hoyt Calls on Governor to Prioritize Education Reform So State Does Not Miss Hundreds of Millions in Federal Aid
Published Friday, August 21, 2009 12:00 pm
| Assemblymember Sam Hoyt (D-Buffalo) sent a letter to Governor Paterson today calling on the State to move quickly to create the necessary legislative changes that would make New York State eligible for stimulus funding from the Federal government for improvements to public schools, following the lead of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who announced yesterday that he would convene a special session of the Legislature to correct California’s laws. “New York State must be able to compete for the funds the Federal government is offering to provide relief to the states, and right now we can’t. As with California, we are facing a massive budget crisis. Unlike California, however, we have yet to do anything to fix our education laws so we can compete for federal stimulus funding. I have written to Governor Paterson with the hope of changing that,” said Hoyt.
Five billion dollars is earmarked in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for education reform as part of their Race to the Top program. This program is a state-by-state competitive grant process to promote: world class standards and performance assessments; more effective teachers and more equitable distribution of highly-qualified teachers; strong data systems; and the turnaround, restructuring, and reconstitution of low-performing schools. New York State is currently ineligible for the program because of existing laws capping the total number of charter schools allowed and a prohibition against using student test scores to evaluate teachers. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released a statement expressing support for California’s legislative package to enable that state to become competitive in the Race to the Top program, indicating that “California may indeed serve as an example to other states that are facing similar challenges.”“New York should be out in front on this issue. We should not be struggling to even become competitive for these needed funds, and yet we are. It is expected that we will be returning to Albany very soon for a special session to address the state’s budget deficit, and issue that will surely affect education. I am asking our Governor to work with the Legislature and include my proposed legislation on our agenda at this special session. If we delay too long we could miss out completely on hundreds of millions of dollars. That would be a tragedy for the children of this state,” concluded Hoyt. Assemblymember Sam Hoyt represents the 144th Assembly District.-30- |
| A copy of Hoyt’s letter to Governor Paterson is viewable here. |
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