By Hank Russell
More local elected officials are making themselves heard loud and clear in their opposition to the New York State Education Department’s Regionalization Initiative, which they say will force school districts into sharing their educational resources with other districts, thereby diluting the educational quality of the schools.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, a rally was held last month at Locust Valley High School to protest the New York State Department of Education’s “emergency plan” to implement the Regionalization Initiative. Those against the plan said school districts would lose local control to the state. One initiative proponent, New York State Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove), slammed the rally as “political theater.”
According to the Education Department’s website, “The Regionalization Initiative is a collaborative regional planning approach for local districts to communicate what they need in order to ensure equitable educational opportunities for all students, leveraging the state’s existing capabilities, talent, and infrastructure. By engaging in regional conversations, schools and districts may identify, explore, and choose whether to pursue a variety of possible solutions to the academic and operational challenges they face by tapping into the full span of resources that already exist in their larger region.”
Under the initiative, BOCES and school districts are required to submit a plan of what their needs are, where they are strongest and where they need improvement. In addition, they are given the option to share educational resources with other districts.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman recently joined state elected officials and school district administrators at a press conference condemning the Board of Regents’ attempt to fast-track the initiative. “Schools are the backbone of the communities they represent, and this Regent’s Board resolution is an attack on suburban communities,” he said.
State Assemblymembers Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) and Michael Durso (R-Massapequa Park) issued a joint statement about the initiative. “Recently, members of the legislature received a letter from the Governor’s Long Island Regional Director and Press Secretary [Gordon Tepper] stating that elected officials are intentionally misleading the public on the [state] Department of Education’s Regionalization Plan,” they said. “The Governor claims that she is in favor of an opt-out provision for school districts if they so choose. At this time, there [seem] to be more questions than answers about this plan.”
Both of them urged Hochul to make the resource-sharing provision optional. “We look forward to her taking immediate action by introducing a program bill that offers opt-out language,” they said. “We look forward to seeing this legislation introduced and voted on immediately to protect local control of our schools.”
In response, Tepper said Hochul does support making that provision optional, but said she is not responsible for the initiative, nor is she responsible for making the appointments to the Board of Regents. “Anyone claiming otherwise is either uninformed or intentionally misleading the public,” he said.
Tepper pointed out that what the initiative’s opponents failed to mention was that Hochul increased funding for Long Island schools by $1.4 billion — more than 26% — since taking office, fully funded Foundation Aid for the first time ever, and launched a statewide plan to transform literacy education.
“Here’s one simple truth you didn’t hear at their press conference last week: Governor Hochul has done more for public education than any other governor in New York’s 236-year history,” Tepper said.
He also said the anti-initiative politicians are more interested in “hosting bogus press conferences” and “spreading false rumors,” adding, “These politicians should consider actually doing their job by conducting oversight over the state Education Department. … These assembly members should know that it is their job to introduce bills — that’s what legislators are supposed to do.”