Legislators quizzed on governor’s Ed. policies

At a special meeting on March 6, the Rockville Centre Board of Education and administration voiced their concerns about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s education policies to local elected officials.

“The main issue is this: the governor has inserted himself into things that have never been his business,” said Schools Superintendent William Johnson. “Why he wants to run the whole business of education, I have no idea.”

At the meeting was State Sen. Dean Skelos, Assemblyman Brian Curran, County Legislator Laura Curran, and Max Kramer, the senior community representative for Rep. Kathleen Rice.

Johnson’s primary complaint was with Cuomo’s plan to make student test scores account for 50 percent of teacher ratings — an increase from 20 percent. Johnson said that the state tests on which the scores would be based do not accurately measure a student’s progress, and that putting so much emphasis on test data would take teacher ratings out of the hands of local school districts.

Johnson and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Chris Pellettieri also argued that the Common Core tests are not valid, and should be replaced by Northwest Evaluation Association tests. The 90-minute-long NWEA exams are given on computers, vary their difficulty according to students’ abilities, and teachers receive their students’ scores within two days — in contrast to the current tests, which are given over several days and whose results are not known for months.

Skelos had to leave the meeting early because of other commitments, but before he left, he asked the group, “You want an on-time budget?”

“Yes we do, but not at the expense of some of this other stuff,” Johnson responded. “And whatever support you guys need, I think the community would understand if in fact [Cuomo] appears to be jamming it down the throat of legislators. … But as long as I hear we’re negotiating, I think that’s good news.”

Another issue facing the school district is the switch to scanning voting machines from the old lever models. As the new machines become mandatory, there is a concern that there will not be enough machines in the county for future elections, and the school board is uncertain whether it will have to purchase machines next year.

Legislator Curran said she would find out. But, of the eventual change in machines, Assemblyman Curran added, “You have to do it. I’ll tell you, there’s still a lot of people, especially on the municipal side, that really haven’t come to that realization yet.”