Teachers fault Solages for budget vote

More than 200 Valley Stream Teachers Association members donned red and rallied in front of the Central Court office of Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages after school let out on April 22, criticizing the state lawmakers for voting to approve the state budget on April 1.

“We want Ms. Solages to know that we’re upset,” said union president Patrick Naglieri. He said Solages’ vote to approve the budget, which passed, counted as a vote for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s education plan. The union vehemently opposes that plan, saying that the Common Core curriculum rollout, high-stakes testing and system of teacher evaluations removes local control from school districts and places unfair burdens on students and teachers.

Solages, who was in Albany during the rally, characterized her vote differently. She said it reflected the entire budget, which included many measures she supported and believed are important to her constituency, including ethics reform and student loan forgiveness. “They have to understand that the budget is a document and not a line item,” she said. “Voting no on a budget would have made a statement against other issues.”

She said that is why lawmakers in Albany call every budget “The Big Ugly,” as it never has everything each wants. She said she opposed the emphasis on teacher evaluations and high-stakes testing, mandates that have been highly controversial and sparked outrage across Long Island and other areas of the state.

Mike Turner, a retired English and humanities teacher who taught in the Valley Stream Central High School District for 35 years, disagreed. “Promises were made and promises were not kept,” he said. “She shouldn’t have voted yes if she was against some things.”

Naglieri said a representative of his organization met with Solages prior to the vote and understood her to be supportive of their positions. Solages requested a meeting after the budget passed to explain her vote, but the union declined.

Solages said she did what she could to advocate for the union’s positions, but voting no on the budget was not the proper way to do it. “At the end of the day, we fought a hard fight and didn’t get all the concessions we wanted,” she said. “A no vote wouldn’t have accomplished anything, but it’s not the end of the story.”

She said the Assembly was successful in making some meaningful negotiations, like ensuring that the state Board of Regents would have final say on the plan’s details, instead of legislators. The focus, she said, should be on the board, so that it does not increase reliance on testing and reduces the reliance on teacher evaluations.

She also noted that the board has a different makeup than it had when the unpopular mandates were set in motion, with four new members elected in 2015, each of who has a background in public education. She said that half of the members who implemented Common Core are no longer on the board, and the state is looking for a new education commissioner in the wake of the embattled John King’s departure.

Solages vowed to stay focused on working out the problems. “The Assembly fought hard and will continue to fight another day,” she said.

That did little to assuage the concerns of the teachers who rallied outside her office.

“We’re not opposed to testing, we’re opposed to this test,” said Laurie Whalen-McArthy, a Spanish teacher in the district who criticized the tests being used for teacher evaluations. She said the secrecy surrounding them and their grading rubric makes it impossible to properly prepare students. “Our jobs are based on faulty tests.”