Zephyr Teachout‘s op-ed in the Albany Times-Union urging Governor Andrew Cuomo to improve education in New York.
In the last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has moved around a lot on public education. He has backed away from some of the worst high-stakes testing culture.
I am hopeful that this is the year Cuomo will take positive leadership on education and start with the State of the State address he will deliver on Wednesday. The real key — the central thing he should commit to — is basic funding for the children of the state.
Our school districts are starved by the status quo, and children suffer. Kids don’t get art, history, counselors and the small classes they need. It’s not that we don’t have the money for kids — we just give it away to the wealthiest New Yorkers through the tax code.
The governor has a chance to make a big statement on education, and to pay for it the right way.
So here is what I’d like to hear Cuomo say about education at the State of the State:
“We know what works for children, and it requires investment and commitment to all parts of a child’s life, from preschool through high school and college. We should dedicate a revenue stream for children in high needs communities and schools.
“We should fully support the home visiting programs for babies, parents and caregivers, like Healthy Families New York, which we know works. We should have paid family leave for working parents and caregivers. We should fund quality child care, and provide quality pre-K throughout the state. We should support the development of community schools, commit to state-of-the-art arts funding, commit to the innovative restorative reforms that keep kids in schools, fund high quality after-school programs. And we must absolutely target and fund those schools that need the most support and are currently struggling.
“Finally, we must recommit to New York’s traditionally extraordinary higher education, aiming for debt-free college.
“I will push for at least $2.5 billion toward these important commitments, and I will pay for it by increasing the tax rate of the 1 percent — people who make over $666,000 a year — by 1 percent. New York’s highest rate for state and local combined income taxes would still be lower than California’s.”
The truth is, the 1 percent can afford it. The value — next year, the year after, and for decades to come — of a true commitment to great public education and care is priceless. On the opening day of the legislative session, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie spoke out in favor of many of these programs and for a small tax hike on the wealthiest New Yorkers in order to pay for them. New York needs to put its money where the need is, and stop feeding inequality, and start with more nourishment for young minds.
The tens of thousands of parents’ voices matter, not just for their kids, but for all children. This is a big moment for public education in New York. I’m hopeful that Andrew Cuomo will take it.
Zephyr Teachout, of Dover Plains, is an associate professor of Law at Fordham University. She ran against Cuomo in 2014 for the Democratic Party nomination for governor.