On Board Online • March 2, 2015

By Paul Heiser
Senior Research Analyst

After three years of experience with the state's property tax cap, a statewide advocacy group that includes NYSSBA has issued a report recommending dual ballot measures and other changes designed to improve rules on how school budgets are drafted and approved.

The recommendations of the New York State Educational Conference Board (ECB) include changes that voters will see and behind-the-scenes technical adjustments to how districts' tax caps are calculated.

The ECB is composed of the seven leading educational organizations that represent key stakeholder groups including school board members, superintendents, principals, teachers and parents. The recommendations apply to school districts outside the five biggest cities in the state (New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers) and do not represent the position of the Conference of Big 5 School Districts, an ECB member.

On Board Online • March 2, 2015

Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

The Educational Conference Board, a group that includes NYSSBA and other organizations representing school officials, teachers and parents, has sought clarification from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders on what baseline state aid figures school districts should use in developing their budgets.

While the governor publicly advised using a 1.7 percent projected aid increase, a figure tied to personal income changes and a statutory school aid growth cap, the ECB's Feb. 9 letter pointed to bill language that would bar any increase. The group also noted that the overall statewide increase would not assure every district a 1.7 percent increase and that the state Budget Division projected a higher growth cap of 3.9 percent in October.

On Board Online • March 2, 2015

By Kenneth Hilton

I guess we'd all like to believe that 12th grade provides the "finishing touches" to K-12 schooling, ensuring that students are successfully prepared for college, meaningful employment and lives as adults. But a lot of grim data suggest that this may not always be the case:

Only 56 percent of four-year college students graduate within six years.

Only 29 percent of two-year college students earn diplomas or certificates within three years.

More than half of all college freshmen must take non-credit, remedial classes, requirements that discourage students and often derail graduation plans.

On Board Online • March 2, 2015

By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

The frosty air and shamrocks of March are sure signs that it's almost time for kindergarteners in the Greece school district to start learning about Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims.

While the Columbus Day and Thanksgiving holidays of autumn might seem to be more sensible times for those lessons, the 15th Century Italian explorer and Plymouth Colony settlers actually are right on schedule to sail into many kindergarten classrooms around New York this month.

It's a change inspired by the Common Core and the concept of "core knowledge," which was conceived at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia during the 1970s. Rather than building their curriculums around holidays, teachers in early grades are covering topics in sequences designed to build on each other.

Using state-developed curriculum modules as guides, teachers in Greece spent the fall and early winter months leading kindergarteners through lessons on topics such as plants, farms, Native Americans, kings and queens, seasons and weather, said Suzanne Pettifer, literacy coordinator for the district.

FOR RELEASE: February 26, 2015

CONTACT: David Albert
(518) 783-3716 or (518) 320-2221 cell
On Twitter: @nyschoolboards

Gov. Andrew Cuomo unleashed his latest diatribe against New York's public schools today, this time releasing a 200-page report comparing the results of "priority schools" to their state aid allocations.

We need to engage in a constructive approach to improving our schools. A Siena Poll released this week pointed to three areas most in need of improvement in our public schools: overcoming poverty, providing adequate education funding, and increasing parental involvement.

On Board Online • March 2, 2015

By George Basler
Special Correspondent

As a second-grade teacher, Barb Durkot has helped students cope not only with English and math but also with personal grief.

Over the last years, she's had students who have lost a parent, a grandparent or a best friend. Even the death of a pet can be emotionally tough for a youngster, noted Durkot, who works for the Maine-Endwell Central School District in Broome County.

It's part of her job to deal with that, she said. "As a teacher I handle the whole child," Durkot said. "If their emotional well-being is not good, it's my job to fix it."

But bereavement was not something covered in any of her coursework in college or graduate school. Instead, she had to use her own judgment about what to say.

On Board Online • March 2, 2015

By Courtney Sanik
Policy Consultant

Have your school policies kept up with changes in ways that your district's children can become eligible to receive free or reduce-price meals in school?

There are three ways this can occur:

• The traditional way involves parents or guardians filling out a form in which they disclose their income.
• A method called direct certification involves the State Education Department giving districts lists of children deemed qualified, without further application by households, to receive free or reduce-price meals households because of their families' participation in certain programs such as federal food assistance or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Medicaid benefits can trigger eligibility for those students from homes where the income is at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level for the family size.
• All children in an entire school or an entire school district can receive free meals in what's known as community eligibility. The federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 allows low income/high need districts that meet certain provisions to elect to provide all students with free, nutritious breakfast and lunches, which New York State opted into during the 2012-13 school year.

On Board Online • March 2, 2015

By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

State legislators heard from 41 candidates, including five incumbents, seeking appointment to the state Board of Regents during three marathon interview sessions at the Capitol in February.

Seven seats on the 17-member board are up for appointment, including those of Harry Phillips, who is retiring after representing the 9th Judicial District in the lower Hudson Valley for 15 years, and Geraldine Chapey, who resigned in June after representing the 11th Judicial District in Queens for 16 years. Ten candidates are vying for the Phillips seat, and two were interviewed for Chapey's seat, which has remained vacant since her resignation.

The incumbents seeking re-appointment are: James C. Dawson, a SUNY Plattsburgh geology professor who represents the sprawling 11-county 4th Judicial District; Robert M. Bennett of Erie County, who represents the 8th Judicial District and served as Regents Chancellor for seven years; Lester W. Young Jr. of Brooklyn, a retired educator and at-large member of the board; Roger Tilles, an attorney who represents the 10th Judicial District on Long Island; and Kathleen M. Cashin, a retired New York City teacher and administrator who represents the 2nd Judicial District in Brooklyn.