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Obama Adviser John Jackson Endorses the Compact for Racial Justice
Dec. 18, 2008
In times of uncertainty it is good to have like-minded friends in high places. ARC ally, Dr. John H. Jackson, President and CEO of The Schott Foundation for Public Education, is definitely one to count on. Jackson was recently picked to serve on the President-Elect’s 13-member Education Policy Transition Work Group. The focus of the Policy Working Groups will be to develop the priority policy proposals and plans from the Obama Campaign for action during the Obama-Biden Administration.
As you can see from the Compact for Racial Justice video, Jackson is not one to mince words about the need to place racial equity at the center of an education reform agenda. A supporter of the Compact, Jackson, along with Linda Darling-Hammond —who is also the Director of the Transition Work Group on Education—- contributed their knowledge to the Compact Education essay.
A cloud of uncertainly around education reform seems to have formed with President-elect Obama’s selection of Chicago’s Arne Duncan for Secretary of Education. With friends and foes on all sides of the spectrum, Duncan appears to be a wild card in the national education reform strategy. This makes Jackson and Darling-Hammond positioning especially critical considering. You can send a mandate for justice and support a pro-active agenda for education by signing the Compact for Racial Justice Pledge here.
Video available here
Jackson Named to Obama Policy Team
The Schott Foundation for Public Education, in Cambridge, Mass., has announced that its president, John H. Jackson, has been named to a transition group that will advise the incoming Obama administration on education-policy priorities.
It noted that the head of one of its grantees — Geri D. Palast, executive director for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, in New York—has also been named to the Education Policy Working Group.
The Schott Foundation supports work aimed at improving public schools. Mr. Jackson previously served as a civil-rights adviser in the U.S. Education Department during the Clinton Administration.
The Obama transition project has posted the names of members of the working groups who are advising the next administration in various policy areas. However, most of them do not include biographical information.
How to turn Obama's success into gains for black boys
Jan. 6, 2009
You can see the message on brick wall murals in inner cities: Yes we can. You can hear it in the music of Black Eyed Peas' frontman will.i.am: Yes we can.
You can imagine hearing it pass the lips of thousands of black mothers, perhaps after awakening their sons early to complete homework before they head off to school, just as President-elect Barack Obama's mother did: Yes you can.
There's no question Obama was elected by Americans of all races and ethnicities to be president of all America. But many hope that his presidency will have a profound impact on one group most in need, African-American boys.
Obama's success notwithstanding, the American dream remains a more distant hope for black boys than it does for any other group. Taken as a whole, their eighth-grade reading and math scores are scales below those of other students. In many school districts, virtually the only students getting expelled are black males. They make up 9% of enrollments but 20% of the mental-retardation classifications.
The social price of this is terribly high. One in five black males lacking a high school diploma is incarcerated. Other statistics are similarly discouraging.
Black males might come from the same families, neighborhoods and schools as their sisters, but the girls' outcomes are very different. For the most part, black females are doing far better than black males, outdistancing them by wide gaps in high school graduation and college enrollment rates. Many colleges report that black women have higher graduation rates than white men.
This gender gap has many causes, starting with the fact that 70% of black children are born into single-parent families. The girls have mothers for role models; the boys lack fathers. Then, ladle on daily doses of inner-city crime, violence, drugs and toxic popular culture, which disproportionately affect boys.
Enough of the bad news.
What matters today is determining how to leverage Obama's historic achievement into a fresh beginning for black boys. Confidence is important, but it's not sufficient. As Obama often says, success begins with parents willing to take responsibility, set limits and turn off the TV. But successful education reforms have shown that the right academic atmosphere can help overcome dysfunctional family situations. Some positive steps, culled from the best research about what works in the real world, include:
Focus on literacy
In elementary school, children get one shot at learning to read. Those who fail often are classified as having a learning disability. (Did you really expect schools to blame themselves for failing to teach?) Or the children are passed along unprepared to middle school, where scant time is spent actually learning to read.
Two things need to change: Don't give up on the boys in elementary school, and keep teaching reading skills in middle school. Many English teachers in middle school know more about teaching literature than they do about teaching reading skills, which means the first step is training the teachers.
Learn from successful schools
Few African-African boys have access to elite private schools such as Washington's Sidwell Friends, where the Obama girls started classes Monday. But several inner-city schools are showing impressive results. At the Key Academy in Washington, D.C., a charter that is part of the successful KIPP group, black boys arrive in fifth grade reading two grades behind the girls. By seventh grade, they pull even. Their success is related to a persistent focus on literacy skills, even in science and math classes.
At New York's Frederick Douglass Academy, a regular public school where two-thirds of the students qualify for the free lunch program, students take courses that rival the rigor of anything offered in the best suburban schools, and nearly all go on to college.
Create college mentoring programs
Roughly two-thirds of black males who enter college never earn degrees, an astonishing statistic. Several community colleges and four-year colleges are counteracting this successfully by creating one-on-one mentoring programs and support groups of black males.
Obama has signaled that he intends to be more than a role model. His biggest education issue, ramping up the federal role in offering high-quality preschools, could have a huge impact on black boys, especially if he launches research into making preschools work as well for boys as they do for girls.
The president-elect's promise to double funding for effective charter schools such as KIPP mirrors reform efforts in Chicago, where his choice to become the federal Education secretary, Arne Duncan, served as schools chief for the past seven years.
Most important, Obama has resisted calls from the teachers' unions to dismantle President Bush's No Child Left Behind school-reform law. Whatever the law's shortcomings, No Child's relentless emphasis on data forces school districts to come clean about the poor job they have done with black boys.
These are all reforms worthy of support. Obama's symbolism is undeniably powerful, but it will take more than symbolism to go beyond yes-we-can sloganeering.
READ AT USA TODAY
Project to focus on black male education
Dec. 17, 2008
A group of black leaders in Jacksonville plans to bring others in the community together next month to discuss the future of education for black male students in the city.
Only 38 percent of black male students in Duval County graduated with their peers in the 2005-06 school year, according to a 2008 report by The Schott Foundation for Public Education, which tracks the progress of black male students in public education. The county's overall graduation rate that same year was 61 percent.
The Jacksonville Community Engagement Group is an informal organization of about 80 corporate, elected and education leaders looking to improve the education of black males in Jacksonville. The organization is hosting an event called the Urban Education Symposium: Reclaiming Young Black Males for Jacksonville's Future on Jan. 24 at the Jacksonville Main Library.
Cleve Warren, president of Essential Capital Finance and co-chair of symposium's steering committee, said improving the future of black male youths will help to improve the future of Jacksonville.
"We just think it's time for somebody to stand up and begin to think creatively about how to reclaim African-American males," Warren said. "If we can admit that we've lost them to some extent, then we also have to accept the onus of reclaiming them."
Organizers expect 250 to 300 people to attend and are inviting people from all sectors of the community including Duval County Public Schools, Mayor John Peyton's office, and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
The symposium will need broad community participation to truly be effective, said Janet Owens, vice president of marketing and communications for United Way of Northeast Florida and a member of the symposium's steering committee.
"We're the small microcosm," she said, "and to really make substantive, sustained change in our community we need the entire the community."
The symposium is a continuation of the group's education initiatives that started this summer with the creation of the True North Summer Academy, a four-week academic camp that served 50 black males in seventh through 10th grades this past summer.
The Community Engagement Group's mentor network stays connected with the 50 students to keep them focused on academics and graduation.
Warren said the symposium will not be just another brainstorming session.
"We have been hell-bent on making sure that this is not just another meeting, another gathering to intellectualize the problem," he said. "We want to make this event different because we're not looking for interest, we're looking for commitments."
The symposium will start with presentations to help frame the challenges surrounding black males' education. In the afternoon, the participants will break into small groups to discuss action steps and plans to be carried out.
"Our goal is to come up with a plan of action," said Barbara Darby, president of Florida Community College at Jacksonville's North Campus and co-chair of the symposium. "We want to get the ideas and suggestions for what Jacksonville as a community can and should consider to address these issues for African-American male students."
Warren said the group plans to present the action steps four to six weeks after the January meeting.
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Inequities in graduation rates are the focus of Schott Study
To some extent, Lincoln County reflects the findings of a recent study, conducted by The Schott Foundation for Public Education, dealing with the inequities in graduation rates as they pertain to black males.
For over five years, the foundation traced the performance of black males in public education systems across the nation. The report documents that "states and most districts with large black enrollments educate their white, non-Hispanic children but do not similarly educate the majority of their black male students."
For example:
.. More than half of the black males in the study did not receive diplomas in 2006. The standard for the graduation rate of these students for states with more than 10,000 black male students was set by New Jersey in 2006 at 74 percent.
.. The one million black male students enrolled in New York, Florida, and Georgia public schools are half as likely to graduate with their class as white, non-Hispanic students.
.. Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, South Carolina, and Wisconsin graduated fewer black males with their peer group than the national average, which was 47 percent for 2006. Georgia's graduation rate for these students was 40 percent that year.
The graduation rates at LCHS for black males over the past three years are as follows: 2006, 58 percent; 2007, 79 percent; and 2008, 63 percent. The figures were higher for their white counterparts.
.. In Georgia, white male eighthgraders were twice as likely to read at the basic level as their black counterparts in 2007. Also, 55 percent of black male eighth-graders performed at below the basic level in mathematics; whereas, the figure for white students was 20 percent.
The Schott report goes on to add that these trends and others cited in the study are evidence of a schoolage population that is substantively denied an opportunity to learn and of a nation at risk.
According to Dr. Michael Holzman, an independent consultant who did the research for the Schott study, "The education of black children has always been a crucial concern in the United States. There are a number of factors contributing to the inequities in graduation rates - - school, family, and community."
Among the factors that make it very difficult for black children to participate in the education process are:
.. The expulsion rates are very high for black males, explained Dr. Holzman. In 2005, more than half as many black male students in proportion to enrollment were expelled as were white male students.
.. The number of out-of-school suspensions given to black male students in 2005 was equivalent to 20 percent of Georgia's black male student population. The figure for white males was eight percent.
.. "With the way special education programs work, black males are much more likely to be labeled as mentally handicapped than is scientifically indicated," said the research consultant.
"Close to 1.5 percent of the general population have IQs of 70 and under and are therefore considered mentally retarded; whereas, from five to six percent of black male students are told they are mentally retarded," Holzman continued.
"This is sometimes used as a way to get the kids out of the classroom."
Moreover, if black male children had been admitted to Georgia's Gifted and/or Talented programs at the same rate as white male children, the programs would be serving at least 25,000 more students.
In conclusion, Dr. Holzman said, "The essential thing is black male students need to learn to read along with everybody else, so they won't be completely discouraged. School systems have to start offering rich and appropriate instruction when students are three or four years old. This would be a good way to address the inequities in graduation rates."
In her comments, Regina Reid, graduation coach at LCHS, said that many times, students are disengaged from what is going on the classroom. "Some do not participate in class and basically, lack relationships with their teachers, the school staff, and even their peers.
`"Also, some students are dealing with emotional issues at home or work which have nothing to do with school."
She further indicated that this lack of investment in learning develops over a period of time.
"Another factor that affects a child's performance in the classroom is parental involvement," said Reid. "Parents often become involved too late - - the child has failed too many classes and/or missed too many days of school and can't make up all of the work."
To decrease the dropout rate at LCHS, the graduation coach works closely with the school counselor, the teachers, and administrators to address concerns with the students and their parents. She and the School Improvement Team (SIT) monitor school data such as attendance, grades, and test scores.
"I also talk with the students individually in an effort to get to know them and build a relationship with them," said Reid. "I try to find out what concerns they have that could have an impact on their education."
In addition, LCHS offers:
.. Peer tutoring after school.
.. Tutoring by teachers both before and after school.
.. The Credit Recovery program, which is designed to give students, who have been unsuccessful in select classes, the opportunity to earn credits online.
.. Dual-enrollment classes at Augusta Tech.
For more information about any of these initiatives, contact Regina Reid at 706-359-3121.
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Preschool for all a critical reform
For many middle-class Americans, a preschool education is considered an essential part of their children's schooling; they wouldn't dream of sending their children off to kindergarten without a foundation for an education they hope will extend to college or beyond.
In 2005, two-thirds of 4-year-olds and more than 40 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in a preschool education program, representing a substantial increase over earlier decades, according to a publication of the National Institute for Early Education Research. Studies also show that children's learning and development improves with an early education.
So who wouldn't want their child to have the benefit of a preschool education? Very few, according to a recent survey of parents in Springfield and Holyoke, where poverty rates are high and preschool enrollment is lower than the state average.
According to a survey commissioned by the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation's Cherish Every Child Initiative, there is strong interest in high-quality, affordable universal pre-kindergarten among parents in Springfield and Holyoke. But the survey also found that Springfield and Holyoke children are much less likely to benefit from a formal preschool experience than children statewide. Specifically, 53 percent of Springfield's children under the age of 7 and 58 percent of Holyoke's children are cared for exclusively by family members, in contrast to 8 percent of young children statewide.
Access to a preschool education shouldn't be only a middle-class prerogative; it should be a right, not a privilege.
Gov. Deval L. Patrick has identified affordable universal pre-kindergarten as one of his top educational priorities, and we hope the current budget difficulties won't affect funding for this critical education component.
Funding early childhood education is the right thing to do and it's an investment in the future of our children and the long-term economic strength of the commonwealth.
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Why Mayoral Control Needs Reform
In 2002, our school system was in crisis. The graduation rate was low, especially for Black and Latino students, teacher attrition rates were high, parent dissatisfaction was rampant. Of the 32 school districts, some did really well—while others did poorly year after year.
The State Legislature, looking for a fix, changed the Decentralization Law to give Mayor Bloomberg unfettered power over the school system. The mayor now controls a majority of appointees to the Panel for Education Policy, once known as the Board of Education. He can remove his appointees at any time if they disagree with him, which happened in 2003 on the day of a vote over a controversial third-grade retention policy.
In other cities under mayoral control of education, mayors share power with other elected or appointed officials. But Mayor Bloomberg has more power over schools than any other big-city mayor. And he has wielded that power. He followed the third-grade retention policy up with fifth-, seventh- and eighth-grade retention policies and has twice completely restructured the school system.
Are the city’s students doing better as a result of the mayor’s reforms? The official word is that an education miracle has transformed the city’s schools. Test scores are up. Graduation rates are up. But the reality is more complicated, and less triumphal.
City scores on state tests have gone up. But scores have risen statewide, suggesting that the increases may be an artifact of test construction rather than mayoral reform. The city’s race-based achievement gap on state tests has not significantly decreased since 2003. And the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the nation’s report card and the gold standard for testing, shows no significant progress for New York City’s fourth- and eighth-graders in math or English Language Arts since 2002.
Though the city’s graduation rates have risen, almost all that increase is in local diplomas awarded. Yet the local diploma is being phased out by the state; the Regents diploma will be the only option for this year’s incoming ninth graders. Because only 40 percent of ninth-graders currently graduate with a Regents diploma in four years, the school system is facing a huge challenge with terrible costs for this continuing failure. Even worse, less than one in three Black and Latino students currently graduate with a Regents diploma, threatening the city schools with an enormous increase in the race-based graduation gap. Only one in ten English Language learners currently graduate with a Regents diploma in four years, and only one in twenty students with disabilities. These numbers represent shocking failures to educate our highest-need students, and challenge the notion that mayoral control has produced an education miracle in the city’s schools.
Mayoral control has locked parents, students and educators out of the decisions that affect the quality of schooling students receive, by defining these critical constituencies as special interests irrelevant to decision-making or obstructions to reform. But no one person, with no educational training or experience, can know what reforms will reach each and every one of our over one million students. Successful school reforms require participant buy-in and collaborative development with parents, students, educators and administrators.
When mayoral control comes up for re-authorization, the Legislature should reform it to improve it. First, mayoral control needs checks and balances. No one individual should wield absolute power over such a large, diverse school system. Appropriate checks and balances will ensure that critical policies are developed in collaboration with key stakeholders and constituents.
Mayoral control also needs greater transparency over school finances, as well as transparent, accessible and independent school and student performance data. The mayor and chancellor have celebrated a triumph of accountability, through high-stakes tests and a new school-grading system. But how can the mayor and chancellor be held accountable when, essentially, they evaluate themselves? We need a reliable professional group, similar to the Independent Budget Office, with full access to data, to annually evaluate school system performance.
And finally, we need meaningful venues for public participation in decisions that affect our public schools. Without the involvement and engagement of parents, youth, educators and community we will not be able to improve our city’s failing schools.
Norm Fruchter is the former executive director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. April Humphrey is the lead organizer for the Alliance for Quality Education
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Education Advocates React to Governor's Budget
Educating Our Children - vs - Protecting the Wealthy
(Albany, NY) The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), Citizen Action of New York (CANY), the New York Immigration Coalition, New York City Coalition for Educational Justice, Education Voters and Advocates for Children of New York called Governor Paterson's 2009 executive budget proposal unfair and unreasonable. The Governor’s budget cuts committed education funding by more than $2.5 billion. The Governor’s budget would deliver $698 million less in funding next school year than in the current year, but as the Governor’s own budget asserts the actual cut in committed school funding that will be used to close the state’s deficit is $2.5 billion. (2009-10 Executive Budget Briefing Book page 50).
The groups are calling for a balanced approach to closing the budget with options that include upwards of $5 billion in new revenue by increasing taxes on New Yorkers who earn at least $250,000 annually. The school aid cuts contained in the Governor’s proposal undermine the state’s constitutional obligation to substantially increase funding in under-funded and high needs school districts as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. The $2.5 billion proposed reduction in committed funding represents the largest proposed school aid cut in the history of the state.
"The governor has shifted the unbearable burden of closing the budget gap onto the shoulders of school children while sparing the wealthiest New Yorkers. Asking school children to sacrifice $2.5 billion in school funding to pay for the state's deficit problems while requiring nothing from New York's highest income earners is irresponsible," said, Billy Easton, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education.
"Governor Paterson's proposed education budget gets a failing grade. By cutting $2.5 billion from committed funding, and extending the CFE phase-in from four to eight years, he is turning back the clock on the state's legislated obligation to keep the CFE promise. By refusing to propose progressive across the board revenue options, New York’s 15 year education budget deficit will now grow to 21 years, and the price will be paid by our neediest students. Simply put, the Governor is using bad arithmetic. The future of our neediest students and their constitutional rights must not be subtracted from our state's budget," said Geri D. Palast, Executive Director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity.
A poll released this week by the Working Families Party shows that 75% of New Yorkers oppose cuts to school aid and 75% support income tax hikes on those earning over $200,000. A second poll released by the Citizens Committee for Children of New York found that 77% of New Yorkers favored income tax hikes on those making over $250,000 as opposed to the property tax hikes that will result from cuts in state school aid.
"Cuts in school aid will not only harm children, they will also damage our state's fragile economy. Our children's future and our State's economic future both require that we balance the budget by asking the wealthiest New Yorkers to pay their fair share, rather than cutting school aid. After years of under funding and delays, the state finally committed to reducing class size, investing in teacher quality, and expanding reading, math, after school, pre-school and English language learner programs. These budget cuts would undo these advancements and be a huge setback for students," said Karen Scharff, Citizen Action of New York Executive Director.
The Governor’s budget proposal contains provisions to preserve the Contract for Excellence, a system of school district accountability enacted in 2007 that is tied to the new funding invested. While there is a slight reduction in the amount that is covered by individual school district Contracts for Excellence, the vast majority of funding that is currently invested in Contract programs will continue to be covered by the Contracts as a result of protections proposed by the Governor.
“Preserving the Contract for Excellence as the Governor has proposed is essential to ensuring that the vast majority funding invested in school reforms the past two years is not wasted,” said Easton. “Without legislative changes to protect the Contracts for Excellence, the money invested these past two years in smaller classes and educational reforms would be subject to no accountability.”
“The Contract for Excellence, the only accountability tool that ensures that the CFE dollars are invested in the neediest students in strategies that work--teacher quality, smaller classes, English Language Learner programs, middle and high school reform, and full day pre-k--must be protected,” said Palast. “Legislative changes similar to those proposed by the Governor are essential to continue the investments from the first two years, and to ensure that any new investments now and in future years are properly allocated. What's more, the Contracts are the only means for tracking the dollars, determining the impact on student achievement, and whether, at the end of the day, every public school child receives their constitutionally protected sound basic education. "
“Here in Albany we've just begun to move forward with continued advancements in teacher quality initiatives and extended day programs. There are still improvements that need to be made and these cuts will stifle our progress and immediately affect the quality of education our students are receiving. We cannot balance our budget on the backs of our children," said Ivette Alfonso, Capital District AQE board member.
"The law has already spoken when it comes to providing funding for a quality education for our kids. With the unprecedented win of the CFE lawsuit, and the further monetary award that provides New York City school kids with a chance for a quality education, it is perfectly clear that our governor intends to break the law, and rob our kids of their opportunity to get a quality education. The answer is not to rob our kids, but to make the wealthiest NYer's give their fair share to balance the budget," Ocynthia Williams, Parent Leader with the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice.
"The Governor is attempting to balance the budget by over burdening hard working families and cutting school aid and other critical services while not asking New York’s highest income earners to pay their fair share. We can and must do better to create a future that prepares our children for success in the knowledge economy of the 21st century," said Glynda Carr, Education Voters Executive Director.
“We’re particularly concerned about the most at-risk kids in the system, such as students with disabilities, English language learners, or students in foster care. These are the kids who tend to be hurt first when budgets start contracting,” said Kim Sweet, Executive Director, Advocates for Children of New York.
“These cuts will be devastating for our most at-risk students. Even as immigrant and English-language-learner graduation rates continue to plummet, the Governor chose to slash education funding, making a desperate situation even worse,” said Jose Davila, director of state government affairs with the New York Immigration Coalition.
The following is an excerpt from the 2009-10 Executive Budget Briefing Book:
"Overall, the Executive Budget provides $20.7 billion for School Aid in 2009-10, a decrease of $698 million or 3.3 percent from 2008-09. Even after this reduction, School Aid will have increased $6.2 billion or 42 percent compared to 2003-04. Without these actions, total 2009-10 School Aid funding was projected to total $23.2 billion, $2.5 billion higher than the Executive Budget proposal."
Click here to go to the Education and Arts section of the state Division of Budget's Executive Budget Briefing Book. The preliminary school aid runs can be downloaded at the bottom of the webpage.
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Taxes and Fees to Rise $4 Billion in New York Budget
ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson will propose a $4 billion package of taxes and fees on a range of items, from sugary soft drinks made by Coca-Cola and Pepsi to luxury items like furs and boats, when he unveils his plan to close a deficit that has ballooned to $15 billion, people with knowledge of the plan said on Sunday.
Higher taxes will also be imposed on health insurers and a sales tax exemption on clothing and footwear under $115 will be eliminated, though the administration will propose a two-week holiday for goods under $500, under the budget the governor will introduce on Tuesday.
A number of fees will be increased, with users of the Department of Motor Vehicles and the state parks bearing much of the burden, people with knowledge of the plan said. Tuition at the State University of New York and the City University of New York will also be increased.
The governor’s executive budget, which is subject to approval by the Legislature, is sure to touch off months of protests from an array of interest groups, as well as battles with lawmakers.
One element that Mr. Paterson left out of his budget was any broad-based tax increase affecting people in higher income brackets, a measure that some in Albany believed would be part of the plan. But ever since taking over as the state’s chief executive in March, Mr. Paterson has steadfastly opposed raising income taxes as a way to prop up the state’s worsening finances.
Mr. Paterson said his plan is meant to fill a budget gap totaling $15 billion for the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, and the following fiscal year. State law requires that the budget be balanced.
Mr. Paterson’s plan relies most heavily on cuts — roughly $9 billion, with the largest amounts aimed at state aid to education and Medicaid. The governor will also propose rollbacks of benefits for state workers, a measure that will almost certainly lead to a standoff with powerful public-employee unions.
The administration is also expected to propose eliminating the controversial Empire Zone program, which offers tax incentives for business development across the state, but has often been criticized for failing to deliver promised job growth.
“It is just prohibitive and it’s painful to have to make some of these decisions,” Mr. Paterson said at an appearance on Sunday night in Manhattan. “I’ve been forced to veto legislation that I’ve sponsored.”
He called tuition increases at state schools “a very hard step to take.”
“We’re going to try to remediate that with some other services to the colleges and universities, but when a person whose whole career has basically been for the advocacy of higher education, such as myself, has to take that kind of step, it gives you an idea of what kind of a number $15 billion is.”
Trying to put the best face on what will be a bleak budget year, the Paterson administration gave a limited budget briefing on Sunday in which administration officials discussed a small number of social initiatives whose financing would be increased. Several of the initiatives were aimed at helping the poor through what is certain to be a trying economic future. “The nation and the state are in midst of the greatest economic crisis we have endured since the Great Depression, and there are families struggling to provide basic needs for their loved ones,” the governor said in a statement on Sunday.
The most significant move was a proposed increase to welfare grants for the first time in 18 years, though more money would not be made available until the beginning of 2010. The administration plans to seek a 30 percent increase over three years, with the eventual cost of the increase exceeding $100 million a year.
The basic welfare grant would eventually rise to $387 a month from $291 for a family of three, or $3,492 per year, where it has remained since 1990.
That the administration was pushing the measure foretold how little money was available this year; the increased welfare grants will have little impact on the budget for the coming fiscal year, which ends in March 2010.
The administration also said it would expand a state-financed health insurance program, Family Health Plus, to cover 19- and 20-year-olds who no longer live with their parents. Enrolling in such programs would also be made easier by, among other things, ending requirements for face-to-face interviews.
Those who provided details about Mr. Paterson’s plan did so on condition of anonymity because the plan has yet to be made public. In describing the fees on nondiet soft drinks, those familiar with Mr. Paterson’s plan called them an “obesity tax.”
Expecting a protracted battle with lawmakers and interest groups, the governor is introducing his budget more than a month earlier than is traditional. Assembly leaders were expected to push for broader-based tax increases to offset cuts to social programs, and spent much of last year advocating tax increases for the richest New Yorkers.
One of the biggest obstacles Mr. Paterson will have to overcome is a Senate narrowly divided between Democrats and Republicans that has yet to settle on a leader for next year, amid continued wrangling among Democrats.
Hospitals, nursing homes and other health care centers, already pinched by the first round of budget cuts earlier this year, are bracing for a fight.
“I expect it to be an unmitigated disaster for health care institutions in New York,” Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, said in an interview on Friday. “I expect we will see a significant downsizing of the health care delivery system, and it’s at a time when people can least afford the cutbacks.”
Layoffs among health care workers are seen as likely. A recent survey by the Health Care Association of New York State found that 18 percent of hospitals are considering letting employees go to cope with their financial problems, 30 percent are weighing service cuts and 68 percent are contemplating scaling back improvement projects.
“Our hospital system is already short nurses, lab technicians and physicians,” said Dan Sisto, president of the health care association, a hospital advocacy group. “So it’s very difficult to cut back on a labor force that is already complaining about being shorthanded.”
Education advocates offered a similarly bleak view.
“We understand there will be cuts,” Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said on Friday. “The real question is, will there be cuts, not just cuts against growth, but real cuts that will turn back the clock?”
Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education, an advocacy group, agreed. “School districts now have to plan that they’re not going to get the money that’s due to them.”
Education advocates are particularly concerned that the depth of the expected cuts will risk core educational programs and not just extracurricular activities, which are often the first to be slashed when budgets tighten.
“It takes a lot to help make sure there’s programs for kids,” Ms. Weingarten said, “but it takes very little to have this whole thing collapse.”
Nicholas Confessore contributed reporting.
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Stand for Children's 5th Annual Education Summit
The Schott Foundation is proud to be a collaborating partner of Stand for Children’s 5th Annual Education Summit on Saturday, January 24, 2009 from 8:30 AM- 3:30 PM at Reading Memorial High School. Stand for Children is a statewide grassroots voice for children. They have been a partner in pushing for excellent and equitable education for all of Massachusetts’ children.
This year’s theme is How to Work Together to Keep Our Commitment to Kids in Tough Times. It’s always a great opportunity to connect with likeminded people and to talk together about how to protect our schools and move them forward. Speakers will include education, policy, business, and advocacy experts. Keynote speakers are Massachusetts 2020 Chair Chris Gabrieli and Stand for Children’s National Executive Director Jonah Edelman. The Summit is for parents, teachers, community members, and partner organizations that are concerned about children and public education and want to learn more about how to make a difference.
Workshop registration is first come, first serve. Please visit www.stand.org/ma to register.
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