ALBANY WATCH

Cuomo vows education reform in second term

Joseph Spector
Albany Bureau Chief

ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that reforming the state's education system will be a major focus of his second term, saying he wants to make it among the largest accomplishments of his administration.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo

The comments come as he faces increased tension with schools and the powerful teachers' union after he said last month that schools are a "public monopoly."

Cuomo didn't back down from his stance Thursday, explaining that New York spends the most in the nation on its schools but gets "mediocre" results.

"I want performance in education," Cuomo said on "The Capitol Pressroom," a public radio show.

The Democratic governor said schools needs a stronger teacher evaluation system, knocking the efforts by the New York State United Teachers union to beat back the evaluation system it agreed to years ago in exchange for federal aid for schools.

He said any reform is difficult, but it's worth the fight.

"Change is hard; I've said that many times," Cuomo continued. "You pay a price for change, but I also say that if you're not willing to pay the price for change, get out of the business because the status quo is the worst outcome of all of this."

Cuomo supports more charter schools in New York, and the charter-school movement was a top financial backer of Senate Republicans' bid to win by the majority in Albany. The GOP succeeded, even as NYSUT spent heavily on Senate races to help Democrats.

Last month, Cuomo said, "Our education system is a public monopoly where the paradigm is the more money you spend, the better you will do." He said he disagrees with that assumption.

NYSUT and the union-backed Working Families Party, which endorsed Cuomo's re-election, condemned Cuomo's recent comments in advance of Tuesday's election. Cuomo won re-election with ease against Republican Rob Astorino.

"Governor Cuomo is wrong on this one," said Working Families Party director Bill Lipton in a statement last week. "His proposed policies on public education will weaken, not strengthen our public education system, and they would represent a step away from the principle of high quality public education for all students.

Karen Magee, president of the teachers' union, even went so far to write an open letter that praised Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, Cuomo's Republican opponent.

Cuomo will offer more details about his agenda in his State of the State address on Jan. 7 and in his budget proposal later that month for the fiscal year that starts April 1.

Cuomo likened the need to reform education to his successful efforts in his first term to legalize same-sex marriage and adopt tougher gun-control. Both drew opposition, he said, but will be a major part of his legacy that he believed changed the state for the better.

"If you don't have guts or the willingness to pay the price with political capital or even electoral loss for making the change that the state needs and the people need, you shouldn't be in the business," Cuomo contended. "And when I am done, I am going to be most proud of these things that now have caused the most heartburn."

About 33 percent of New York voters went to the polls Tuesday, and Cuomo's vote total was the lowest for the winner of a governor's race since the Board of Elections started collecting the data in the 1970s.

Cuomo said the elections nationwide Tuesday were part of a Republican wave and voter discontent—which led to low turnout.

"These things tend to move on large currents, and the current was a Republican tide, dissatisfaction with a Democratic administration in Washington, premised on economic anxiety," Cuomo said.

He said his race against Astorino was "never close," and therefore suppressed turnout. Polls had him leading by at least 20 percentage points through the race, and he won 54 percent to 41 percent.

Cuomo has faced criticism from the Working Families Party for not doing more to help Democrats win the Senate majority. But he said, "I think that's unfortunate that they are finger pointing. I don't think it was about that. I think it was about a national phenomenon."

JSPECTOR@Gannett.com

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