New York State Wins Big

Last week, The United States Education Department announced that New York State will be awarded $696,646,000 from the Race to the Top Fund, a 3.4 Billion dollar fund set up by the Obama administration to give money to states with the best proposal for improving their education system.     

New York was one of 10 states to win a grant but was by far the biggest surprise for many.  New York's proposal in the first round of the competition placed them 15 out of 16 top competing states .

Joel Klien, the Chancellor of NYCDE (New York City Department of Education) and one of the main architectures of the plan said, "We took a hard look at where we fell short last time and made important policy changes, such as raising the cap on charter schools and introducing a strong teacher evaluation system."

Before the second round of the competition started, New York reached an agreement with the New York Teachers Student Union. The new proposal will raise the number of charter schools from the state limit of 200 to 460 schools. The plan will also start to link test scores to teachers evaluations and stop processing requests for for overpriced chairs and desks.     

"I think that New York failed to succeed in Round One because it lacked collaboration with teacher unions." said Richard Lannuzzi, President of the New York State United Teachers. "[State Officials] understood that and found a real need to come to the table to work collaboratively."

Other official reforms will be put into place including a consultant firm to set a new standard for pre-schools that will monitor the child's progress throughout their education. This will also utilize plans for computers and smart boards to be used in the classrooms and to teach students to become more computer savvy and prepare them for college.

Last year, the SUNY system took a hit in their budget as $210 million was cut in state aid. The award money will help alleviate a portion of the burden left from the lost  funding during the recession. However, it is not a solution.    

Timothy Kremer, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association said, "This award will not solve all of New York's education woes. It will not replace the $1.4 billion cut in school aid that forced some school districts to lay off teachers, close schools and cut programs for the coming school year."

SUNY Fredonia is personally taking a a hit of three million dollars from the 2011 New York state fiscal budget, in addition to the nearly $5 million in cuts from the last two years. The deficit will effect the campus with increasing prices of college and books and extra costs put on the shoulders of the students.