The Capitol Pressroom for June 28, 2012

 

APPR & RTTT…SCOTUS & ACA…EWG on DEC SGEIS…OMG!
 
Depending on who you ask, the old system of evaluating teachers in New York State was either broken or nonexistent.  The education establishment wanted a fairer system.  Race to the Top provided some incentives for that to happen, like access to $700 million in funding over four years. 
 
But what sounded like a lot of money, isn’t.   The Herricks Union Free School on Long Island will receive $28,000 over 4 years – or $7000 per year, divided up into the 5 schools that make up the district.  Put another way, one elementary school in that district will receive $1400 dollars this year.
 
Today we discuss the obligations schools have under Race to the Top and the Annual Professional Performance Review, and how they will be meeting those obligations under tight time & financial constraints.   Our guests include Maria Neira, NYSUT Vice President; Mike Ford, Superintendent of Phelps-Clifton Springs SD; and Mary Louise Haley, Principal of the Denton Avenue Elementary School on Long Island. 
 
SCOTUS decision on the Affordable Care Act is expected this morning at 10am. We will hear reaction from – and meet for the first time – the Republican nominee for US Senate in New York, Wendy Long, (among other things she is a former US Supreme court clerk).
 
A new report out by the Environmental Working Group shows the DEC and the oil and gas industry in New York worked hand-in-hand to develop the rules around the SGEIS on hydrofracking.  We speak with Thomas Cluderay, the  Environmental Working Group’s Assistant General Counsel about the analysis.