Suozzi's "New Vision for Education" Plan
Suozzi's "New Vision for Education" Plan
Good Afternoon,
Today I want to talk to you about my Education Policy, the priority that Education will have in my administration, and the ways in which I intend to revitalize Education in our state. As reflected in yesterday's New York Times article, in today's economy, what you earn is based upon what you learn.
The troubled schools in this great city and around our state are now mostly filled with the children of immigrants and children of color - many of whom live at or below the poverty line.
Our schools remain segregated and very unequal. Many well-meaning people have worked to do better, but there is still much to do. This is not just a funding crisis, or an educational crisis - this is a moral crisis that must compel all of us to action.
And we have new challenges that go beyond the failures of the status quo. Our world has become smaller, and we are competing not just with people in other states, but on other continents. In an era of global information and competition, America and New York in particular is falling behind, and the politicians are asleep at the switch.
Sixty percent of the residents of New York City are now immigrants or the children of immigrants - a rate that harkens back to the turn of the last century, when waves of immigrants came to New York in search of a better life, to pursue the American Dream.
Those people worked hard - doing menial jobs for long hours and no pay. They saved and labored so that their families could live in safety, and so that their children could perhaps have a better life than they did.
As workers, thinkers and leaders - and yes, even reporters - they and their children transformed America. They built this city and others like it. They conquered diseases, mastered the atom, decoded DNA, composed great music, poetry and prose.
They led with their sweat, their toil, their imagination and their ideas. There was an understanding - among the workers and their children - that if they worked hard, and played by the rules, there was a chance they could succeed.
It wasn't always easy - but there are countless stories of inspiration and success - many of which can be directly traced back to our public schools and public colleges and universities of this City and our State.
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Today, that sense of promise, that sense of possibility is absent from our public education system. New Yorkers are still working just as hard as their predecessors, and parents still want their children to have a better life, but they are all being let down by a system that is segregated and under-funded and by a government that is uninspired.
12 years ago, a generation of New York's children entered public schools in this city with bright eyes and fresh faces, and this year less than half of them graduated. If there is a single way to measure and define the legacy of failure of the politicians in Albany - that is it. This is not just an election year issue - this is a generational failure that is killing the dreams of too many kids.
There is an attitude in our government that somehow this failure is the fault of the students. They are wrong. The real truth is that this is a failure of adults - the failed bureaucrats and school systems that are stifling the creativity and potential of the next generation of New Yorkers, and a failed government in Albany that has let everyone down, while our taxes have gone up.
Eliot Spitzer claims that fixing and fairly funding our schools is simply a matter of "will." Well, where was that will when the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit was litigated for the past 13 years? If it was really important, if those in government really understood the moral dimensions of this crisis, wouldn't it already have been done?
"This little light of mine" is a wonderful song. And it makes for a nice ad. But it is NOT a policy, or a plan. Eliot Spitzer has not committed to a dollar amount to settle the CFE lawsuit, nor has he proposed how he would fund any dollar amount. Eliot Spitzer has not offered a dime to schools outside of New York City, and Eliot Spitzer has not offered specific plans to reform the way our schools are run. The children of New York deserve more than a song, and I am going to give it to them.
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The calls for fixing New York's broken education system always come down to a greater investment of money. While new and massive investment is critical, we simply can't throw more money at old ideas and expect things to change. New investments must be matched with new ideas and real reforms to ensure that a greater portion of each education dollar makes its way into the classrooms.
Now is the time for the people in Albany to stop dragging their feet. It is time for leadership and a real plan not just to deal with the crisis in the schools here in New York City, but to help failing school districts across the state, and to offer school tax relief to homeowners across the state.
There are real differences between the way that I want to solve our education crisis and the way that Eliot Spitzer does. My plan is based on basic Math, and his plan is based on Albany Math.
The driving principle behind my $5 billion Taxpayers Saving Plan is to provide school tax relief to New Yorkers, while simultaneously increasing our investment in education.
I will end the litigation of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit by dedicating $2.5 billion a year to the New York City public school system. If New York City, which currently has a projected multi-billion dollar surplus, meets the State half way over time, we will accomplish a massive and historic shift in the state's commitment to education.
I will also dedicate $337 million to failing school districts around the state, districts my opponent has yet to so much as mention, and I will dedicate the remaining more than $2.1 billion to giving homeowners around the state much-needed property tax relief This will also create a fairer school funding system, in which the state at long last pays its fair share.
But for this investment of billions of new state dollars to pay off in a better education for our children we also need massive institutional reform. New York needs to be more competitive in the new world order. We have to raise the bar on student and teacher performance, demand more accountability from the school system, and invest more in creativity and excellence.
My plan has specific proposals for each of these areas - ranging from more authority and accountability for principals and teachers, more pay and training for teachers, a greater investment in healthy schools and healthy students, expanded educational and vocational opportunity for students, and expanding Pre-K and GED programs.
I want to lift the charter school cap for districts that want them, and I want a new StudentSTAT program to track potential issues and more effectively treat small problems with existing resources before they become big problems for students, their families and society.
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Beyond all of the talk of money and programs - of billions of dollars here, and billions of dollars there, let us not lose sight of a fundamental truth - our government is failing and we must change. This is a failure that is condemning yet another generation of young people - Blacks, Latinos and immigrants - to mediocrity. This is a failure that robs New York of its advantages in an age of global competition. This is a failure that will yield a bitter harvest for generations to come if we do not act now.
The American Dream flows through our classrooms. The gateway to opportunity is at the schoolhouse door. The cure for cancer, for AIDS, for a host of diseases; the solutions to our global crises - energy, poverty and hunger; the potential for greater understanding of our world and of each other is in the hearts and minds of the boys and girls and young women and men who sit in our classrooms and dream of a better life.
We owe them everything we have, and it is my hope that solving this crisis will be the shared legacy of our generation - that a revitalized legislature, a bold and innovative governor, and a free, fair and independent press - will finally work together to build a better, stronger and more just New York.
We can do it because we've done it.
Thank you, I will now answer any questions you have.
http://tomsuozzi.com/announcements/sp-081706/