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Leadership
Your Governor:
Kathy Hochul (D) (50)
First term began in 2021 (no term limits). Re-elected in 2022.
While her focus has never been education per se, over the past year Governor Hochul attempted to push through charter school expansion efforts in New York City that were rebuffed by a union dominated Democratic legislature. Still, credit has to be given to the Governor for bucking the dominant opinion of the members of her party who remain vehemently opposed to expansion of educational opportunities for low income and minority students in New York.
STATE LEGISLATURE:
The legislature is still not conducive to expanding educational opportunities in the state. The cap hasn’t been lifted and there are still tens of thousands of children on waiting lists. There is little likelihood for any reform measures to be enacted.
Constitutional Issues
"Despite an initially restrictive interpretation of its Blaine Amendment, New York courts have abandoned that approach... New York's highest state court held in Board of Education v. Allen that the Blaine Amendment was never intended to bar government programs providing incidental benefits to parochial schools." (Institute for Justice)
Transparency
School report cards are easily located on New York’s Department of Education homepage under “Data & Reporting → Public Data,” or accessed via the state’s data platform, https://data.nysed.gov/. Report cards initially provide data at-a-glance view of districts and schools, but some data requires the viewer to build a report. On the plus side, there is an option for parents to generate the state’s report card according to the various data they’re looking for (i.e. graduation rate.)
Educational options are easily located on the Department of Education homepage by utilizing the search function.
School Board elections in New York occur separately from the general election cycle, often resulting in reduced parental influence and a diminished ability to make their voices heard due to lower voter turnout.