New York State Budget Negotiations Continue

Following yesterday’s comments by New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) President Karen Magee, Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci (R,C,I-South Huntington) said he would be in favor of creating a panel that would examine the governor’s proposed teacher evaluation changes. Lupinacci, along with NYSUT, recommends that the proposed commission should be made up of school superintendents, teachers, and school board members.

“My Assembly Minority colleagues and I believe that real community stakeholders like parents and teachers should be involved in the discussion when we are evaluating proposals made by the governor,” said Lupinacci, who is a former South Huntington School Board member. “We should start by creating a bipartisan commission made up of the stakeholders of our state’s education system and those who can analyze and even scrutinize the potential changes the governor is proposing.”

Other measures also have been taken by the Assembly Minority to try to ease the burden of the recently-implemented Common Core curriculum by proposing the Achieving Pupil Preparedness and Launching Excellence (APPLE) Plan. This package would reduce the over-reliance on student testing and provide funding for professional development. The plan also would fully fund our schools by ending the Gap Elimination Adjustment.

“As an educator, I understand that the classroom is such a key element to our society. Improving the standards of our education system needs to be a top priority, and by creating this panel and passing the APPLE Plan, I feel like we would be taking serious strides in the right direction,” concluded Lupinacci.