The Hall Monitor

The head of the state teachers’ union has an advance copy of the speech our new governor is giving this afternoon on funding for education. (Full disclosure: so do we.)

And he’s pretty pleased.

“You should be looking for an exciting message that speaks about reforms and resources and results,” said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi. “It’s geared toward excellence and equity and we’re going to buy into that.”

We wondered: isn’t he just saying that because this is a democratic administration and he’s the head of the state’s largest union?

“Absolutely not. This is because the governor’s commitment is to put very significant resources into education; and to direct a lot of those resources to needy school districts without denying the aid that the more financially sound districts are already getting.”

Well, putting aside the question of how the heck Gov. Spitzer is going to do that, what does the teachers’ union particularly like?

“There are two very clear things he’s got in here,” Iannuzzi said. “He’s going to be looking at pre-k and smaller class size. Teachers know both of those are extremely important to allowing teachers to be successful.”

OK, but. Some local districts haven’t put in universal pre-kindergarten because it’s expensive – and they’re hard-put to fund kindergarten through grade 12 programs, in this era of accountability, without raising taxes through the roof. Why is pre-k worth that cost?

“I think all the research points out very clearly the advantages a child who has been through pre-k brings to the classroom,” Iannuzzi said. “By providing the opportunity for pre-k for all of New York’s children, including those who can’t afford it, the governor’s providing the equity. It’s the early start. And right now the early start is tied to your ability to pay and that’s wrong.”

OK, but. In recent years some of the most intense infighting in Albany over education dollars has been between people pushing for pre-k and people pushing for smaller classes. How are the folks supporting Spitzer’s budget going to make them make nice?

“What has changed to make us excited is there are enough dollars so that people with good ideas and good programs don’t have to compete for the same dollar,” he said.

And then there’s the problem that research on smaller class size shows iffy results – unless the class size drops below 18.

“This is one of those everything is relative stories,” he said. “Some subject areas, particularly the more difficult to staff, such as science and math, you have the inverse problem of larger classes.

“At the secondary level, when you’re looking at close to 30 students, that’s a teacher load of 160-170 students, and there’s no way a teacher gives the individual attention that’s needed there – especially in the area of math with course content changing almost as we speak. It really requires a content-savvy teacher with a class load that makes it possible to help students be successful. We’re totally supportive of that. We need the resources to make that happen.”

What will NYSUT be doing for the next couple of months in Albany as the budget plays out?

“Our plan will be to work with the legislature, listen our members and leaders around the state – try and address their concerns.

And what about all the competing interests for revenues? The state’s former budget director said this year’s budget wasn’t going to be pretty, as parties interested in funding health and education and environment, etc., duke it out.

“A big concern is how the governor is going to finance this. We’re going to form a coalition labor and make sure it’s a good plan for everyone. it won’t be an easy task,” Iannuzzi said.

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