Andrew Cuomo's Education Philosophy

Governor Cuomo visited Queens, gave a teacher an award, and made an announcement. Here it is, word for word:

“Education always comes down to one factor and that one factor is the teacher,” Cuomo said. “And that’s what makes education work or not work.”

This is very convenient for our esteemed governor. After all, he's failed to fund schools adequately since he's gotten the job, owes millions upon millions to our schools due to his failure to fund as the CFE lawsuit mandated, and now that the only factor is the teacher, he's completely off the hook.

It's kind of amazing that, even as he's ostensibly praising a teacher, he manages to vilify us. The fact that over half of our students live in poverty is neither here nor there. Andrew Cuomo can't bother himself with that. Governor Cuomo is more concerned with saving millionaires from the inconvenience of paying taxes, even when millionaires write and ask him not to. Evidently the folks who contribute to his campaign coffers are not of that persuasion.

It is pretty incredible Andrew Cuomo made it this far as a Democrat. Of course, he's one of those "New" Democrats. In fact, he ran first term on a platform vowing to go after unions. As a lifelong Democrat, I couldn't believe that this was who was representing us. I mean, if Democrats are going to do that, who needs Republicans?

Cuomo has been quiet about teachers for a few months. After all, he's already managed to take the worst evaluation system I've ever seen, at the lowest point of his popularity, and make it even worse. I shudder to think of what ridiculous "authentic" assessments our union will negotiate. I fear it will make us spend time doing pointless busy work so as to fill portfolios with crap to meet some arbitrary standard or other. I fear it will take time away from the important work of teaching children. I hope I'm wrong, but I've seen no evidence anywhere to suggest Mulgrew's ideas have merit, just as there was none that the "growth model" worked, and there was none that VAM worked.

But every now and then Bill Gates pulls yet another golden egg from his fruitful hind quarters, and the entire country must follow. After all, he's an education expert, like Whoopie Goldberg, Campbell Brown, Pitbull, and whoever that famous guy is who started another charter school in Harlem. Bill's got money to burn and once he makes a mistake, everyone else has to make the same one. It's certainly paid off for Andy Cuomo, Eva Moskowitz's favorite pawn now that she hasn't got Joel Klein to kick around anymore

I cannot find words to adequately express the depths of Andrew Cuomo's ignorance. When I get little girls falling asleep at 9 AM because they've been up all night delivering Newsday with their grandmothers I want to take pictures and send them to Cuomo's house, you know, the one in which he won't permit local inspectors because as governor,  why the hell should he have to pay taxes? Why, to support public schools in which money plays no role, since the sole factor in education is the teacher?

I guess I'm a miserable failure. My students, having been here only weeks or months, don't tend to speak a whole lot of English. That's my fault for not running over to China and El Salvador and Korea and Afghanistan to teach them. I was preoccupied with going to my job in Queens to support my family and failed to pay attention to those obligations.

That's about the level of logic utilized by our esteemed governor. You know, we're New Yorkers. We have reps as being nobody's fool.

How the hell did we elect this guy?

Rating Schools

I was at a meeting yesterday where school ratings were discussed. We've all seen a variety of ratings used, and most of them are terrible. Those of us in the city all remember the report cards, largely based on test scores. Of course these ratings are ridiculous. For one thing, the only thing test scores are absolutely correlated to is income. For another, the tests are ridiculous, constantly manipulated by geniuses in Albany to show whatever it is they want to prove this year.

Now there are Quality Reviews in effect. These are people who walk around demanding absolutely the same thing of absolutely every school. A biggie this year is the inquiry team. If your school has low test scores, the only thing that will make them better is an inquiry team. If your school has high test scores, you need an inquiry team so that you can find out how they can be higher. Also, you'd better have rubrics on your bulletin boards, because the only way students can learn from a bulletin board is if there is a rubric attached.

So now, thanks to the quality review, a lot of city teachers are spending various periods of time in inquiry teams and writing rubrics to hang on bulletin boards. Doubtless this will save the world. Meanwhile, things that actually improve education are ignored utterly.

How about class size? NYC continues with the highest class sizes in the state. The only reason they aren't higher is the UFT Contract, and leadership hasn't moved to lower it in five decades. Of course leadership would tell you this is so they can get those fabulous raises we enjoy. I personally can't remember getting a fabulous raise lately, and am sitting around waiting for money I earned in 2010, money I won't get until 2020. And then there's the CFE lawsuit, blatantly ignored by both city and state.

Of course it isn't solely union leadership at fault here. Our esteemed governor, who leadership seems to like because he hasn't tried to kill us this year, can't be bothered. Mayor de Blasio can't worry about it either. At a school level, principals are scrambling to keep up with nonsense like quality reviews and observing every teacher in the building four times. Principals have to pay teachers out of their own budgets. Where are they gonna get the money to reduce class sizes? It's not like they can have billionaire-studded galas like Eva Moskowitz does.

But as a teacher and parent I value reasonable class size. I'd happily rate schools on it and give principals an incentive to enable it. Then there's PE. My school, like most city high schools, offers it only every other day. I hear some don't bother with laws and offer it once a week, if at all. PE should be every day, and ought to give kids a chance to blow off steam. We ought to let our children know that their physical health is something we care about. We ought to give schools that offer 5 day a week physical education credit for doing so.

Are there music and art programs? Are they five days a week, or are they treated as virtual lepers, every other day like PE? Are we seriously expecting PE and music teachers to effectively work with up to 250 students at a time? Are we expecting them to be able to assess them reasonably? Are we going to delude ourselves into thinking that teachers can offer individual assistance under such circumstances?

How about rating schools on individuality? Do the schools have special programs that really help kids or enhance their lives? Do they think outside of the box? Or do they just follow whatever rule book is in vogue this year and spend all their energy chasing their proverbial tails?

If we're gonna rate schools at all, we might as well encourage them to service our children rather than Bill Gates. What do you think we need to know to evaluate our schools? 

Why the Budget Agreement Doesn't Suck

Hi folks, it's me, your old pal "Punchy" Mike Mulgrew! Don't try and take my Common Core from me! I'll punch out your stinking face and push it in the dirt! But seriously, folks, let's talk turkey. First of all, don't believe anything you read on those blogs. I'll be nice, which is hard for me because I'm an ex-carpenter, a regular blue collar guy who can't help but walk around spouting obscenities for no reason. So I'll just say they're purveyors of myth, rather than call them a bunch of despicable liars.

Anyhoo, the new agreement does not suck. Cuomo wanted probation to take five years, and now it only takes four. And all due process rights remain in place, as long as you don't get rated ineffective twice in a row and need more than 90 days to prove your case, as long as you don't get rated ineffective three years in a row and need more than 30 days to prove your case, and as long as you aren't an ATR who needs more than one day. Sure tenure used to take three years, but you gotta admit four years sucks a full year less than five years. Score another victory for us!

Governor Cuomo demanded more charter schools, and whoopee! He didn't get them as part of the budget agreement! How much does that not suck? Instead, he'll negotiate it later! It would suck if they had done it now. Now, we will talk about it later and no one can say just how much it does or does not suck until then. So, in review, doesn't suck now. Another victory! Plus we've always supported charters, and we've even opened and co-located one, and the part of it that didn't suck is still open. Another feather in our cap.

As for placing schools into receivership, the Governor won't do that. Instead, local chancellors will choose receivers. How bad could it be if the city took over closing schools, or had someone take them over? That's much better than Cuomo doing it, and it sucks way less. Of course it's never happened and we have no idea what it will be like when it does, but it is our considered opinion that it will suck less. After all, what's a few thousand ATRs between friends, and who even knows if that will happen? Clearly the amount of suck cannot be quantified here, so, no suck, no foul.

As for merit pay, Cuomo wanted 20K in merit pay. But that won't happen. In NYC, we have master and model teachers, and the rat squad which goes out and determines whether the burden of proof to fire you is on the DOE or you, but that's not merit pay, just like our last failed schoolwide program wasn't merit pay either. And since merit pay sucks, that isn't merit pay, and Cuomo didn't give us merit pay, this also doesn't suck.

As for funding, Cuomo wanted to give 1.1 billion in increases if we sucked up his sucky programs, which would suck. We went out and demanded that Cuomo pay us the 5.6 billion he owed us from the CFE lawsuit, and even paid valuable lip service to the notion of taking him to court over it. But we got 1.6 billion in aid, which sucks a lot less than 1.1 billion and a bunch of sucky programs. Sure the bloggers will ask why we didn't go for the 5.6 billion, but screw them because they're a bunch of lying bastards and we will never, ever allow them to influence us in our mission to accomplish things that don't suck as much as they could otherwise.

As for evaluation, we have of late been suggesting that the 1-100 measure, the one we had Leo Casey defend passionately on Edwize, sucks, and that we're looking for something new. Of course we don't want 50% of your rating to be based on test scores, because that would suck. Instead we will have multiple measures, which we already have, which suck way less than the 50% Governor Cuomo wants. What will they be? Who knows? And sure you might get observed by strangers from the state, but who can judge your skills better than someone who doesn't know you from a hole in the wall? That doesn't suck, does it?

Like Governor Cuomo, we loved the current law when it came out, but when people started to suggest that it sucked, we listened, and dumped NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi, contending that he sucked for passing the law in the first place. And believe you me, if there are any further problems, we will step up and declare Karen Magee sucks and dump her too. We are not afraid to dispense blame for things that suck. Just bear in mind that nothing is ever our fault, and that every change is a victory in that it could have sucked even more without our valuable input.

So thank you for everything you've done. In retrospect, it sucked that we scheduled the rally for March 28th coinciding with the budget agreement. Perhaps it would have been smarter to do it a week earlier when we might have gotten massive press coverage and actually influenced someone. Believe me, I will blame someone for that, maybe the bloggers, maybe Karen Magee, but someone will pay. And maybe we should have actually endorsed someone against Cuomo when he was running for governor, rather than sitting on our hands and letting Zephyr Teachout lose twice. However, we have already decided to blame NYSUT for not making that decision, so again, it's not our fault and it doesn't suck. And those bastard bloggers won't mention this, but under my leadership we haven't had a catastrophic natural disaster in over two years.

So, in conclusion, things suck much less than they could suck, we've reduced suckiness to a bare minimum, anything that does suck is not our fault, a thousand points of light, and God bless the United Federation of Teachers.

Andrew Cuomo—Deadbeat Dad in Chief

There’s an odd drama being played out in New York State this year. Andrew Cuomo, who awards himself the mantle of student lobbyist, has quite publicly refused to support our children. And we’re not talking chicken feed here. Under the CFE lawsuit, Andy Cuomo owes our kids 5.5 billion dollars. In fact, he owes the city alone 2.5 billion. Of course, there was a crisis, and he couldn’t pay for a while, but now that it’s over, where’s the money?

Not only won’t Cuomo pay what he owes, but he’s set preconditions for giving kids even a sliver. In fact, he wants to take power away from the communities he owes and award it to himself. I shudder to imagine what Judge Judy would say to someone who failed to pay child support for years and demanded not only primary custody, but also the right to dictate parenting techniques.

Instead of paying his debts, Andrew Cuomo demands more state testing to rate teachers. This is odd, because studies show that school grades, not standardized test grades, are a better predictor of student success. That doesn’t work for Cuomo, because he can’t control school grades. When the state sets cut scores, it can make it look like 90% of our kids are geniuses or 70% are failing. The governor can either say he’s doing a fabulous job and take credit, or that we’re in crisis and assign blame. Its a win-win as far as he’s concerned.

Cuomo also wants to take control of negotiating contracts away from local school boards and offer some kind of merit pay system, basing teacher pay on the very test scores he will be manipulating. Merit pay has been kicking around for a hundred years and has never worked anywhere. It’s even more absurd when we base it on test scores based on the druthers of Andrew M. Cuomo. Personally, I’d argue that any teacher holding back the good stuff waiting on merit pay merits immediate dismissal, with prejudice.

The governor further demands that communities relinquish almost all local decision making regarding teacher ratings. Under his proposal, 50% of a teacher’s rating will be based on classroom observation. But the people communities choose to run their schools will only get input on 15 out of those 50 points. Thus, Deadbeat Andy will have control over 85% of teacher ratings, while communities are left with largely irrelevant scraps.

Perhaps worst of all, Cuomo wants to place troubled schools into receivership, taking control over schools he determines to be failing. Would they be doing better if the governor paid them the millions he owes them? Could that money be used to address the special needs of these children? Governor Cuomo doesn’t care. He knows better.  Yet those of us who’ve watched NY state work its magic in Roosevelt have abundant reason for skepticism.

Cuomo attacks our Long Island schools, largely regarded as excellent, because it’s the epicenter of the opt-out movement, loudly questioning his beloved tests. But the fact is all schools could do better if Governor Cuomo lived up to his obligations. Suburban communities face the triple whammy of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, Cuomo’s punitive tax cap, and his stubborn unwillingness to fork over what he owes us.

It’s time for this deadbeat to pay up or shut up. If Governor Cuomo can’t be bothered following court orders to support our kids, he’s no student lobbyist. In this country, in 2015, deadbeat dads don’t get to make the rules. 

State of the State Education Funding.

Hi, I'm student lobbyist Governor Andrew Cuomo. Now I've been getting a little bit of a bad rap in the press lately because I took 240 million dollars away from New York City schoolchildren. But I did it for a good cause. The city and the UFT couldn't agree on an evaluation system, and someone must pay. As student lobbyist, it's my job to defend the children. That's why I'm making them pay.

I mean, honestly, they're city kids. They can't afford private schools and they won't notice if there a a few teachers missing. I mean, New York City already has 34 kids in a class, so if it goes up to 36 or 37, what's the dif?

And honestly, if the city pays a few less teachers, there will be more money for tax cuts for my buds. These are the kind of folks who will really notice if they have less money. Do you know how much it costs to maintain a yacht these days? Be thankful you don't have to fret over such things. That's why I took a principled stand against the millionaire tax, and a whole bunch of cash from the folks whose taxes I cut.

Now let's be frank. Sure I took the money from those kids, and sure I will fight like hell to keep from giving it back. And sure there are people who think I still owe 5 billion in CFE funds to NYC. But they won't miss what they've never had, so why can't we just leave well enough alone? And honestly, the 240 mil is just for this year. Next year I'll give whatever I give next year, OK?

So let's face it, it's always better to give breaks to people who really appreciate and love money, and that's what I'm gonna do. It's OK. I'm a Democrat, and Democrats can do stuff like that.

So please, New York, just forget about that money, OK? Do you really wanna pry it from my cold dead hands? Even if you do, do you think you can figure where I buried it before I tip off my well-to-do BFFs? Would you go out in the middle of the night with a shovel to find it?

Because believe me, I know people who will. So listen, New York, please just go about your business and stop bugging me. I've got a sensitive stomach, I regularly eat that stuff you see Sandra Lee making on TV, and I could really use a break, OK? So will you just get out of my face already?

Thank you New York.

Thank You Sir. May I Have Another?

Over and over, we lie down with dogs, and marvel at the ensuing fleas. We invite Bill Gates to investigate what makes teachers "effective." He comes in and tests cameras in classrooms, because everyone knows those foul teachers cannot be trusted unless you monitor them every second. We invite him to speak at our convention, and the following week he attacks the wastefulness of those bloated teacher pensions, wondering aloud why we can't eat cat food like other elderly folk who aren't Bill Gates.

We endorse mayoral control, because who knows how bad it can be, and besides this Bloomberg fellow goes to baseball games with Randi Weingarten. He must be OK. Then after it turns out to be an unmitigated disaster, we make a list of improvements we'd like before we'll accept its renewal. When we don't get them, we support its renewal anyway.

We allow them to get rid of seniority transfers, and give power to principals to have absolute veto over incoming teachers. We design an open market that allows anyone to transfer anywhere, as long as principals think it's OK. Who woulda thunk that principals preferred malleable new teachers at half salary to grizzled old opinionated veterans? After all, just because those are the only people that get hired in the suburbs, why should it apply to us? And when thousands of teachers end up rotting in the Absent Teacher Reserve, demoralized and demonized, we are shocked, and state because more teachers transferred in the new program than the old, it is an unmitigated success.


We make a deal to reduce class size. The deal is so full of holes a tank could drive through it, but we declare victory anyway. When class sizes go up anyway, despite our deal and almost a billion dollars in CFE funds, we wonder how it could've happened.

Finally, we make a deal to allow value-added be part of teacher evaluations. Sure, it has no validity, but everybody's doing it, so where's the problem? We cleverly allow it to be only 20% of our evaluation, while other states are making it 50, and declare victory yet again. When the state passes a law allowing it to be double, we say, gee, how the heck did that happen? And Governor Cuomo, our good bud, is gonna do a Race to the Top and withhold money if we choose to exercise our option to negotiate, and turn down whatever abysmal offer Tweed comes up with.

Gee, how could this be happening? I thought we'd had it all taken care of.

Whatever I Want

That's what NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein says he wants to do with the funds from the 13-year-long CFE lawsuit. Why should he have to reduce class sizes if he doesn't want to? Why should underperforming schools get more funds when the Chancellor can simply close them and open new ones? Who cares if kids have to get on a train or bus at 4 AM because their neighborhood school is now the Academy of the Dark Arts?

And Mr. Klein now blames the city budget cuts on the state. Accountability, the Bloomberg-Klein mantra, never applies to them. After all, despite mandates, they've utterly failed to reduce class sizes in NYC. Who can even take seriously the preposterous claims of class reduction by .2 students per class, or whatever it is they're claiming? Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a message for Mayor Mike, and calls his finger-pointing a smokescreen. And that's indeed what you can expect from Mayor Mike and his entire gang of "accountable" number-crunchers.

When Joel Klein doesn't like a contract he himself wrote and agreed to, he demands it be broken. When Joel Klein gets money earmarked to improve education, he demands it be used for whatever he feels like. When the state cuts money, Joel Klein cries foul, but when the city cuts it, Mr. Klein takes no responsibility whatsoever, since Mayor Bloomberg must be spending it on more important things. Some role model.

It's ostensibly the job of a schools chancellor to stand up for kids. It's regrettable that in this era of mayoral control, New York's 1.1 million schoolchildren have, instead, a rubber stamp.

Another Place, Another Time

Well, another place anyway. In Massachusetts, a high school is being placed on probation because of its propensity to allow too many oversized classes. If the school doesn't fix the situation, it could lose its accreditation.

This is because a pattern has been detected, demonstrating that the district has repeatedly permitted classes of more than 30 students.

Here, class size has been contractually set at 34, and a great deal of classes have 34, if not more (loopholes being what they are). I followed the CFE case for years, hoping and believing this situation would change substantively. However, the final ruling left little or no oversight over Mayor Bloomberg and Tweed, and the mayor, who often talks about accountability, was openly delighted there was none for him.

The last deal, much-ballyhooed by the UFT patronage mill, had more holes in it than most Swiss cheese. I sarcastically (but correctly) predicted this would result in class-size reductions of fewer than one student per class.

It was obvious from the wording of the agreement. But our leadership is either so blatantly incompetent it doesn't understand basic English (I'm no lawyer, but this was not written in legal jargon), or it has no qualms about making unsatisfactory agreements and pretending they're otherwise.

Either way, it does not bode well for New York City students or teachers.

Where Are They Now?

For months I've been making sarcastic references to the travesty of class size reduction which appears to be all that remains of the CFE lawsuit. I'm very sad to report that my comments were far closer to the truth than anyone could have suspected. The NY Times reports:

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced yesterday how the city school system plans to spend $228 million in new education financing from the state, including allocating nearly half the money to reduce class sizes.

That money, $106 million, will allow the city to add 1,300 teachers to cut class sizes, and officials say they will concentrate on the most crowded classrooms with students most at risk of failure.

That sounds good, doesn't it? After all, a hundred million bucks is a lot of money, perhaps almost as much as they spend redoing Tweed so it could house a charter school run by a picky billionaire. So what effect will that money have?

...if the new money were distributed equally it would result in an average reduction of only 0.3 students per class in kindergarten through third grade; a reduction of 0.8 students in fourth through eighth grades; and a reduction of 0.6 students per class in high school.

This clearly means, for the overwhelming majority of kids, it will have no effect whatsoever. Furthermore, it appears you'll have to be extremely needy for this money to reach your classroom. The fact is, many schools are so overcrowded they couldn't reduce class sizes if they wanted to--there's simply no place else to put kids.

With schools hovering over 250% capacity, it's a disgrace that this mayor gets away with labeling what now amounts to a drop in the bucket as a major improvement. It's even worse that the UFT has chosen to function as his echo chamber, heralding nebulously worded regulations as brilliant achievements. Despite Ms. Weingarten's current criticism, the UFT loudly hailed the regulations that provided little or no oversight over a mayor who's basically passed the buck on this issue since day one.

I knew better, and she should have too.

It's predictable that optimal results do not occur in overcrowded, decrepit buildings with the largest class sizes in the state. What surprises me is the dearth of parents storming city hall with torches and pitchforks.

CFE Lawsuit Cut

NYC will receive less than half of the aid promised by the 13-year-old CFE lawsuit. This is thanks to the legal maneuverings of Governor George Pataki, whom the UFT endorsed, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whom it declined to oppose. Fortunately, as UFT President Randi Weingarten has settled a sub-cost-of-living contract, none of those funds will be frittered away on teacher salaries.

Now Mayor Bloomberg will have more money with which to pretend he's reducing class size.

I have fond hopes that our 250%-capacity school will not rise beyond 300% under his stewardship.

On the brighter side, Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer promises to fund schools beyond minimum requirements. We'll see.

Bloomberg made it clear, however, that he will fight any calls from Spitzer to demand the city pony up more.

It's refreshing to see Mayor Bloomberg reiterating his principled stand to fund schools as long as the money doesn't come out of his budget.

Update: Leonie at Class Size Matters comments:

Perhaps the most infuriating response to yesterday’s court decision on CFE was from the Mayor, who didn’t seem much to care that the courts had just shafted our kids out of at least $2.7 billion a year, as long as the judges did not require any more accountability:

"The courts ruled as we had asked that there be no further oversight. If you remember, the state and the plaintiffs had wanted another level of oversight. I think we're doing a spectacular job with the school system right now, and the last thing we need is more bureaucracy," he said. http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=64475

Bloomberg Eyes CFE Money

Bloomie has his minions talking up the CFE lawsuit again. Reducing class size, a goal of this lawsuit. is very important to this mayor. That's why he reneges on planned seats, closes schools, and devotes buildings to condos rather than schools. Still, Mayor Mike really needs the money (as long as he doesn't have to contribute).

Getting the funds is particularly vital now that a deal with UFT President Randi Weingarten ( a great collaborator with Mayor Mike, whose re-election chances are bolstered by the pact) ensures none of it need be devoted to good teachers, another goal of the lawsuit. Since reducing class size and paying teachers is pretty much a fond memory, there are tons of things these funds could be used for.

For example, they just broke ground on the Mets new stadium, and who knows how many luxury boxes those billions could build?

It's a win-win.

Mayor Mike Stands Up

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reiterated his principled stand against paying anything whatsoever toward the CFE lawsuit, which promises good teachers, small classes, and decent facilities for NYC's 1.1 billion schoolchildren.

Mayor Mike says he's paid enough already, and that mayoral control is a success. He's content with oversized classes, crumbling buildings, and the spectacle of a thousand teachers wandering the school system at full pay. If he's able to shift the blame for his inability to fix anything whatsoever to these teachers, his legacy will be secure.

Eliot Spitzer, who, barring an electoral miracle, will be the next governor of New York State, has the odd notion that New York City ought to pay a portion of what it costs to educate its children. Strangely enough, the NY State Supreme Court seems to concur.

Where, oh where is Mayor Mike gonna find the funds so sorely needed for charter schools and stadiums for needy billionaires? And if he's forced to support the bootless and unhorsed, where will the private school kids play?

Stay tuned.

Spitzer Spits on Mayor Moneybags

Looks like Eliot Spitzer is prepared to compel Mayor Mike to pay for the quality teachers, lower class sizes, and decent facilities he's claimed to want for NYC's 1.1 million schoolchildren.

It appears if Mayor Mike wants to retain control of the school system, paying a portion of the CFE suit will be required. And if not, he might have to pay anyway:

"The only thing I will add to it," he said, "is that ... the city is technically a subservient political entity to the state, and the state could just mandate that the city's contribution be X."

Speculation is the city will have to pay somewhere between 25% (CFE's recommendation) and 40% (Governor Pataki's suggestion) of the cost of the CFE suit. You may recall one of Bloomie's mouthpieces telling the NY Times the city would say, "No thank you," if compelled to pay dime one.

Mayor Giuliani had a standing practice of reducing city aid by precisely whatever the state raised it, a practice Mayor Bloomberg had to renounce in order to win control.

Thanks to reality-based educator