In case you didn’t read it, yesterday Newsday published an OpEd by King Governor Cuomo.  The piece, titled “Ed fix clouded by the fog of protest” reeks of sheer desperation on Cuomo’s part.  Cuomo’s education agenda, highlighted by the teacher evaluation scheme and the doubling down on high stakes testing, has been shredded in every corner of the state for about six weeks now.  It has incited protests from Western New York to Eastern Long Island and many places in between.  Nowhere, as Jeanette Deutermann pointed out at Saturday’s Students Not Scores forum, have these protests been louder and larger than on Long Island.  So it’s no surprise that Cuomo picked Newsday to try to push back in.

For Cuomo to have to publish an OpEd in Newsday indicates just how desperate he is getting.  He is losing his war on public schools.  This is a desperate attempt to try to somehow turn around what has become a runaway train.

Unfortunately for Cuomo he’s got nothing new to use.  No new talking points.  No evidence to support his positions.  The OpEd is filled with the same tired talking points that have been debunked time and time again.  If he’s got nothing better than that then he’s already lost.  He even indicates in the piece that the SED is only seeking 40% of a teacher’s evaluation to be based on flawed test scores.  The fact that he throws that out there tells you he is already looking to back off of his 50%.  Don’t get me wrong, 40% is horrific and unacceptable.  However the fact that Cuomo is already looking to compromise illustrates the weakened position he is in.

Tell your legislators not to accept any part of Cuomo’s education agenda.  Tell them you will be holding them accountable if they allow our children to continue to be harmed.  Keep up the fight Long Island.  We’re winning.