Cuomo calls moratorium on Common Core rollout ‘premature’
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office released a statement Tuesday explaining why the governor believes issuing a moratorium on Common Core is premature.
The statement was issued after several elected leaders, including GOP state Senators Ken LaValle and John Flanagan, called for a moratorium, particularly to delay using a controversial system to store student data.
Last week, the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers board of directors approved a resolution withdrawing its support for the Common Core State Standards “as implemented and interpreted” by the state education department, according to the Washington Post.
The resolution declares “no confidence” in education department commissioner John King’s policies and calls for a three-year moratorium on high-stakes standardized testing. It also calls for Mr. King’s removal, among other measures, the report reads.
Melissa DeRosa, Mr. Cuomo’s spokeswoman, said in a statement that the governor believes the state needs to set standards for students and implement a teacher evaluation system, as well as continuing to support the Common Core agenda, in order to ensure a strong public education system.
But Mr. Cuomo has also recently acknowledged that the state’s rollout of Common Core hasn’t been handled properly.
Two weeks ago during his budget address, the governor proposed creating a new panel of education experts and members of the Legislature to come up with a list of recommendations to correct the Common Core rollout by the end of this session.
In Tuesday’s statement, Ms. DeRosa said that Mr. Cuomo believes that the way Common Core has been managed by the Board of Regents “is flawed, leading to too much uncertainty, confusion and anxiety among students and their parents.”
“The strength of public education in New York is dependent on a rational system that is well administered,” she said. “The governor believes there are two issues: Common Core and teacher evaluations. They must be analyzed separately. It would be premature to consider any moratorium before the panel is allowed to do its work.”
