New York ranks 19th in the country in education (according to US News) for pre-K through 12th grade and 14th in higher education. The State of New York is in the spotlight of America and the world and needs to push to lead the way educationally as well.

In order to start to fix this issue, legislation needs to be introduced that will require standardized education requirements across the entire State. The idea of Common Core is a great theory but somehow this system became a system of theory and feeling; answers and the process to get those answers have become a maze of insanity. Common Core needs to be redrawn so that it requires the same levels of learning everywhere in the State and eventually the entire United States. Along with common education requirements with common graduation requirements.

Better funding needs to be given to public school systems starting at the elementary school level; this is where childrens' minds are best suited to absorb information and when it can be determined what teaching method works for each individual child. While the standards need to be the same across the board, the way we get these young minds to learn is different yet we beat the same systems into every child forcing them to either learn, memorize or fail. All departments of schooling; core classes, the arts, physical education and diet, technology classes all need to be revamped and taught based on proven fact and history regardless of how harsh that history may be; History needs to be taught as it happened, not by erasing what has happened. Bad things have happened in our past and we need to learn about it, not cover it up. By not teaching history, we are allowing ourselves to repeat it in the future. Private schools may accept federal funding, but in doing so they are signing an agreement to adhere to the new federal regulations and guidelines.

There needs to be strict guidelines for teaching classes. Politics and religion have no place in the classroom unless they pertain to the lesson. Teachers are shaping our children’s minds; allowing politics and religion to dictate how subjects are taught does not allow the children to have their own mindset. This does not mean that the basic principles of religion should not be taught as religion has a place in history. Similarly, politics should be taught under the broad stroke of what it is and how our, and other governments function but policy itself should not be included in the curriculum.

Teachers need to be better paid. These men and women see our children for the better part of the day, and sometimes see them more often than we do. They deserve to be paid for the time they put into their job. They are shaping our nation’s future. Teachers need to be certified in the subject they teach. A teacher should not be allowed to get a degree in history and teach math.
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A push for vocational skills to be taught just as much as college education is pushed for. Allow students to go to FAFSA to get a loan for a vocational skill, just as students are allowed to go to FAFSA to get a loan for their college degree. Nationally there is a Job Corps program that addresses this and offers vocational learning, training, and certification for those not enrolled in traditional education programs. I believe that the State of New York needs to implement a similar program, State-wide utilizing defunct and closed facility (prisons, malls, ect.) and build a State-wide system within the SUNY (State University of New York) that would run these programs to offer vocational and specialized training and education for those not interested in, or ready for the traditional higher education system we currently know.

 

In speaking with numerous educational leaders across the region, I have been informed that the news has put certain topics as the highlights of education such as CRT (Critical Race Theory) as well as Gender, Sexuality and Identity ideas. According to the educational leaders I spoke with, these are minimal issues and cause very little issue in the school systems in our district and area of the state. The biggest concern that was brought to my attention repeatedly was the State pushing how the education system will, and should function while having little to no experience in the educational field. Additionally, funding is limited and given out based on test scores which inevitably creates a vacuum where those schools that are succeeding will continue to grow and those that are hurting spiral out of control.

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Finally, if a private school accepts any state funding, they then need to be held to the same state education guidelines as public schools are. Private schools are attended at a cost to the attendee (or their families) and already generate additional income that is not available to public schools so if their are going to take money that could otherwise be directed to publicly funded schools, they should be required to adhere to the same educational guidelines.

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Athletics have become a focal point of our education system and massive percentages of school budgets are directed towards those programs. I would create legislation that would require schools to match any extra-curricular (athletic) funding to be matched equally into the actual education system of that school. For example, if a school puts 1 million dollars into an athletic facility, then 1 million dollar on top of what is already directed to the education budget, needs to be budgeted towards educational funding. 

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Below is my draft outline for how to tie the New York State Education System into one program under the New York State Board of Education: