View: Reconsidering Race to the Top
A former Regent has some regrets but believes the state board did much important work
In 2000, when my friend, former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, asked me to stand for election to the state Board of Regents, I was reluctant, because it meant giving up my position as chairman of the board of Westchester Community College. But when Richard explained the powers of the Regents and the possibility of helping education more broadly, I put my name up and was elected.
Most people know that the Regents preside over the state Education Department and SUNY, major responsibilities. But the board does much more than oversee education in New York. The board licenses and disciplines all of the licensed professions except lawyers. I headed the professions committee for many years, and we became much tougher on Medicare, Medicaid and insurance fraud — a huge problem costing the country billions of dollars.
The Regents also run the State Museum, Library and Archives and supervise libraries, most museums, historical societies and archives throughout the state. Public radio and TV are also under the board, so I was invited to meet the cast of “Downton Abbey,” a nice perk.
I chaired the higher education committee for several years, during which we closed a number of for-profit colleges and schools that were short-changing students. There are many excellent proprietary schools in New York, but not all.
The work most closely covered by the media is P-12 education. Testing, Common Core, charter schools, the performance of students with disabilities, graduation rates and other subjects are of great public interest. I loved talking about these issues when visiting schools, BOCES and colleges.
Bad decisions
During my tenure on the Regents, we made two really bad decisions: one because we failed to listen to our experts and one because we did listen.
When the federal Department of Education dangled before us $700 million in Race to the Top funds if we complied with their requirements, our experts said it would cost View: Reconsidering Race to the Top: