Are Governor Cuomo and the Gates Foundation Making Education Policy for New York State? Has the Board of Regents Been Replaced? (I Hope Not!)
The seventeen members of the NYS Board of Regents are unpaid and unstaffed, trek to Albany (well, until now) once a month for an intense day and a half meeting. For the last decade I have also trekked to Albany to attend the meetings. I’ve come to know a number of the members, they are incredibly dedicated. The Board selects a chancellor, a leader from among their own ranks and the Board hires a commissioner who manages P-16 education in the state as well as the professions.
The role of the Board is to establish policy. New regulations or changes in regulations must be sent out for pubic comment; the Board frequently selects work groups from among the many stakeholder organizations to participate in policy considerations. The board members are retired educators, superintendents, teachers, lawyers, a nurse, a doctor, a parent advocate, a judge: their e-mail boxes are always overflowing, they meet with group after group in their region; their diversity represents the diversity across our state
The structure of the meeting are long established, a full board, live-streamed, with a current relevant topic, followed by committee meeting: P-12, higher education, the professions, cultural education, etc., with a hundred or so in the audience. Although the members are “elected” for five year terms by a joint meeting of the state legislatures party politics never enters the discussions.
Monday’s meeting was “zoomed” from the homes of the board members. Among CONTINUE READING: Are Governor Cuomo and the Gates Foundation Making Education Policy for New York State? Has the Board of Regents Been Replaced? (I Hope Not!) | Ed In The Apple