Governor Cuomo and Public Education: Wall Street, Conservatism, Milton Friedman, and the ‘Third Way’ of Governance

Thomas J. Fiala Clinton; Third Way of Governance, corporate education reform, Cuomo, Wall Street , , ,

By Thomas J. Fiala

I think America, and in particular New Yorkers, need a more exact definition of New York Governor Cuomo when it comes to public schools and education reform. I think that in spite of his supposed political mantle seen by many as a champion of liberal thought and action, when it comes to America’s democratic institution of locally controlled public schools, he is certainly a neoliberal conservative loyalist.   Clearly, Governor Cuomo loves the conservative neoliberal ideas of Milton Friedman when it comes to dismantling America’s democratic institution of public education.   What might even be scarier for those who support locally controlled democratic public schools, is that Cuomo is continuing the tradition of “third way governance” by Democrats begun by the Bill Clinton Administration. As Diane Ravitch stated in a speech in 2014 , “I am absolutely furious that the Democratic Party has merged with the Republican Party around a bipartisan agenda that is actually a Republican agenda.”

Four years earlier in her book The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education, Ravitch had explained how “Bill Clinton and the New Democrats championed a ‘third way’ between orthodox politics of the left and the right.” So what is this ‘third way’ of governance, and how does Governor Cuomo, a political clone of this Clintonesque approach to running society and who seems intent on proceeding along the neoliberal path of education reform, go about making his pact with Milton Friedman and the billionaires of corporate Wall Street when it comes to privatizing America’s democratic institution of public education at the expense of Main Street?

If you want to begin to get a simple handle on his notion of the ‘third way’ check out the writing of William Black. As Black explains “Third Way is not a liberal think tank. It’s not even a ‘think tank.’ Third Way (at least in America) is a creature of Wall Street.” The goal is to privatize what is now public. Often third way devotees choose to take a liberal position on certain issues such as gun control or gay rights, but when it comes to Wall Street, privatization and making cash, in the case of education reform the ‘third way’ devotees are able to put a price on the head of every child while claiming that their approach to school reform also demonstrates how making cash can also help those students who just do not measure up academically. Cuomo is, indeed, a Clintonesque ‘third way’ type of guy!

Now understand he is also a devotee of the conservative libertarian economist Milton Friedman when it comes to education reform. He may not say it outright, but when one looks carefully at his views and comments about public schools and education reform, it’s almost impossible to conclude otherwise. What we find is that the NY Governor, when it comes to school reform is a Friedmanomics Neoliberal!

Neoliberalism is something for which everyone should become familiar. It’s complex when you start looking into it, so if you’re just beginning this educational journey, think about it as an intellectual imperative all Americans should understand – a least a little bit! There are many many, sources that discuss neoliberalism and in particular the education ideas of Milton Friedman, although my bias comes out when I suggest reading “The Origins of the Common Core: How the Free market Became Public Education Policy,” and particularly Chapter Three, “Friedmanomics, School Vouchers, and Choice.   Nevertheless, when it comes to public schools, conservative neoliberals (like Milton Friedman and Governor Cuomo) believe that the institution of American public schools is a government monopoly and a reflection of a socialist state. Therefore, it needs to be destroyed through privatization – or at the very least, challenged by creating a perverse competitive environment in which the supposed free market creates a raft of often unregulated alternative approaches to educating America’s children, regardless of whether the efficacy of these approaches have actually been substantiated. So what neoliberal thought rests upon as Milton Friedman made clear, always understanding that neoliberal is actually conservative in nature, is that you take advantage of a crisis, and then make radical changes to address it.  In the case of education and public schools, a neoliberal like Milton Friedman, and his followers like Governor Cuomo, base their actions on the “manufactured” crisis that the entire public school system in America is failing. This all started with the infamous report A Nation at Risk in 1983. Now if you want to get a handle on why this report is really an obfuscation of the truth, and in particular if you actually believe what has been promulgated about public schools since 1983, then you have to read stuff! Blogs are OK, but real analysis is better. This takes some work and intellectual dexterity – but overwhelmingly most Americans can do this if they put their minds to it!  Again there are some good books out there that begin to destroy this myth, for example Berliner and Biddle wrote a book in about 1995 called the “Manufactured Crisis,” and again my bias leads to me suggest reading “The Origins of the Common Core: How the Free Market Became Public Education Policy.” There are other books out there that address this topic to one degree or another, but as they say – Knowledge is Power. However, gaining knowledge does take a little effort.

Now let me be clear. I do not believe this neoliberal take on public schools – so I do not agree with people like Milton Friedman, who passed away a few years ago, and Governor Cuomo who carries on the education ideas of Friedman. I believe that America’s locally controlled public schools are a manifestation of democracy in the best sense of the American experience through which efforts are made to help all Americans get a good education. These schools, as we all know, take on the challenge of overcoming many of the hurdles that have stood, and continue to stand, in the way of a child getting a good education. Yes – we are talking about those factors like social class, race, lack of jobs, crime in neighborhoods, drugs – well – I’m sure everyone reading this can add to the list! Now let’s get down to the “nitty gritty” of Cuomo’s assault on the institution of locally controlled public schools!

The fact that Governor Cuomo claims that his $150 million or so tax credit now being proposed is somehow a reflection of what is in the best interests of the profound notion of the American public is a cunning political ploy. That’s what I believe and I am not alone in thinking this.

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Gov-Andrew-Cuomo-seeks-150-million-education-6259573.php

  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/opinion/a-costly-tax-break-for-nonpublic-schools.html `

It seems that when the educationally conservative, neoliberal, Wall Street devotee Governor Cuomo makes claims such this, for many, it is like putting “lipstick on a pig.” It is a shameless attempt to hoodwink America – and in particular New Yorkers – into believing that the Governor is the great Democratic egalitarian – fighting for the rights of Main Street over Wall Street. Unfortunately, when a person takes this approach to education, once again we see, in the case of preserving the democratic institution of locally controlled public schools, it is hard to serve two masters – making money and helping public schools. This is getting to sound a bit Biblical, but that is not my intent. Somehow the Governor believes that New Yorkers – and the rest of America – are going to believe that his “choice approach” to education reform would make him Mr. Egalitarian when it comes to education. I, for one, do not believe that the majority of New Yorkers – let alone Americans in general – are going to buy his education snake oil. By now everyone should know that the Conservative Cuomo – a person I believe is a neoliberal conservative when it comes to following the money and education reform – sees public schools as a monopoly that needs to be “busted.”

He said this even before he was re-elected last November – and God knows why so many teachers, teacher union leaders, and supporters of public schools are now shocked by his current actions! Take a look at this video.   What is really indicative of his loyalty to Milton Friedman’s ideas about education is his view that locally controlled public schools are a monopoly. If he is NOT an anti-public schools ‘third wayer’ who does NOT see locally controlled public schools as a pillar of our republic – and if he is NOT a devotee of Milton Friedman neoliberalism – then I must be a guy smoking my Crayola’s! Trust me – I am militantly against smoking Crayolas no matter what the color! That’s what I am seeing in this video anyway! Most shocking is that I also see an important defender of America’s public schools passively sitting as Cuomo assails this long honored American institution! As a former public school teacher and a former member of the AFT governing board within the school district in which I taught, this kind of inaction both saddens me and infuriates me. Do some teacher union leaders actually believe that America’s democratic institution of locally controlled public schools is nothing more than monopolistic entities that need to be destroyed?   Do locally controlled public schools need competition to meet the challenges these schools face on a daily basis? Challenges such as those associated with social class, money, and the historical reality of racism in America, poverty, and lack of jobs in many communities where historically marginalized individuals and groups often reside, communities in which good families and their children must face the daily challenge of crime and drugs that impede their daily lives?   Do these public schools need competition from charter schools that can easily send those students and their families back to the public school when they cannot measure up – or do not live up to the contracts they sign before being allowed into the charter school? Do these public schools need competition from private schools who will be able to take public tax money away from public schools and use the funds to finance their curricular and social views – without public scrutiny?    I support the right of private schools to exist and flourish! Does it make sense, however, to send one’s education tax money to a private school – whether non-sectarian, Catholic, Baptist, Muslim, Buddhist, or whatever other kind may pop up as a result of “free market entrepreneurship,” without some kind of public control over what is taught in these type schools? Everyone needs to think about this, including the private schools who might think about taking public money for their private school. Do New Yorkers really want to support school vouchers in their state even if it is disguised as a tax credit for billionaire donors? This is what Governor Cuomo wants!

One thing is sure. Governor Cuomo, when it comes to education, is a neoliberal conservative that sees locally controlled public schools as a monopoly that needs to be “busted.” He takes a Clintonesque ‘third way’ governance approach to running education in the State of New York. He favors Wall Street over Main Street under the guise that big money folks must be allowed to engage in making even more money as they supposedly go about helping New York’s children.   Now if only the media can get Governor Cuomo to acknowledge all of this, and in the process do their job in helping inform the democratic electorate about what is really at the root of Governor Cuomo’s course of action when it comes to New York’s locally controlled democratic institution of public education. However, I am not holding my breath that this will happen. In any case, that is my definition of Governor Cuomo when it comes to public schools in New York. One thing must happen Governor Cuomo, if a school is publicly funded, then it MUST be transparent in all they do and held up to public scrutiny! Or is this just too “democratic” for your political ‘third way’ of governance?

Mmmm? I wonder how Hillary feels about all this – let alone those dozen or so Republican presidential hopefuls that seem to be sprouting everywhere like dandelions this time of year?

Video of press conference: The King County NAACP comes out against the SBAC and Garfield High School does it again

Thomas J. Fiala Uncategorized

This is big news! The NAACP already resists the charter school movement. Now the Seattle chapter of the NAACP declares its resistance to the Smarter Balanced CCSS test.

Seattle Education

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There was a press conference this week on the growing resistance to the Common Core SBAC in Seattle.

Parents, students and teachers from schools across Seattle, including Nathan Hale, Garfield, NOVA, Franklin and Chief Sealth high schools, Dearborn Park Elementary School, the Seattle Opt Out group, Parents Across America, Washington State, the Seattle Chapter of Social Equality Educators (SEE) and the NAACP, Seattle/King County Chapter spoke up about the SBAC testing.

One of the big announcements was made by Jesse Hagopian, a teacher at Garfield High School and founding member of SEE.

To follow is what he posted about his remarks on his website I Am an Educator.

I am excited to announce that the parent opt out campaign at Garfield High School has resulted in 221 students already opting out of the 11th grade SBA with two weeks to go before the test is supposed to be administered!

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MUST READ: Revelations of a Disillusioned Reformer

Thomas J. Fiala Uncategorized

MUST READ: Revelations of a Disillusioned Reformer.

This post on Diane Ravitch’s blog is spot on!  We can trace back this current education reform debacle to the failed ideas of Milton Friedman.  Join me Sunday on the War Report on Public Education as I discuss the Origins of the Common Core.

Common Core Today – Back to the Future

Dr. James Avington Miller Jr.  and The War Report on Public Education radio show begin a series exposing the dangers of the Common Core. Joining us for this series is Dr.Deborah Duncan Owens. Here is a short taste of what is in store for our listeners:

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Are you angry enough yet? How long will the American public tolerate the steady encroachment of corporations into public education? In the first of a series of shows dedicated to the Common Core and the corporate takeover of our public schools, Deborah Duncan Owens will discuss the decades long assault against public education in the United States and the origins of the Common Core State Standards. Our students are over tested, exploited for profit, and victims of spying by corporate and governmental entities. It’s time to say no to the free market ideology driving our education policies in the U.S. and reclaim the sacred ground of public education as an essential democratic institution.


There is a price on the head of every child in America! When did greed become the underlying motive in efforts to systemically reform public education in America? How can we reclaim our public schools and say no to the corporate takeover of education? Deborah Duncan Owens pulls back the curtain that has shrouded the American public from the collusion of the political right and left with corporate America that has been plotting a course to privatize our nation’s public school system.


Join us in a conversation about taking back the sacred ground of public education in America. It’s time to set up a war room and establish a unified plan to end the incursion of corporate America into the lives of our nation’s most precious resource, our children. America’s most vulnerable citizens, those who have no vote or seat at the policy table, are depending on us to put an end to the CCSS debacle, Draconian high stakes testing, and Orwellian student data collecting. United we stand and divided we will fall. It’s time to unite our voices — for the sake of our children and their public schools in America.

Knowledge is power — and the knowledge gained through this series will arm pro-public school advocates with an essential understanding to finally come to grips with the forces that have historically sought to dismantle America’s public school system. Parents and teachers, armed with knowledge about the historical roots of the corporate assault on education, can — through collective action — take back our locally controlled public schools and hold our elected and non-elected governmental policy makers accountable. When parents and students OPT OUT of Draconian high stakes tests that line the pockets of corporate reformers while exploiting the personal information of children, parents and students are OPTING IN to a coalition of Americans intent on preserving our democratic system of public education!

So join us this Sunday, March 29th, as we begin our series on the Common Core Today – Back to the Future.
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My Comments from the Save our Schools Rally

Thomas J. Fiala Uncategorized

My Comments from the Save our Schools Rally

Thursday, March 12th, I was honored to be invited to speak at the Save our Schools Rally in Corning, New York. My friend, Tyler Tarnowicz captured most of the most of my speech  on video. However, I thought I’d share the entire text with you. It was a wonderful event with hundreds of parents, teachers, administrators, and government officials in attendance and it truly was an honor to be able to participate.

Governor Cuomo has declared war on public schools. In fact, in New York and all across the nation a war is, indeed, being fought to save our locally controlled public school systems.

And once again as this war wages our public schools are being blamed for all that ails America.

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March in Selma, AL, this week, we should also remember the legacy of Ruby Bridges, the Little Rock Nine, and the plaintiffs in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that desegregated our public schools in America. In the decades following the Brown decision, decades that were too often marked by racism and violence, we made great strides in equalizing educational opportunities for all students.

In fact, the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as a component of President Johnson’s War on Poverty, was a source of pride, signaling to the world that we placed a high priority on education and the need to ensure that regardless of a student’s race, economic status, or zip code, they had a right to a world class education in a publicly funded public school.

Nevertheless, I believe everyone would wholeheartedly agree that more needs to be done to finally realize this dream.

However, the noise of public school critics have gotten in the way of our efforts in the decades following the 1954 Brown decision.

During the Sputnik crisis the failure of the United States to beat the Soviet Union in placing a satellite in orbit was blamed on America’s public schools. And as history has shown, this blame was misplaced.

In 1983 the report A Nation at Risk blamed public schools for threatening the security of America and for the economic problems in which America had found itself. And as I and others have pointed out, this blame and the claims of a Nation at Risk were misplaced.

Today, America’s public schools find themselves under assault as never before from both the political left and right. Democrats and republicans.

As a result, all American citizens and most importantly, all citizens of New York as well as every person in this auditorium needs to ask themselves whether or not they ultimately support America’s system of public education.

How do American’s view locally controlled public schools?

Do all of you in this auditorium agree with governor Cuomo when he calls America’s public school system a monopoly that needs to be busted?

Or, like myself and so many others, do you see our locally controlled public schools as an essential institution that has served America well, and in the process, helping make the United States I believe the greatest nation on Earth.

Do you believe that Governor Cuomo and the New York legislature need to equitably fund our public schools?

Or do you believe like Governor Cuomo and his education reform allies that money needs to be channeled away from our public schools in order to fund entrepreneurial adventurism?

Our public schools are not monopolies. They are not government schools that reflect some socialist agenda as has often been asserted since the Cold War.

No. I believe, and I hope all of you believe, that our public schools are in fact an institution that is a reflection of America’s devotion to a pluralistic society that gives our great republic the vitality and ability to help meet the needs of our diverse society.

If you believe this you will, unlike Governor Cuomo and those who support his education reform ideas, embrace our locally controlled public schools because these are our community schools.

They belong to the community. They belong to all of us.

Public schools take on the honored responsibility of meeting the needs of every citizen.

Do you believe as Governor Cuomo believes that we need alternatives to our public school system because our public schools need more competition in order to meet the social and economic challenges our nation is facing?

Or do you believe that this approach to education reform is but another means to destroy our historically beneficial public school system?

Is the move to allow education entrepreneurs to enter the education reform arena nothing but a nod to Wall Street?

I certainly do not believe that Wall Street should trump Main Street when it comes to nurturing our nation’s most precious resource – our children.

Governor Cuomo’s education reform ideas such as excessive draconian high stakes testing that saps the educational life out of schools – only seems to line the pockets of corporations making huge profits off of questionable assessment models.

I believe public schools have been and continue to be places for the public good. I believe and I hope you believe that our locally controlled public schools have been and continue to be essential in helping to create our great republic – a republic whose foundation is fortified by the power of democracy.

I believe that our locally controlled public schools are one of the jewels in the crown of our republic and this jewel must not be removed from the crown because if you remove this jewel, our republic will not shine nearly so brightly.

If you believe this, then I hope you realize that WE need to eliminate draconian high stakes tests that do not reflect the complex challenges public schools and their communities are facing. And stop using these tests as a weapon to punish teachers!

I believe that our locally controlled public schools are essential in preserving the vitality of our great republic.

If you believe this, I hope you will agree that we need to fully fund public schools and eliminate the GAP Elimination Adjustment that robs local school districts of their money and sends this cash to Albany!

If you believe this, I hope you agree that we should not funnel money away from our public schools and into the hands of education entrepreneurs who favor Wall Street over Main Street.

If you believe this, then I hope you will support investment into universal pre-K education.

Let us not be distracted by Governor Cuomo and those who support his education policies and very importantly his misguided view of our truly egalitarian system of public school education where all students are welcomed regardless of race, language, class, culture, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ability or disability.

Our public schools have always reflected the complex cultural mosaic that we proudly call the United States of America.

The legacy of Ruby Bridges, the Little Rock Nine, and so many others who sacrificed so much, even at times their very lives, to create an America worthy of its allegiance to democracy demand that we stand up for and defend our public schools.

Let me be clear about what’s at stake in our nation’s head long rush to dismantle our public school system. Our heritage is at stake.

As a point of illustration, let me point out that the very school Ruby Bridges bravely integrated, flanked by federal marshals, – an event memorialized by the artist Norman Rockwell – no longer exists as William Franz Elementary School.

It was turned into a charter school after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and all public school teachers were fired.

Was this new school named the Ruby Bridges Elementary School to honor her legacy? No. It bears a name chosen by the entrepreneurs who took over the school.

Yes, they did erect a statue of Ruby in the school, but how long will it be before the statue is just a statue and her legacy is all but erased. And the saddest part of all is that Ruby’s schools is once again segregated.

We are squandering the legacy of those who worked so hard to create the American ideal of a public education system.

America’s system of public education has proven to be an important democratic avenue on the long road to breaking the stranglehold of segregation in our country.

And let us always remember that our public schools have been an important democratic avenue for millions of Americans and immigrant groups in realizing their dreams and aspirations.

We must stop closing public schools on one corner in order to open up an entrepreneurial charter school a few blocks away. We must continue the proud tradition of locally controlled public schools. Only the citizens within a community can truly determine what is best for their students.

Public schools have historically done yeoman’s work in helping raise the United States to international preeminence. It is for this reason I urge everyone in New York to unite around our public schools.

We must positively help to improve these schools and fend off those who, wittingly or not, are now dismantling this important American institution.

And do not be misled by the rhetoric of choice.

For me there is only one “choice” and that is to fully fund public schools and ensure that all students receive a world class education in their community schools.

Tax dollars paid by citizens should enhance community schools, not feather the nests of entrepreneurs who seek to make a dime off of our children.

To be sure, there is a price on the head of every school child in America. But they deserve to have what so many of their parents and grandparents had before them – a public school that is a vital part of their community.

THANK YOU!