I have to disagree with Mr. Rebell on this one...After 14 years of litigation, New York State is about to make history by sending over $7 billion in extra funding to schools statewide over the next four years. Equally significant is an accompanying accountability system, geared to ensure that this money will be well-spent.
New York City and 50 or so other districts slated to receive a large infusion must agree to a "Contract for Excellence" - which requires them to provide details on how they will spend the money in the five arenas that are considered most likely to improve student performance: improving the quality of teachers and principals; reducing class sizes; increasing student "time-on-task"; restructuring middle and high schools; and providing kindergarten or pre-K for the full day.
It's a good plan of action, but unfortunately the legislature tacked on an additional mandate, at the urging of the teachers union and others. That requires New York City alone to specify to the state education commissioner how its average class sizes will be reduced over the next five years. The commissioner says he intends to convene a panel of experts to determine what the class sizes must be.
This seemingly benign mandate could, in fact, turn the Contract for Excellence into a recipe for failure.
