Varying opinions have emerged about the new state-mandated tougher learning standards and assessments announced two and-a- half years ago by state education commissioner Richard Mills.
For example, ensuring that every student passes Regents exams so they may graduate - a major component of the new standards - seems impossible to some, while possible and absolutely necessary to others. Amid the controversy, however, Farmingdale Schools have taken the overhaul seriously, beginning a revision of curriculum and implementing student support programs almost immediately after the announcement.
Therefore, representatives of the school district are arguing, they want the state funds needed to pay for it.
The district has an established lobbying committee that works on various issues related to funding for Farmingdale schools. During the ongoing implementation of the new standards, funding for this has been a key issue for them.
For example, during its most recent trip to Albany to meet state legislators, the lobbying committee stressed the need for specific funds to help schools phase in the new standards, according to Farmingdale Schools Superintendent Gerard W. Dempsey.
In addition to this, he noted that Farmingdale Schools are slated to receive $1 million less in state aid for the 1998-99 school year than it did in the 1988-89 school year. "We still haven't caught up to where we were," he said of the funding. The district also has 1,000 more students than it did 10 years ago.
Although the Pataki administration has announced that the governor's proposed 1998-99 budget increases education spending for education by over $500 million, Assistant Superintendent for Business for Farmingdale Schools Dr. William Fanning has argued that the money will pay for initiatives that the Pataki administration put forward last year. "The appropriations to fund those initiatives were back-loaded," he said.
Projected aid for Farmingdale School District also increased this year - by approximately $500,000. However, Fanning said this is actually aid the district earned by purchasing new computers through Nassau BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services). "It's really not new money," he said. The $500,000, he noted, will offset an increased $800,000 in district spending on the computers for the 1997-98 school year. "BOCES aid is driven by expenditures," he said.
"This formula in 1998-99 actually hurts Farmingdale," Fanning said of the state funding projection. However, he added that the good news is, "We're starting in a much better place than the previous year."
Also during the lobbying trip, the committee argued, as it has in the past, that the state stop the practice of transition adjustment. First implemented in 1993, transition adjustment is a mechanism whereby the state caps the amount of aid districts receive. Because of it, Farmingdale is projected to receive over a million dollars less in state aid this year than the amount calculated using the raw state aid formula. The district contends that the mechanism is unfair because it most hurts districts with lower wealth.
The lobby trip was attended not only by school administrators and school board members, but also by parents, students, and senior citizens, and other residents of the Farmingdale School District. The participants expressed their concerns and proposals through a brochure, and through breaking up into groups to meet with various legislators and their aides.
Referring to the new standards and increased graduation requirements, the brochure stated, "New standards and increased graduation requirements will mean additional academic support programs for students who are at-risk. These programs must begin in the elementary schools. Without the funding for remedial reading, speech improvement, and corrective math, students are likely to be referred for special education placement as the demands of the increased standards are put in place." It proposed that the state fund the mandates to support students who will be at-risk as the new graduation requirements are implemented, in order to prevent special education classification of these students. "Special education students in collaborative models should not lose their special education aid," the proposal added.
In accordance with the new state standards, all students who are currently in 10th grade must pass one Regents examination next year in order to graduate. The number of required examinations increases consecutively for each class thereafter. Current fifth graders will be the first graduating class to feel the full effect of the phased in standards. They must pass five Regents exams when they reach high school. The less rigorous Competency examinations, which have been taken in lieu of the Regents examinations, are being phased out. Tougher tests, also known as assessments, are also being implemented at the elementary level.
Among other concerns expressed, the brochure also noted that reduction in class size, full-day kindergarten, and universal pre-kindergarten could become the largest unfunded mandate ever proposed by the state. "Fully fund all new state mandates," the brochure proposed. It also proposed an increase in money available for capital improvements to renovate and add classroom space for enrollment growth and programs that will support the new state standards.
