Janison: School funding is a tough battle

ALBANY -- In his own way, and with his own edge, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo Tuesday restated and underscored the great, gauzy political piety that the school system is supposed to be about the children.

Of course, the politics of education has been for a long time about funding, clout, labor agreements, local taxes, processes and bureaucracy -- all of it created by the adults.

"The focus has become more about the business interests of the system than the students' interest," Cuomo declared in his budget address. "There is a reform movement under way all across this nation that is shifting the focus onto the student rather than the industry. . . . It's not how much you spend, it's how much you achieve."

In a clear bid to give urgency to his wider agenda, Cuomo issued a challenge he seems positioned to win.

Federal officials warn that about $700 million in "race to the top" financing was contingent on a teacher-evaluation system. Legislation to that end was enacted in 2010 but failed to produce action. A relevant court case now pits the state Education Department against teachers' unions.

Settle the case in 30 days, says Cuomo, or I will settle it for you by forcing evaluation language into the budget.

School districts will have a year to implement the evaluations or be penalized their share of a proposed 4 percent increase in state school aid.

Some in his audience here skeptically suggest the court case had been close to settlement anyway and that Cuomo is intervening so he can declare its resolution a win.

Some officials deny an agreement was at hand and insist Cuomo's push could pressure one.

Whether teacher evaluations will work and how they work will be a related but separate discussion.

For Cuomo as governor, a good offense -- a drive for change -- is the best defense against those who would accuse the administration of shorting the schools.

Cuomo, in the text of his budget proposal, noted that New York spends more per pupil than any other state -- something his predecessors also pointed out in their proposals before lawmakers battled to increase aid funds.

Meanwhile, local officials such as Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino are calling on Cuomo and the legislature to repeal the state law that requires terms of public employee contracts remain in effect until a new agreement is reached, which they argue dashes unions' incentives to make concessions. The law was not broached in the budget proposal.

Tension over school money ranks big elsewhere, of course.

In California, the crisis sounds similar but the landscape differs.

Gov. Jerry Brown took office as an ally of the teachers.

Now his proposed funding increase for schools depends on a tax increase that would go on his state's ballot next November. The head of the California Teachers Association recently said the state's funding policy "is a guarantee to keep us at awful."

For players coast to coast, the "race to the top" sometimes sounds like a race to be tough.