Regents Meeting September 2019

The Regents September meeting was peppered with protests about vaccine requirements and substantial equivalency. Despite this the Regents appointed Beth Berlin Interim Commissioner, reported on the success of the My Brother’s Keeper program for young men of color, and discussed proposed regulations on implementing a staggered schedule for school district submission of Building Condition Surveys. The State Aid Subcommittee met and started the process that will lead to the development of the Regents State Aid proposal for school year 2020-21, which the Regents typically approve in December. And the Regents chose their 2019 Teacher of the Year.

Regents materials and the agenda can be found at www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings.

Chancellor Rosa: “Democracy is messy.”

This was the second Regents meeting in a row overwhelmed by families protesting the new vaccine law that requires children attending public, private and religious schools, pre-K and day care to get required vaccinations unless they have a valid medical exemption. NYSED Security staff directed most visitors to Chancellor’s Hall to view a live video of the meeting. Protesters shouted several times during the meeting from outside the Regents meeting, which could be heard in the room and on the video. An individual got in the meeting room and shouted at the Regents. Chancellor Rosa asked the individual to respect the Regents meeting or to leave the meeting. The mob outside the Regents Room delayed the Regents meeting almost 90 minutes. Later in the day scores of men dressed in long black coats and top hats over a single long braid typical of Orthodox Jewish men stood on the State Education Department lawn to protest substantial equivalency requirements advanced by the Department which they claimed interfered with their religious studies.

Interim Commissioner Appointed

Beth Berlin, Acting Commissioner of Education, was appointed unanimously by the Board of Regents as Interim Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York. The new Commissioner started her term with one of the most difficult Regents meetings in decades.

My Brother’s Keeper Success

The Regents had a presentation on the My Brother’s Keeper program entitled What’s Working in High Schools Across New York State for Young Men of Color. The program is experiencing dramatic improvement in graduation results for young men of color which, if continued, “would change society as we know it.”

Staggered Building Condition Surveys

The Regents discussed regulation changes relating to school facilities, managed by NYSED’s Office of Facilities Planning. Annual Visual Inspections were modified by Education Law section 409-d to be Visual Inspections conducted in 2020 and 2022 unless a school district has completed a Building Condition Survey. Changes to §3641 included requiring a staggered implementation of the Building Condition Survey wherein one-fifth of school districts and BOCES comply each year).

Districts were grouped by the Labor Market Region in which they are located: Capital Region, Central NY, Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Long Island, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Southern Tier and Western New York. Each BCS year includes a group from every Labor Market Region. Data regarding the number of buildings per district was used to equally distribute the number of buildings to be surveyed in a BCS cohort year within each Labor Market Region. Data from the 2015 Building Condition Survey was used to determine buildings identified as “Poor” or “Unsatisfactory.” Groups with the highest number of buildings identified as “Poor” or “Unsatisfactory” will be assigned to BCS cohort year 1 and 2 within each Labor Market Region.

Next steps include communicating with districts and BOCES in the Department’s P12 Weekly and Facilities Planning website as well as distributing announcements through various organizations (ASBO New York, NYSCOSS,  NYSSFA, etc.). The Department will develop guidance documents that will list district assignments by BCS years, detail Visual Inspection requirements and how to file BCS and Visual Inspections.

Kick Off for State Aid Proposal

In the Regents State Aid Subcommittee, Regent Mead said she and Regent Ouderkirk will meet with stakeholders in the coming weeks to solicit their ideas for improving NYS school aid. They have met with legislative leaders. The Regents interest is in Foundation Aid and the impact on equity. Regents materials compare the enacted budget to the Regents proposal. The enacted budget included the first-time use of Direct Certification poverty data. It also included a five-year cycle for Building Condition Surveys and authorization for transportation piggyback contracts.

The Regents co-chairs mentioned ASBO New York’s school finance symposium and said they planned to attend. Regent Johnson said Foundation Aid should be revisited and that there was legislative interest in doing so. The Regents developed their proposal around five goals last year: ESSA, Early Learning, ELLs, Equity and Efficiency. ASBO New York looks forward to sharing many proposal ideas developed by ASBO members with the Board of Regents.

Rachel Murat is Teacher of the Year

High School Social Studies Teacher, Rachel Murat, was named a 2019 New York State Teacher of the Year finalist by the state's Board of Regents. She is from Maine-Endwell High School in Maine-Endwell Central School District.