BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — With the Common Core taking a hit during an education-heavy campaign season, a coalition supporting the learning standards has released an analysis that concludes repealing them would be a costly mistake.

“It’s a lose-lose position that all of us – educators, parents, students and business and community leaders – must resist,” said Jenny Sedlis, executive director of StudentsFirstNY, part of High Achievement New York, which also includes several chambers of commerce and community groups.

The High Achievement New York analysis released this week said repealing Common Core could jeopardize $280 million in federal funding and undo progress toward the higher student achievement the standards were meant to produce.

Republican candidate for governor Rob Astorino has campaigned on doing away with the Common Core learning standards that have been adopted by most states in an effort to boost academic rigor.

Democratic incumbent Andrew Cuomo, critical of the way they’ve been implemented, says in a campaign ad that test scores shouldn’t count for five years “and then only if our children are ready.”

The state Board of Regents sets education policy, but the governor has a hand through the budget and legislative process.

Also before voters on Tuesday is a proposition to borrow $2 billion for districts for computers, Internet upgrades, security improvements and classrooms for prekindergarten students.

Cuomo proposed the Smart Schools Bond Act during his State of the State address in January and promotes it in his education ad, which pictures him helping one of his daughters with her homework.

Critics, led by the Empire Center for Public Policy, have campaigned against the bonds, saying the state’s debt burden is high enough and that the technology would be outdated before the bonds were paid off.

An advisory panel appointed by Cuomo to recommend uses for the money, should it be approved, issued its final recommendations this week following a series of public symposiums in Albany, Buffalo and New York City. The Smart Schools Commission said districts should embrace online learning as a way to level the playing field for students in rural and smaller school districts, tailor instruction with the use of tablets and interactive whiteboards and keep educators current on technology through ongoing training.

© 2014 Times Herald-Record