This Election Day, Nov. 4, New Yorkers will be asked to approve Proposal 3, which would allow the state to issue $2 billion in bonds to finance the purchase by school districts of devices such as iPads and other computers; expand high-speed and wirel Read More
Who could be against “smart schools”? The unsurprising answer: not nearly enough New Yorkers to defeat Proposal 3 on yesterday’s statewide ballot, which authorizes $2 billion in state borrowing to finance local school district purchases of computers and other classroom technology; expand schools’ high-speed and wireless Internet capacity; install “high-tech security features”; and build new classrooms for pre-kindergarten programs. Read More
Proposition 3 would allow the state to borrow $2 billion for educational technology. It is supported by Cuomo and the teacher’s union. The Empire Center, a conservative think tank, has called it a “blank check” to the state’s education bureaucracy. Read More
On Election Day, New York voters will be asked to let the state borrow up to $2 billion to help public schools buy computer hardware they don’t urgently need and create space for pre-kindergarten programs that most districts outside New York City can’t afford. Read More
"If you spend on those things," added Empire Center for Public Policy's E.J. McMahon Monday, "you have to keep spending more, and raise taxes again year after year after year — to support the tech, to get the curriculum to use it, to train teachers on how to use it." Read More
The wasteful "Smart Schools Bond Act" would tap scarce capital resources to make low-priority technology purchases. Read More
"By definition, it's use it or lose it," said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for New York State Policy. "It's the worst possible way to spend money. And it some districts, it will be free money for low-priority items." Read More
The number of teachers in New York collecting pensions jumped 9 percent between 2010 and 2013, and the average pension grew 6.5 percent over that period, records show. Read More