News from STATE SENATOR

Liz Krueger

New York State Senate, 26^th District

COMMUNITY BULLETIN – June 2005

Message from Liz . . .

The way in which the legislature has dealt with implementation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) this year demonstrates how far we still have to go toward real reform. The decisions the legislature makes on this issue will determine both the rules and the equipment that New York State will use for future elections for many years to come. HAVA is the federal law that requires states to update their election law, and provides significant funding for the purchase of new voting technology. New York State must pass legislation by the end of 2005 or we lose $235 million in federal funding. Yet as the legislative session enters its final weeks for the year, the public process for developing legislation implementing HAVA has completely broken down.

For most of the session, the legislature held conference committees in an attempt to meet the HAVA mandate, and resolve differences between Senate and Assembly versions of the HAVA legislation, but late last month, the Senate Majority Leader refused to renew the mandate of the committee. This ensures that whatever negotiations do take place over HAVA will take place out of the public eye, and conform to the traditional Albany practice of “three men in a room.” This antidemocratic procedure is particularly outrageous in the case of HAVA, because we are dealing with establishing the procedures and practices by which our democracy functions. If the public does not have confidence in the way we conduct our elections, we undermine the legitimacy of our democracy.

There are many issues regarding HAVA implementation, but the one that has generated the most concern is the decision about what kind of voting machines we should use. There are two types of voting machines being considered at this time. The first one is a “Direct Recording Electronic” voting system, also known as a DRE. DREs typically resemble PCs with touch-screen capability and they pose a very serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process. They produce no tangible record and therefore make it impossible to have a recount. In addition, the software of these voting machines is proprietary and is dangerously vulnerable to hacking that leaves the electoral process open to manipulation. Voting is one of our critical infrastructures, and this lack of transparency in the electoral process must be fixed. Moreover, DREs have the potential to severely weaken voter confidence, and thus spark a further decline in voter participation. Furthermore, three electronic voting machine companies dominate this industry – Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Diebold, and Sequoia. ES&S alone claims to have handled 56% of the nations votes in the last four presidential and congressional elections! Together, it is estimated these three companies may handle as much as 80% of the nation’s votes. Powerful lobbyists have been working on their behalf in Albany. My colleagues in the Senate Democratic Conference have been working against these special interests and have fought hard to promote a fair environment.

My Democratic Senate colleagues and I are pushing for the second type of voting machine being considered, which is called an Optical Scanner. Optical scanners use a paper ballot system, which is also compatible with a highly sophisticated ballot-marking machine, developed for use by persons with disabilities. This system allows disabled persons to vote secretly, without assistance from someone who could observe their vote. Paper ballots will be much easier for voters to understand and to use. Training costs for poll workers will be significantly lower. The paper ballot provides a permanent, easy to read record of the vote. Recounts of the paper will be far easier than the recount of the rolled up paper trail that the DRE systems will produce.

In a typical example of Albany dysfunction, it is not clear that the state will even make a choice between these two models. Instead, it is likely that we will punt the issue to localities, so that each local Board of Elections can choose to adopt their own equipment. It seems the main supporters of this option are the lobbyists, who have already made millions of dollars lobbying the state. If they have the opportunity to lobby each locality as well, they can multiply these earnings many times over.

There are many other important issues surrounding HAVA, such as how provisional ballots will be handled, identification requirements, and ensuring voter access for people with disabilities and language minorities. Unfortunately, like the voting machines issue, it appears these will also be resolved behind closed doors by the three men in a room. Clearly we have a long way to go toward reforming our legislative process if the legislative leadership doesn’t even think we should have a public process to determine how we will vote.

SENIOR/HEALTH CARE COMMUNITY FORUM:

“PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFITS FOR SENIORS”

Featuring a Discussion of the 2006 Medicare Part D Benefit

Date: Friday, June 10th

Time: 2pm –4pm

Place: Marymount Manhattan College Auditorium

221 East 71^st Street between 2^nd and 3^rd Avenues

Call (212) 490-9535 for further information

Community Spotlight

Update on the West Side Stadium Project:

I am happy to report that earlier this week, the New York State Public Authorities Control Board (PACB) rejected $300 million in proposed state financing for the West Side Stadium Project. One of the many reasons I have been a strong opponent of the West Side Stadium is because this project is predicated on over $1 billion in public subsidies. The vote of the PACB deals a serious blow to this project and makes it much less likely that the Stadium will be built, but it is still possible that some other public financing scheme will emerge. I will continue working with community groups and other elected officials to make sure this does not happen.

Free Tours at the United Nations:

The United Nations is offering free tours every Sunday in June as part of its 60^th Anniversary celebration. Tours take place from 10:00-4:30PM and begin at the visitors center at 46^th Street and First Avenue. For more information call 212-963-TOUR or visit www.un.org/tours on the web.

Summer Opportunities for Youth:

Don’t spend your summer in front of the T.V.! The Citizens Committee for Children publishes a free Youth Action New York City Resource Guide that is filled with internships (both summer and year-long), summer youth employment and community opportunities, academic and tutoring programs and tips for preparing for college. You can access the guide at www.cccnewyork.org/youthactionnyc/index.html, or call (212) 673-1800 to request a copy.

Spotlight on Policy

High Stakes Testing and Performance Based Evaluation

in New York City Public Schools

Late last month the Senate passed a bill to protect performance-based assessment in public schools. Senate bill S. 3192 passed with a vote of 50-10 after nearly two hours of impassioned, bi-partisan debate. This legislation enables the 28 Performance Standards Consortium schools to continue their multi-pronged approach to student assessment. I support such alternative models, which help challenge the growing emphasis in our country on high-stakes, high-pressure, pass or fail testing. While I support the high standards set forth by the New York State Regents, the evaluation of gained knowledge and skills should not be limited to just one means of assessment. We need to recognize that one size does not fit all when it comes to testing, and there need to be alternative methods of evaluating student performance that still meet rigorous standards.

Currently, New York State public school students must pass five regents exams – math, English, global history, science and United States history and government - in order to graduate from high school with a regents diploma. Under the legislation that just passed the Senate, the schools already using portfolio assessment under a 1995 Regents variance could continue to do so through 2008. The 16,000 students who attend these schools will take the English and math regents exams, but will also be evaluated based on oral presentations, research reports, projects and essays. The State Assembly is expected to take up this legislation soon.

In addition to continuing the variance, this bill requires that the Commissioner of the State Education Department develop a portfolio performance-based alternative assessment by July 1^st, 2008 that must “measure the State learning standards for the respective content area” and “be at least as rigorous as the corresponding State assessment.”

The success of the Consortium schools is striking. Their drop-out rate is half that of New York City public schools. With 25 of the 28 schools located in New York City, 88% of Consortium school graduates go on to college, as compared to 70% of New York City high school students. This is achieved considering that only 15-17% of students entering Consortium high schools meet State English and math standards. With 71% of the students being of color and 61% eligible for free lunch, the student body composition of Consortium schools exemplifies the socioeconomic and racial diversity of NYC schools. At a time when more and more public school parents are demanding choices in their children’s education and policymakers are championing charter schools, smaller schools, and school vouchers, these schools embody an alternative educational curriculum that has proven successful year after year.

The promulgation of No Child Left Behind, President Bush’s national education policy, in 2001, placed pressure on individual states to show improvements in test scores as evidence of increased student academic achievement. But it’s up to each state to decide what standards should be achieved and how that achievement will be measured. According to the School Design Network at Stanford University’s School of Education, 27 states currently use multiple measures assessments to determine student eligibility for high school graduation.

In New York City, a hallmark of Mayor Bloomberg’s Children First education initiative has been small high schools. With tremendous financial support from private organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the City has both created small, specialized high schools in new buildings and broken down existing large high schools into smaller learning communities.

Long before Children First, the Julia Richman Education Complex (JREC) on East 67^th Street in Manhattan has stood as a model of creating successful small schools from a previously failing urban high school. JREC is also home to three of the Consortium schools – Urban Academy, Vanguard and Manhattan International. Starting in 1992, JREC was transformed from a large school that graduated a third of its students into a vibrant complex containing four high schools that graduate more than 90% of its students and sends 90% to college.

When you visit these schools, you feel the vibrancy. These kids are challenged, they are thinking, they are engaged. Schools like JREC and the Consortium schools embody educational models that are working for our kids. The State Education Department should be focused on how to replicate these school models.