Standing Up for Public Education

"As a public school parent, I see every day what makes a great school: small classes, an excellent principal, dedicated teachers, and active parents. Every child deserves no less."

Brad is deeply committed to ensuring that our public schools offer the best of opportunities to all children. Brad's wife, Meg Barnette, serves on the School Leadership Team at PS 107, where his children, Marek and Rosa, go to school.

Brad will both fight for better education policy, and roll up his sleeves to help the schools in the district. He has already convened a task force of parent leaders from schools in every neighborhood in the district to shape his education policy. Once in office, he will build upon his not-for-profit organizational and community development experience to help parents and educators achieve their goals:

• Protect schools from budget cuts: To the fullest extent possible, schools should be exempted from budget cuts. We should make sure that the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers are paying their fair share before we cut public education. Any cuts to DOE should come first not from the classrooms, but out of multimillion dollar no-bid contracts - like the $80 million one to a for-profit, private sector company for practice tests.
• Build and find more classrooms: Our community has seen substantial population growth in recent years, but it has not been matched by new schools. Brad has been fighting to include pre-K classrooms in the Park Slope Armory, and will build upon his experience in community development to insure that new schools are built in District 15. We should also require developers to help address the problem, by providing space or resources for classrooms (or other community needs) when they construct significant new buildings.
• Bridge the achievement gap: We have some great schools in our neighborhood, but we can do more to make sure that all students are getting a good education, including children with special needs (who are often poorly served, or forced to sue the DOE just to get the services they need) and English language learners. This commitment can come not only from DOE, but also by tapping into the experience of strong PTA leaders to help other schools.

Our public schools must be rooted in a genuine partnership between parents, students, and educators. Mayoral control should only be reauthorized if parents have a far stronger voice and our kids are not reduced to their test scores.

• More teaching, less testing: Far too much focus is placed on high-stakes tests. They are stressful to kids and teachers, narrow the focus of education to what can be measured by a computer, lead to cutting art and music and physical education, and fail to address the diverse needs of the full range of our children. Schools should be allowed to choose from a range of accountability measures so that schools, principals, teachers, and students are all evaluated and helped to improve, but with a range of approaches that matches diverse learning needs.
• Make it easier for parents' voices to be heard: The current structure of the Department of Education trivializes the Panel for Educational Policy and the Community Education Councils, and makes it hard for parents to have real input into the way our schools are run. We need to encourage and welcome parents as partners, both in their schools and in the system at large.
• Create an Independent Education Office: The City should establish an "Independent Education Office" (modeled on the City's highly-regarded Independent Budget Office), that helps administrators, teachers, parents, students, and legislators fairly evaluate and make good decisions about education choices.

Our schools can be a true resource for our community.

• Promote Schools as Community Centers: At their best, schools function as more than just classrooms. They provide a safe space for kids in the mornings and afternoons, they foster creativity, they involve community-based organizations and businesses and cultural institutions. Parents and neighbors feel welcome, and they are active in planning community events and programming. The DOE must do far more, by expanding and improving the Beacon Schools program, encouraging after-school programming, and supporting PTAs.
• Make our schools green: Public schools are a living laboratory for our kids. Unfortunately, too often we are teaching them bad habits for the planet – styrofoam lunch trays, little or no recycling, etc. Brad is helping convene a group of parent leaders committed to make our schools into models of sustainability.
• Keep CUNY strong: New York has been underfunding CUNY for a decade, and this year deeper cuts are proposed, even as more students are seeking higher education during the economic downturn. During the Great Depression, the City invested in higher education, as Brooklyn, Lehman, and Queens College all got their start. An affordable, quality CUNY can help families through the current crisis, stimulate growth in the local economy, and help build a solid middle class for New York’s future.