Cala blasts Cuomo's education agenda

Fairport Interim Superintendent William Cala, never shy on the subject of educational reform and equality, wrote in a letter last week to staff that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's education agenda "has nothing to do with what is good for kids" and called on families to have their children opt out of state testing this spring.

In his State of the State address, Cuomo proposed increasing the role of state testing in teacher evaluations and allowing more charter schools to compete in struggling districts, like Rochester. He also supports a tax credit for donations to private and charter schools that some call a voucher system in disguise.

Those positions put him at odds with the New York State Union of Teachers, which declined to endorse him in 2014, and progressives throughout the state.

Cala, one of those progressives, posted a letter in Fairport casting Cuomo as a corporate stooge with little understanding of how schools work.

Cuomo's ideas are "an all-out assault on public education, teachers, children, families and local control," Cala wrote. "It appears that breaking teachers is his solution to poverty, income inequality and inadequate school funding."

One tool of those in Cala's camp is withholding students from state tests in grades 3-8. Last year, about 30,000 students statewide declined to take the tests, including thousands in Monroe County.

Cala predicted that number will triple this spring and said such disobedience is the only way "to bring this tyranny to a screeching halt."

"The refusal movement will indeed collapse the evaluation system and the governor's plan to dismantle public education," he wrote.

Cala is the former interim superintendent in the Rochester School District. He has proposed a regional school that would draw students from the suburbs and the city, helping to eliminate the problems associated with concentrated poverty.

His opponents, mainly charter school advocates, say students who have been failed repeatedly by public districts like Rochester deserve other options. They accuse the teachers union, a powerful ally of state Democrats, of standing in the way of reform.

JMURPHY7@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/CitizenMurphy