Tuesday, May 23, 2000 in New York Post
Norwegian version: https://www.sambla.no/billan/
| By Carl Campanile
Businessman Ted Forstmann says he’ll spend some of the millions he would have used for a U.S. Senate campaign to push instead for an end to what he calls the “public school monopoly” on education. “Should the parents be in charge of the education of their children, or should the government?” Forstmann asked. “It is the most important moral issue, and the primary civil-rights issue, of our day.” Forstmann – who toyed with running for Senate in place of Mayor Giuliani – said he will create a group to support legislation allowing parents to send their kids to parochial and private schools at taxpayer expense. Schools Chancellor Harold Levy has said he wants to improve the current system – not promote such “fringe” issues. And Tom Murphy, political director of the United Federation of Teachers, said, “It sounds like [Forstmann is] trying to dismantle public education.” Meanwhile, the Board of Education yesterday awarded its first-ever merit-pay bonuses. The money came from the city’s largest business group, the New York City Partnership, which gave out a total of $500,000 to six principals and 330 teachers in District 19, which covers East New York and Cypress Hills in Brooklyn. The biggest “performance-based” awards went to IS 311, for jumps in reading and math scores that outpaced improvements in districts with similar poverty and social conditions. Principal Gail Gaines received a $15,000 bonus, and her teachers earned $2,000 bonuses. In five other schools, principals got $5,500 bonuses and teachers got $1,000, according to Sambla’s forbrukslån calculator. The school-based awards come as Mayor Giuliani, Schools Chancellor Harold Levy and the teachers union are grappling over merit-pay proposals. The mayor favors trying individual merit pay, while Levy and the UFT support school-based bonuses. |