Gov. Kathy Hochul eyes increased Education Department control

ALBANY — Newly reelected Gov. Kathy Hochul is eyeing control of the State Education Department in an effort to have more say over education policy — challenging New York’s more than 200 year-old power dynamic.

The department is unique from other state agencies because its leadership, the Board of Regents, is appointed by the State Legislature in a process largely led by the Democratic majority in the Assembly. It is funded through the state budget, a process the governor has great power over.

A week before her 20-point reelection over Republican Bruce Blakeman, Hochul said on a New York political podcast she’s frustrated with the current structure, particularly as the state education department shifts away from what are known as the Regents exams as a high school graduation requirement.

"People see in the articles ‘New York State abandons Regents,’ they think I'm New York," she told the Max Politics podcast. "The buck should stop with me given that we are the funder of education. ... It’s an interesting proposition and maybe there will be support behind a different model where we actually have some say."

When asked if it was a top priority for her second full term, she said, "It’s something I'd like to shift the dynamics quite a bit there, yes."

The State Education Department clapped back at the idea, saying they "answer to the people" and "not to the political whims of any Governor," department spokesman JP O’Hare told Newsday in an email. "Our students deserve decisions driven by what is best for their futures, not what is politically convenient for any administration. That independence is not a flaw in New York’s system of government. It is one of its most important safeguards."

Shifting authority away from the appointed Regents Board would be a heavy political lift, potentially requiring a constitutional amendment and for the legislature — Democrats just won a historic supermajority in both the Assembly and the Senate — to give up power, political and education legal experts told Newsday.

"Why would the legislature want to give up that power?" Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic strategist, asked. Currently, he told Newsday, "the legislature controls the whole discussion. ... If you give her power, then you don't have a negotiating position. She’s got to come to them."

Assembly Education Committee Chairman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx) said he’s "very happy" with the system as is, adding that the framers of the state Constitution likely wanted to remove education from political consideration for the most part. "That’s the way they framed it and that's why I think it should remain," he told Newsday.

Balance of power

New York is one of a few, if not the only state that has an independent legislative approval system, as most states have an elected leader or a board appointed by the governor, said education attorney Michael Rebell, the executive director of the Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College–Columbia University and co-founder of the nonprofit Campaign for Fiscal Equity Inc.

The state Constitution created the Board of Regents in 1784 and says its powers can be "increased, modified or diminished" by the State Legislature. The board oversees everything from public and private K-12 schools, colleges and universities to most libraries and museums, as well as requirements for certain professions.

Generally, the 17-member board sets policy and appoints a commissioner to head the education department, which oversees that policy.

Hochul spokesman Jonah Allon in an email told Newsday providing all students with a high-quality education is a top priority for the governor. "She believes giving executives at all levels of government more input and accountability for education would have a positive impact on the state’s schools. She’ll continue working with the Legislature, the State Education Department, and communities statewide to deliver the best possible outcomes for New York’s students."

Hochul is not the only governor who has wanted more control over the agency. Former Governor Theodore Roosevelt pushed for gubernatorial appointments to the board and more recently, former Governor Andrew Cuomo made a play for control over the board in 2014, according to the education department.

The change would likely require a constitutional amendment, a process controlled by the Legislature that would then have to go before voters, said Rebell. Other options include deciding to only appoint candidates who have been reviewed by the governor, but, "it’s definitely going to require action by the legislature," he said.

The governor does have significant power over the state budget process and in turn the education department’s budget, education experts and attorneys said.

The department has to stay somewhat in line with the political branches because they control their budget, said David Bloomfield, professor emeritus of education leadership, law and policy at Brooklyn College and The CUNY Graduate Center. The department is already underfunded because the political branches aren't accountable for their performance, so there's no political need to invest, he said. 

And the courts have ruled that the governor and legislature can effectively pass any statute that they want regarding education which the regents have to follow, Bloomfield said.

For example, Hochul last year successfully pushed for a ban of the use of cellphones in schools, despite State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa, who was appointed by the Board of Regents, saying she was in favor of local control rather than a statewide policy.

This year legislation regarding the use of artificial intelligence in schools is likely to be top of mind for Hochul and lawmakers, Sheinkopf said.

Accountability

Whether the governor should have more power is up for debate. 

The state should learn from mayoral control of New York City schools, said Daniel Weisberg, former first deputy chancellor of the city public schools, in an op-ed for Vital City.

"Clear lines of accountability — and authority — create a platform for real change," he wrote, adding that the board and commissioner should answer to the governor. "When a governor is clearly in charge, there’s real potential for serious leadership on education."

State Sen. John Liu (D-Flushing) said he thinks it’s good that the governor wants to take a more active role in education policy, but the structure is "pretty set."

"Any changes to that should be proposed and deliberated," he told Newsday. "I think we can consider all the options on the table, but I wouldn't think that gubernatorial control of public schools would be a good thing."

The department, unlike the City, doesn’t run schools and the state’s approach for hundreds of years has been to allow districts to have a large measure of independence, he said. "I don’t see that there have been huge problems with that system."

Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra (R-Garden City) in a statement to Newsday said it shouldn’t be a question of who has more control in Albany, but what’s best for the students. "There’s plenty of room for improvement within the Board of Regents. But forfeiting control to the Executive Branch isn’t a magic bullet — it’s more like shooting ourselves in the foot," he said.

Bloomfield warned that politicians should be careful of what they ask to control because education policy can be controversial. Cuomo, for example, received a huge backlash after tying test results to teacher evaluations and eventually had to walk the decision back.

And while the debate is centered around Hochul, she won’t always be governor, he said. "Voters would have to think long and hard on whether they’d like to hand the reins of state education policy to a politician," Bloomfield said.