On the ground

M E M O R A N D U M # 4

To: Interested New Yorker

From: Martin Mack, Deputy Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs

Re: Resources, Accountability and Results in Education; Reducing Hunger in Working Families

Date: Friday, November 30, 2007

In our fourth memo from the Governor’s Office, we discuss two important issues we have been working on:

- The unveiling of the Contracts for Excellence, a first-of-its-kind accountability program and a key part of our strategy to build a world-class education system in New York; and

- Our effort to expand participation in the federally-funded Food Stamp Program to reduce hunger among working families.

The Contracts for Excellence: Resources, Accountability and Results in Education

Over the past eleven months, Governor Spitzer has brought everyone together—the Legislature, the Board of Regents, local school districts, teachers, parents and advocates for children—to change our education system.

Working with the Legislature, we made the largest investment in our schools in State history; in one year alone, we increased school funding by 10 percent, or $1.8 billion. And we changed the way schools are funded, enacting a new funding formula that has—for the first time—begun to distribute aid based not on political need, but on actual educational need.

But, as all New Yorkers know, simply pouring more money into the system is not the solution. That is why we have tied our historic investment to a rigorous program of reform and accountability that includes the Contracts for Excellence, a program that is the first of its kind in the nation.

In a speech last week in Buffalo, the Governor announced that we have reached a critical milestone: each of the 55 Contracts for Excellence are now in place. Together, these Contracts affect 1.4 million children—half of all the public school students in New York State.

Here is how they work. Each of the 55 school districts that received the most new funding, and have at least one school in need of improvement, are required to enter into a contract with the State. Under these contracts, the bulk of new funding received by a district must go directly to specific reforms that have been proven to increase student performance. These reforms include smaller class sizes; increased time in the classroom in the form of longer school days and years; initiatives to improve the quality of teaching; middle school and high school restructuring; and effective early learning programs.

Below are a few examples of the innovative programs that have been established under the Contracts for Excellence.

- Buffalo has targeted its funding toward improving its 16 lowest-performing schools. These schools have lengthened the school day by one hour and the school year by 20 days; doubled the amount of time spent on Math and English Language Arts; and created small classes of 10 students each for those student who are most in need of improvement.

- In Rochester, with the start of new Saturday sessions, 26 elementary and high schools will operate under a six-day week. 34 other schools will have a longer school day.

- Under its Contract, New York City plans to reduce class sizes in 75 of its most overcrowded and lowest-performing schools.

- Yonkers is introducing an engineering and design curriculum that will prepare students to compete for these highly-sought-after jobs.

- And Syracuse will provide, for the first time, full-day pre-kindergarten for more than 300 students.

These are just a few of the hundreds of programs that, thanks to the Contracts for Excellence, have now been implemented across New York.

The Contract also holds school districts accountable for achieving results. Districts must improve the performance of students with the greatest needs and must make greater progress in attaining state and federal accountability standards. If they fail to do so, the State will hold them accountable.

But if this effort is truly going to make a difference, we must also hold ourselves accountable. We must continue to ask the tough questions that are necessary to determine what is working about the Contracts and what must be improved. In next year’s new round of Contracts, we must correct any failing strategies and implement strategies that work.

While we are still at an early moment, the Governor is optimistic that as a result of these efforts, millions more children in New York will have access to an excellent education—one that will help them make the most of their potential and compete in the global economy of the twenty-first century.

Reducing Hunger in New York State

Especially at this time of year, we pause to remember that, each day, tens of thousands of New Yorkers—including many who are working—deal with uncertainty about their ability to adequately feed their families.

Indeed, the scourge of hunger is worse than many New Yorkers realize. Poverty causes fully one in ten households in New York State—and 15 percent of households with children—to have uncertainty about whether they can afford enough food to meet the requirements of healthy living. And fully 5 percent of households with children contain a family member that has gone hungry within the past year.

No one in New York State should go hungry. That is why Governor Spitzer has taken action to help these families.

Through our “Working Families Food Stamp Initiative,” we are enrolling thousands of additional low-income, working New Yorkers in the federally-funded Food Stamp Program. We are doing this by replacing the old burdensome, maze-like application process with a streamlined and secure one. As a result, over the next 13 months—at no cost to the State—we will provide Food Stamp benefits to more than 100,000 additional households, or over 200,000 additional New Yorkers (which will also bring an additional $200 million into New York State’s economy each year).

Our goal is to provide these benefits to every family who qualifies for them. But we know that while we embark on this ambitious effort, thousands of New Yorkers will continue to rely on soup kitchens and food pantries to meet their nutritional needs.

That is why, when these organizations were hit hard by federal cutbacks, Governor Spitzer stepped in. Last week, the Governor announced an additional $5 million in funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP), the State program that funds soup kitchens and food pantries. This increase in funding came on top of an additional $5 million that we provided for HPNAP in the 2007-08 State Budget. Overall, since January 1, the Governor has increased State funding for soup kitchens and food pantries by nearly 50 percent.

Thanks to these efforts, fewer New Yorkers will go hungry—not only during this holiday season, but in the weeks, months and years to come.

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That concludes our fourth memo. Please feel free to forward this to other interested New Yorkers. And—as always—we welcome your thoughts and ideas about these issues and any others you wish to bring to our attention. You are welcome to contact us by clicking here or going to http://www.ny.gov/governor/contact.

Thank you for your interest.