Thursday, October 06, 2022

ZELDIN'S PLATFORM AND VOTING RECORD ON PUBLIC EDUCATION AND LABOR SHOW HE IS NO FRIEND OF OURS

Some have suggested that we vote for Lee Zeldin for governor because the Democrats completely take our votes for granted so they don't have to support us in any meaningful way. The record funding and the lower class size bill did pass this year but we should be fair and examine Zeldin's record.

I checked Zeldin's plans and his record on education and labor issues. 

From Chalkbeat:

Zeldin has expressed substantial support for school choice and charter schools. In fact, he first announced his education agenda last spring outside of a Success Academy school in Queens. 

Zeldin supports lifting the cap on how many charter schools can open in New York, which was reached in the city in 2019. He also wants to establish “tax credits for school choice” and create education savings accounts, but doesn’t provide more details. With an education savings account, parents can withdraw their children from public schools and receive tax dollars in a restricted-use account to pay for private school or other educational options like therapy.

On Mayoral control which is one of our biggest problems in NYC:

On the city level, Zeldin saw eye to eye with Mayor Eric Adams and Hochul on extending mayoral control of schools.

This is pretty much a complete anti- public schools as I would like them to be agenda. If there is choice, the private and charter schools get to choose who they take while the public schools have no choice but to take every student who comes through their doors.

On broad labor issues, let's look at some of Zeldin's votes as a member of the House of Representatives.

From Vote Smart:

07/29/2021

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022

(Zeldin's Vote) No

Bill No. HR 4502

Outcome Passage - Bill Passed - House (219 - 208)

Date 07/29/2021

03/09/2021

Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021

(Zeldin's Vote) No

02/06/2020

Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019

(Zeldin's Vote) No

This is from the AFL-CIO:

A 14% pro-labor record has helped sink his lifetime score of 32% which isn't very good. This is no centrist Republican.

I know he would have to work with a Democratic State Legislature if elected governor but Zeldin clearly plans on moving the needle against labor and public education.

Governor Kathy Hochul is not close to perfect as she extended mayoral control and wanted it extended further but she did at least sign the lower class size bill, even though she delayed it so that it does not have to be fully implemented until 2028.

9 comments:

sleepy joe said...

yeah lets keep those kids in failing schools where you don't have to show up and no discipline . parents need a choice. not saying zeldin is right but something needs to change, and drastically.
attendance?
accountability?
discipline code?
college readiness?
lots of failures
my kids school district spends 28,000 per student almost the same as NYC
great school district. why the huge discount in achievement? like I said James time for a new game plan

waitingforsupport said...

Once again it looks like we must choose the lesser of two evils--Hochul. I really am tired of these options year after year. Working class folks continue to receive whatever it is they want to give.

LetsgoBrandon said...

I suggest reading Thomas Sowell . Data supports charter schools especially for minority students . Restorative justice accountability , and the Union never worked .

Public school teacher

James Eterno said...

I suggest you read Diane Ravitch or former award winning principal Carroll Burris on charter schools. Gary Rubinstein is good too. Watch how charters don't backfill (replace) students when a scholar is counseled out. I could get results if I only kept students who I thought would succeed.

JP said...

Sometimes I think some of you just don't know what's going on because CNN and MSNBC hide it. How does this not matter to you?

Prefer this? These are going on all day, every single day.

Blame a pepper spray incident at 14 St.-Union Square for spoiling subway service on multiple lines, NYPD says.

N/Q/R/W/4/5/6 service affected in Midtown & Lower Manhattan, per MTA.

“Someone sprayed something in the air & people started vomiting left and right,” a source sez.

Or

https://nypost.com/2022/10/07/state-of-emergency-adams-says-nyc-migrant-influx-to-cost-1b/

Or

https://nypost.com/2022/10/07/wild-video-shows-man-randomly-stabbing-bronx-straphanger/

James Eterno said...

We are aware of crime. The latest NYC murder stats from the government. You can be skeptical but here they are:

"For the month of August 2022, the number of overall shooting incidents was driven down in New York City compared with August 2021, marking the fourth-lowest number of shootings for any August in the modern CompStat era. Citywide shooting incidents decreased in August by 30.3% (115 v. 165), driven by steep decreases in the Bronx, southern Queens, and northern Brooklyn. Additionally, the number of murders citywide decreased for the month by 54.2% (27 v. 59) compared to the same period last year, a sign that the NYPD’s work to eradicate violence is taking hold."

Other crimes are up but not enough to warrant the needless austerity that a far right wing government would bring upon government workers and public schools.

LHR74 said...

Unlike the many pro-Hochul posters here I have a life that exists outside the uft bubble they exist in. So worried about who's scraps you'll be eating you loose focus of the big picture. What good are your wishful raises or other perceived benefits when it doesn't touch the inflation rate or the cost to heat your home? What good are your wishful raises or other perceived benefits when you and your family are not safe because of the revolving door of criminals being unleashed? You can honestly watch her comment in the debate about not knowing why crime is so important to Zeldin (or his supporters) and still think she's a good choice for the safety and well being of you and your family? It is laughable for James to say he is "right wing" because he has an "R" next to his name and of course the policies of Hochul are not "left wing", just moderate- right James?

James Eterno said...

We showed Zeldin's plans for education and labor. Way to the right. Inflation has very little, if anything, to do with the governor. I don't support revolving door justice.

LHR74 said...

I am glad to hear you don't support revolving door justice.... directly. Unfortunately all of the politicians you support because they may throw the UFT a bone at some point do indeed support all of the policies that have emboldened the criminal element and made lives miserable for the regular citizen just trying to support themselves and their families. Although the politicians who previously touted their creds on defunding police and the other crime-friendly policies are running away from those positions because it is an election year the trail of unfortunate victims leads to their doorstep.