Senator Flanagan Announces Hearings To Review State Education Policies

Senator John Flanagan (2nd Senate District), Chairman of the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Education, announced that the Education Committee will be holding a series of hearings to review the impact and effectiveness of recent state education reforms.

Senator Flanagan will convene “The Regents Reform Agenda: ‘Assessing’ Our Progress” hearings on the following dates and locations:

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Suffolk Community College, Health, Sports and Education Center, Grant Campus

1001 Crooked Hill Road, Brentwood

Please click here for directions

Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Syracuse City Hall, Common Council Chambers, 3rd Floor

233 East Washington Street, Syracuse

Please click here for directions

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Buffalo City Hall, Common Council Chambers, 13th Floor

65 Niagara Square, Buffalo

Please click here for directions

Tuesday, October 29th, 2013 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Senate Hearing Room, 19th Floor

250 Broadway, New York City

Please click here for directions

The main focus of the four hearings will be to review reforms embarked upon in 2010 by the New York State Board of Regents known as the Regents Reform Agenda.  This agenda was designed to prepare students for college and 21^st century careers, close the achievement gap and instill a lifelong love of learning in children.

As these reforms are implemented by the Board of Regents, questions and concerns continue to be raised about the impact these changes will have on students throughout the state.  While the reforms were initiated by the Board of Regents, it is critical to Senator Flanagan and the Education Committee that the State review the new policies and maintain an open dialogue about the future of state education policy.

The hearings will focus primarily on several major issues including state assessments, the implementation of common core state standards and the protection of student privacy.

“This series of hearings will allow us to gather input on how recent changes in New York’s education policies have impacted New York school children.  It is important to ascertain which policies are working well and which ones are in need of improvement so that our students can achieve the highest levels of academic and career success.  We must maintain an open dialogue with educators, students, parents, school administrators and other officials so that we can work together to move forward in a way that will benefit the children of our state,” stated Senator Flanagan.

Members of the public and the educational community are welcome to attend the meetings and oral testimony will be by invitation only.  Written testimony will be accepted throughout the course of the hearings and can be submitted by clicking here or via email at flanagan@nysenate.gov.

Please note that all testimony submitted will be considered part of the permanent record of this series of meetings and, to the extent feasible, will become part of the official public record.  However, only testimony that is considered germane to the topic of these hearings will be accepted and any written testimony that contains inappropriate or unprofessional language will be excluded from the official record.

In the interest of protecting the privacy and personal information of those who submit written testimony, only the first name, first initial of the last name and the city of residence will be printed in the public record.