Funding for SED remains an issue



By DEBORAH A. MILES
With kids returning to school this month, some concerns are being raised by PEF leaders at the state Education Department (SED) over the quality of New York’s educational testing.

Last spring, when students throughout the state took the Math Regents A exam, only 37 percent of the students scored 55 or better, the grade requirement to earn a diploma. That high failure rate prompted PEF members representing SED to urge officials to examine how the test is put together.

“One of the problems is short-staffing,” said Susan Kent, Division 194 council leader and Executive Board representative for members at SED.

Kent and other PEF leaders have been pushing the state to increase staffing at the agency.

She said the bureau was comprised of seven content specialists in math but that has been reduced to only two content specialists who are responsible for the Math A assessment along with a multitude of other duties.

And, the department no longer has the content specialists available to provide professional development to teachers.
The questions for the high school Regents exams are received from teachers across the state. The questions are then field-tested in pilot exams.

“The department is also trying to cope with short staffing by replacing people with technology by posting information on its Web site,” she said.

Contracting-out, again
Because of a state agency hiring freeze since late 2001, Kent said the governor is not allowing the department to fill the vacant positions.

“There’s belt-tightening on one end, yet there is a growing use of outside contractors for creating the tests,” she said.

The use of contractors has been on the rise at SED for work previously performed by PEF members. Over the past three years, SED has paid more than $26 million to consultants to perform functions related to the development of examinations.

“The high failure rate from the last Math test was a warning sign that there are significant problems putting the test together,” she said.

Fill the positions
Kent said problems can and do occur with the lack of education experts and in-house staff performing the work. She said the governor could correct these problems if he directed the state Division of Budget (DOB) to fill the positions.

“DOB has not allowed any positions to be filled even with the federal funds available to SED,” Kent said. “For instance, although SED is responsible for carrying out the mandates of the “No Child Left Behind Legislation,” DOB has not allowed the department to fill any positions from the $1.3 billion the state receives for that initiative.”

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