Good Morning Chairman Mendelson and Council Members. As we measure the performance of our education agencies we should start with a focus on the objectives of our education system. I’ll quote former PCSB board member Steve Bumbaugh who frequently says we have one question to answer in education advocacy and policy: “Are we giving poor kids what the rich kids have?” It may seem oversimplified, but when some students walk three blocks to school and others travel two miles and some students have to take double math and reading blocks while other students enjoy arts and music and language education and when some students have stable long-lasting relationships with teachers and others go to schools where nearly half the staff leaves each year - it’s an apt starting place to measure the performance of our education agencies. To me, our objective is to prepare students to be ready for careers, college, citizenship, and life as an adult. And accordingly, we should also ask whether we’re providing all students the opportunities they deserve to expand their horizons through a well-rounded curriculum and empowering them to control their destinies.

Good Afternoon Chairman Mendelson and Council Members. Today marks the third council hearing on teacher and principal retention in four years and the second on the Data Warehouse Amendment Act. At all of the previous hearings, dozens of educators and experts presented compelling testimony, full of specific, actionable recommendations. Yet little has been done to implement those and abet the crisis in teacher and principal turnover that is destabilizing our schools, undermining their attempts at improvement at hurting our students academically and emotionally. Not even the Data Warehouse Amendment Act- which is the very least we can do to bring more transparency to this challenge- has been moved in over two years before this council.