Flanagan, 54, has a long reputation with Albany insiders as a student of the issues. Some lawmakers spend little time actually reading bills, but Flanagan, following in the path of his father, a former assemblyman, has a voracious appetite for reading up on and talking policy matters.
As chairman of the committee on education, Flanagan has spent much of his time on the subject in the last four years. He understands, as much as anyone, the state’s extraordinarily complex annual maze that devises the school funding formula. He understands the problems related to Common Core-based standardized tests but insists that better training for teachers is the key to improving student performance.
Ah, yes - teacher training is the key to improving student performance.
Not funding, not smaller class sizes, not moving away from a test-centric education system for one where that attempts to reach the whole child.
Nope - teacher training.
In short, problems in the education system are the fault of teachers and can be addressed by focusing on "improving" teachers via training (and if that "fails," firing.)
I wouldn't expect any other take from a politican squarely on the StudentsFirst payroll.
The last five senate majority leaders have been arrested on criminal charges.
I look forward to the day when #6 gets carted out.