The Regents have a race on their hands
Rick Karlin, Capitol bureau
An Assembly review committee on Monday finished up the 23rd and final interview of potential Board of Regents candidates, some of whom may be nominated and then possibly elected to the board on Tuesday. That would be notable, since it would mean they might displace some of the four incumbents whose terms are up.
While the Board of Regents set state education policy, their elections by lawmakers have historically been sedate, even under-the-radar affairs. But the ongoing controversy over the state’s Common Core curriculum and attendant standardized testing, which can play into teacher evaluations as well as fuel student and parent angst, has put the Regents front and center.
That unrest has also engendered a nascent throw-the-bums-out sentiment, an anti-incumbent movement in which lawmakers — including at least five Senate Democrats, a sprinkling of Republicans in both houses and possibly an unknown number of Assembly Dems — might vote against the incumbents during Tuesday’s vote. The incumbents are “at-large” members Wade Norwood and James Cottrell, as well as Albany’s James Jackson and Staten Island’s Christine Cea.
The anti-incumbent backlash is unusual and it’s due to what critics say is the current Board of Regents’ culpability in the troubled rollout of Common Core, a process plagued by complaints that the State Education Department hasn’t given local schools enough time or guidance in adopting the new program.
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/207926/the-regents-have-a-race-on-their-hands/