(From The Buffalo News, May 1, 2010)
By MARY PASCIAK
A national education reform group based in New York City is pouring more than $50,000 into Buffalo’s Board of Education elections this year.
Education Reform Now has identified three candidates it believes would support its agenda, which includes increasing the number of charter schools and linking teacher compensation to performance.
The group’s financial support appears likely to eclipse the money spent by the other two key players in the race, the Buffalo Teachers Federation and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. Each of those groups estimated they would be spending about $10,000 this year, although final tallies will not be publicly disclosed for several weeks.
Joe Williams, the executive director of Education Reform Now, said the nonprofit has been involved with a number of legislative issues at the state level, including efforts to lift the cap on charter schools.
The group has sent out slick, full-color postcards to support three candidates: Philip Lomax in the West District, whose children attend a charter school; Jason McCarthy in the North District, who is vocal in his support of charters; and Kinzer Pointer in the Ferry District, who is the coordinator of parent and community service at Enterprise Charter School.
This year’s race in Buffalo marks the first time the group has gotten involved in a local school board race in New York State. The state’s dire financial situation is forcing school districts to make tough financial decisions, Williams said.
“It’s forcing a lot of reform issues,” he said. “This is the time it’s got to be a really robust discussion. This may be our last chance to save public education. This is an important opportunity to try to push a progressive education agenda.”
The group, which is closely tied to Democrats for Education Reform, has a number of individual backers who have asked not to be named until the group is required to disclose the information to the Internal Revenue Service, Williams said. Education Reform Now also has been active recently in Colorado, Rhode Island, New Jersey and other states.
Williams said his group selected the Buffalo candidates based largely on Internet research and recommendations from people it has worked with locally. An attorney advised the group not to contact any of the candidates, to avoid jeopardizing the spending’s categorization as independent expenditures, he said.
The group also considered backing East District incumbent Vivian Evans, he said, but decided to focus its financial resources on just three candidates.
All three candidates backed by Education Reform Now also have the support of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. The business group also supports Evans and Central District incumbent Mary Ruth Kapsiak.
“The people we’ve endorsed are the true reform, kid-oriented, tax dollar-sensitive folk,” said Andrew J. Rudnick, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership. “This is a big business. This is a billion dollar budget. You need committed, reform-minded folks to be the board of directors.”
A candidate’s position on charter schools was an important factor, he said, but one of many. Some of the candidates backed by the Partnership do not support charter schools, he said.
The Buffalo Teachers Federation has endorsed one candidate also backed by the Partnership: Kapsiak, a former teacher and administrator. The union also has endorsed Patricia E. Devis in the North District, who teaches chemistry at Erie Community College; Ralph R. Hernandez, the West District incumbent who is president of the board; Evans; Pamela D. Cahill, the incumbent in the Ferry District, whom union president Phil Rumore described as “a little dynamo;” and Park District incumbent Louis J. Petrucci, who is running unopposed.
Rumore cited Kapsiak’s professional experience, saying it makes her knowledgeable about education, and praised what he said was Devis’ lack of political ties. Rumore acknowledged that the union has had its disagreements with Hernandez and Cahill, but said they both have proven to be strong advocates for children.
“Evans was our closest call,” Rumore said. “Our major concern is that she’s running as part of the [Partnership’s] bloc. She said she was not running with them as a bloc. We feel we can work with her.”
Other candidates in this year’s race include Bryon McIntyre in the Central District, a Buffalo firefighter and substitute teacher; Theresa A. Harris-Tigg in the East District, an assistant professor of English at Buffalo State College; and Lawrence L. Scott in the North District, a school psychologist in the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at a variety of locations in the city. To find out what district you live in and your polling place, visit http://elections.erie.gov/precinctfinder.aspx.