With Six Of 17 On Regents Board Up For Reappointment, Calls To Change Process
No turnover likely despite new agenda and round of proposed changes to state education oversight authority
Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:55:00
On a Wednesday in early February, Board of Regents member Roger Tilles walked into his reappointment interview with Assembly Members Deborah Glick and Cathy Nolan. Six minutes later, he walked out with a pretty clear feeling that he would retain his seat for another five-year term.
Tilles is one of six people on the 17-member Board whose term is ending next month, an unusually high number for the Regents. But while there is not expected to be much drama in this year’s round of reappointments, people on the Board and some in the Legislature are using the moment to call for changes in how the process works.
While most members seek reappointment, anyone who wishes may apply. Ads are placed in local newspapers across the state calling for any interested candidates, and government representatives reach out into their districts to various active community leaders. Despite the official open policy, though, rarely do applications come from people without political connections to apply.
This year, 38 people sent in applications. (Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office said it did not have a full list.) Of these, 18 were interviewed by the chair of the Assembly Education and Higher Education Committees and any other elected officials who wished to attend.
Most drop out of the running when they learn that the positions are unpaid and require steep time commitments. Those who remain lobby for themselves ahead of the decisions being made by joint resolution. If one is not reached by the first Tuesday in March, a joint session is held on the following Tuesday.
Typically, the speaker and State Senate leader take over the process after the interviews and decide which candidates are ultimately submitted to both houses for a vote.
There was supposed to be an opening this year. Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) president Karen Brooks Hopkins had originally decided not to seek reappointment after concluding that her duties at BAM did not give her enough time. In late February, though, she reversed course, agreeing to stay on for an additional year. Hopkins declined to elaborate on a decision she said was made at the urging of her colleagues.
She and the other five incumbents whose terms are ending—Tilles, James Dawson, Harry Phillips, Chancellor Emeritus Robert Bennett and Lester Young—are all expected to be reappointed.
While the members of the Board of Regents will almost certainly remain the same, Board chancellor Merryl Tisch laid out an agenda with several big changes, focused on redefining parameters for high schools, reevaluating a statewide data system, driving dollars to transform underperforming schools and reexamining the effectiveness of New York’s standardized exams.
The Legislature has in the past considered bills that would discontinue the Regents and apply term limits to board members. Other changes to the structure are being called for in some corners as well: traditionally, appointments have been driven by Assembly Democrats, which has spurred Senate Republicans both to refuse to appear at some joint sessions and introduce legislation that would take the appointment process out of the hands of the Legislature.
“It’s an inside job,” said Assembly Member Mark Schroeder, a Buffalo Democrat who strongly opposes the Board of Regents. “At the end of the day, it is clear to me that the speaker makes the decision. Period. The end.”
Some officials and education experts argue that the process by which members are chosen is distorted by partisan politics.
“You can’t take politics out of a process that is political,” said Joseph Viteritti, chair of the Urban Affairs Department at Hunter College. “You want people who can make sound judgments about things, but in the end it’s a political process.”
Minority Leader Brian Kolb and Schroeder have called for the suspension of the Regents, arguing that the process is antiquated and calling for a reexamination of the purpose of the Board.
“Under its current form and fashion, I’d like to see [the Board of Regents] totally discontinued because they are not an independent body,” said Kolb. “I think we should take a clean sheet of paper and start over again.”
Schroeder agreed.
“The Regents should be abolished,” he said. “I will vote no on principle for every Regents person from now until doomsday, until we restructure it.”
Tilles is one of six people on the 17-member Board whose term is ending next month, an unusually high number for the Regents. But while there is not expected to be much drama in this year’s round of reappointments, people on the Board and some in the Legislature are using the moment to call for changes in how the process works.
While most members seek reappointment, anyone who wishes may apply. Ads are placed in local newspapers across the state calling for any interested candidates, and government representatives reach out into their districts to various active community leaders. Despite the official open policy, though, rarely do applications come from people without political connections to apply.
This year, 38 people sent in applications. (Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office said it did not have a full list.) Of these, 18 were interviewed by the chair of the Assembly Education and Higher Education Committees and any other elected officials who wished to attend.
Most drop out of the running when they learn that the positions are unpaid and require steep time commitments. Those who remain lobby for themselves ahead of the decisions being made by joint resolution. If one is not reached by the first Tuesday in March, a joint session is held on the following Tuesday.
Typically, the speaker and State Senate leader take over the process after the interviews and decide which candidates are ultimately submitted to both houses for a vote.
There was supposed to be an opening this year. Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) president Karen Brooks Hopkins had originally decided not to seek reappointment after concluding that her duties at BAM did not give her enough time. In late February, though, she reversed course, agreeing to stay on for an additional year. Hopkins declined to elaborate on a decision she said was made at the urging of her colleagues.
She and the other five incumbents whose terms are ending—Tilles, James Dawson, Harry Phillips, Chancellor Emeritus Robert Bennett and Lester Young—are all expected to be reappointed.
While the members of the Board of Regents will almost certainly remain the same, Board chancellor Merryl Tisch laid out an agenda with several big changes, focused on redefining parameters for high schools, reevaluating a statewide data system, driving dollars to transform underperforming schools and reexamining the effectiveness of New York’s standardized exams.
The Legislature has in the past considered bills that would discontinue the Regents and apply term limits to board members. Other changes to the structure are being called for in some corners as well: traditionally, appointments have been driven by Assembly Democrats, which has spurred Senate Republicans both to refuse to appear at some joint sessions and introduce legislation that would take the appointment process out of the hands of the Legislature.
“It’s an inside job,” said Assembly Member Mark Schroeder, a Buffalo Democrat who strongly opposes the Board of Regents. “At the end of the day, it is clear to me that the speaker makes the decision. Period. The end.”
Some officials and education experts argue that the process by which members are chosen is distorted by partisan politics.
“You can’t take politics out of a process that is political,” said Joseph Viteritti, chair of the Urban Affairs Department at Hunter College. “You want people who can make sound judgments about things, but in the end it’s a political process.”
Minority Leader Brian Kolb and Schroeder have called for the suspension of the Regents, arguing that the process is antiquated and calling for a reexamination of the purpose of the Board.
“Under its current form and fashion, I’d like to see [the Board of Regents] totally discontinued because they are not an independent body,” said Kolb. “I think we should take a clean sheet of paper and start over again.”
Schroeder agreed.
“The Regents should be abolished,” he said. “I will vote no on principle for every Regents person from now until doomsday, until we restructure it.”
