Don't Buy a Used Car from this Man

Governor One Percent, Andrew "I am the Government" Cuomo is taking yet another principled stand. You may recall his first principled stand, when he made sure the millionaires who bought and paid for him wouldn't have to continue paying that nasty millionaires tax. Now he's standing up for the millionaires once again, billionaires like Gates, Broad and the Wal-Mart family actually, in demanding that an untested, ineffectual, and very troublesome evaluation system be imposed on city teachers.

Never mind that over a quarter of the state's principals have signed a petition opposing the system. Never mind that value-added evaluation is unsupported by research. Never mind that principals who've dealt with it find it insane, unworkable, and largely incomprehensible. The important thing, in Governor One Percent's principled opinion, is that the self-appointed billionaires education experts have decided it's a good idea, and if they have that much money, how could they possibly make a mistake of any kind?

So Governor Andy, apparently, will round up the usual suspects and appoint a commission. That way, it won't look like he alone made the decision to unilaterally break the agreement he made with state unions. And, in fact, he didn't. More likely Bill Gates, or DFER instructed him what to think, and he thought it. After all, there are suitcases of money to be had for politicians whose principles are for sale.

Still there is reason in our fair state. Several people have publicly challenged the governor to include, say, public school parents or teachers, or anyone who actually uses the system the "experts" are working their magic on.  Will the governor listen? Tough to say.

But don't bet on him disappointing his 1% constituency, the folks who own him body and soul.