Assemblyman Dave McDonough (R,C,I-Merrick) today applauded members of the Assembly’s Committee on Education for passing A.7303-a, which enacts a variety of measures relating to Annual Professional Performance Reviews (APPR), Common Core testing and school district requirements set forth in this year’s budget. McDonough was glad his colleagues on the other side of the aisle are finally joining the Assembly Minority in their push to protect schools, teachers and students.

“My Majority colleagues have finally seen the light and are joining the Assembly Minority Conference to protect teachers, parents and students,” McDonough said. “Our conference was the first to stand up against the unfair link of school aid increases to APPR implementation and against alienating teachers through a poorly-constructed education budget bill. It is unfortunate that the Assembly Majority will use this bill as a political band-aid after the uproar about the education budget bill they forced through the Legislature on March 31. I look forward to supporting this legislation because it is a necessary step toward protecting our schools and putting control of education back into our classrooms and out of the hands of bureaucrats.”

Major highlights of the legislation would require the State Education Department (SED) to adopt APPR regulations by November 17, 2015 and extend the date by which schools must implement teacher evaluations until November 15, 2016. The bill also separates teacher evaluation implementation from school aid increases and requires that a significant number of test questions and correct answers for grade 3-8 Common Core Assessments be released.