Following the unveiling of preliminary recommendations for the Common Core Curriculum, Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) has expressed frustration with the unenthusiastic response from the governor’s office.

The recommendations from Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia come well ahead of the Common Core Task Force’s proposal, which is expected to be finalized in January.

“It is disheartening that this early in the process of revamping New York’s educational standards, the governor’s office appears to be dismissive of suggestions from the very people entrusted to make educational policy decisions by our state constitution,” said Ra. “The State Education Department (SED) and members of the legislature have worked with stakeholders at the local level to address the flaws that have negatively affected school districts across the state. Rather than limiting the conversation, we must be willing to listen to all recommendations to thoroughly develop a solution that best benefits our students, parents and educators.”

Ra highlighted the importance of giving fair review to all recommendations made by the Board of Regents and SED, in addition to those coming as a result of Gov. Cuomo’s task force.

“We need to keep in mind that this is more than a competition for who will ultimately take credit for any final progress; this is about doing what’s right to improve the education of children across New York State,” concluded Ra.

As the Ranking Minority Member on the Assembly Committee on Education, Ra has been at the forefront of the fight to ensure appropriate educational standards and testing, and fair teacher evaluations in New York State. Ra and his colleagues in the Assembly Minority Conference first introduced The Achieving Pupil Preparedness & Launching Excellence (APPLE) Plan in 2014. The APPLE Plan calls for a timely and thorough implementation of educational standards that would consider input from a variety of local stakeholders.