The Assembly Majority’s Common Core plan is like junk food compared to the educational reform measures found in the Achieving Pupil Preparedness and Launching Excellence (APPLE) Plan.

The rollout of the Common Core Standards in New York highlighted just how broken our educational system is. Now this is not a criticism of our local schools, which are doing their best with the challenges and tight budgets they face. This is a criticism of long-standing, unfair policies and a broken system which has made things worse.

The Majority recently offered a bill to address some of the problems with Common Core, and while it is a start, it’s similar to consuming empty calories. Their bill just barely scratched the surface on addressing common core testing, re-evaluating Common Core standards and protecting the interests of our students with special learning and language needs.

Any nutritionist, doctor or fitness trainer will tell you that results come from a lifestyle change, and that’s how we must approach fixing our educational system. We won’t get the results we want unless we implement a more thorough solution.

Our APPLE Plan is the complete solution.

Common Core testing is a major concern for parents, teachers and students. Our APPLE Plan places a moratorium on testing until an independent panel can review the standards and would then phase-in testing slowly, grade by grade.

Our schools, especially here in rural upstate New York, struggle with inadequate funding. Our APPLE Plan would force the state to return the money it took from our schools in the 2011-12 budget.

The APPLE Plan would empower teachers through increased professional development and by helping to craft age- and developmentally-appropriate curricula. Our teachers have the training; we think they should have a say in what is taught in their classrooms. We not only empower teachers, our bill also empowers parents with the right to decide whether their child’s data may be distributed to third parties.

The APPLE Plan also refocuses our educational system on the children and their unique skills and needs. Often with standardized systems, children who don’t fit a cookie cutter mold are forced into an educational plan that doesn’t work for them. The APPLE Plan makes sure that Individualized Education Plans (IEP) take precedent over the Common Core Standards. Not only that, but we’re increasing funding for BOCES to help students gifted with technical and trade skills develop them for the new hi-tech economy.

Finally, the APPLE Plan creates accountability in the State Education Department where it didn’t exist before. We wish to make the faceless bureaucratic system a thing of the past, by allowing the governor to select the commissioner of education and allowing the legislature to vote on any unfunded mandates proposed by the Board of Regents.

New Yorkers shouldn’t have to settle for empty calorie solutions that will only leave them hungry for more reform. It is important that we pass the APPLE Plan sooner rather than later, so meaningful reform and change can happen now for New York’s students.

As always, I’m interested in what you have to say. Feel free to contact me at 493-3909 or at blankenbushk@assembly.state.ny.us with your comments or suggestions.