• The cuts in poor districts were three times as large as those in wealthy districts (see Methodology section for a description of the calculations and definitions).
• To put these cuts in perspective, cuts in poor districts of $843 per pupil amounts to a cut of $21,075 for a classroom of 25 students.
• Cuts in average wealth districts, below average wealth districts, poor districts and the poorest districts were all two to three times larger than those in wealthy districts.
• Students in poor districts were forced to give up much more in their classrooms than those in wealthy districts. Across the state class sizes went up in 63% of school districts, some districts went as far as to reduce kindergarten or pre-kindergarten from full-day to half day.  Large numbers of districts made cuts to summer school, art, music, and honors or advanced placement courses that are essential to competitive college applications. Across the state 11,000 teachers, librarians, guidance counselors and other school positions were eliminated this year.
• All of this despite the fact that Governor Cuomo ran on a pledge to be “the great equalizer” in education by redistributing funding from wealthy school districts to poor ones. Instead his first budget has taken us back to greater inequality.
• By contrast in 2007, the State made a commitment to schoolchildren across the state with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity settlement that provided increases to poor districts that were more than four times those given to wealthy districts. Governor Cuomo’s first budget has reversed the state’s commitment to educational equity and opportunity.

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Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) are designed to evaluate program quality based on universal standards for early childhood settings; communicate program quality to families by assigning them to “star ratings” similar to those used in other consumer ratings; and help programs continually improve quality through targeted supports.

Click here to download the PDF.

QUALITYstarsNY – Fact Sheet for Professionals

Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) are designed to evaluate program quality based on universal standards for early childhood settings; communicate program quality to families by assigning them to “star ratings” similar to those used in other consumer ratings; and help programs continually improve quality through targeted supports.

Click here to download the PDF.

QUALITYstarsNY – Stakeholders Fact Sheet

Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) are designed to evaluate program quality based on universal standards for early childhood settings; communicate program quality to families by assigning them to “star ratings” similar to those used in other consumer ratings; and help programs continually improve quality through targeted supports.

Click here to download the PDF.

QUALITYstarsNY – Parent Fact Sheet

One method that has been used in other states to improve the quality of early care and learning programs offered is implementation of a quality rating and improvement system, or “QRIS.” More than 20 states have already implemented similar initiatives with great success.

Here in New York, a new system called QUALITYstarsNY has just completed an initial field test in 200 early learning programs across the state. QUALITYstarsNY is a system that rates early care and learning programs, and also provides those programs with the programmatic and financial assistance they need to improve.

Because of the instrumental role that early learning programs play in developing our kids’ minds to prepare them for college and successful careers, it is important to ensure that the program they attend are meeting certain requirements.

QUALITYstarsNY is a straightforward rating system that evaluates early childhood programs on a five-star scale. By holding these programs to strict guidelines, parents will be able to rest assured their children are not left behind and remain on a level playing field with other students across the state.

Watch this new video about the program that we produced along with our friends at WinningBeginningNY:

Want to learn more? Here are three fact sheets you can download (click the title to download a PDF).

• QUALITYstarsNY fact sheet for parents.
• QUALITYstarsNY fact sheet for stakeholders.
• QUALITYstarsNY fact sheet for professionals.

• strong consumer representation on the governing board of the New York exchange, the health insurance “marketplace” that must be created by the state by 2014;
• aggressive consumer enforcement through a significant increase in penalties that may be recovered by the State Insurance Department against health insurers that violate the new federal law, a state exhange that can exclude health plans that sell lower quality products, and a strong role in enforcement by new Attorney General Eric Schneiderman;
• a permanent independent consumer assistance office to coordinate community-based organizations across the state to assist consumers with disputes with health insurers, enroll consumers in health insurance, and help consumers select health insurance plans;
• reform of the health insurance rate regulation system that was reinstituted in New York in 2010 to allow consumers to meaningfully participate in rate proceedings;
• expansion of consumer rights by allowing consumers harmed by serious violations of health insurance laws to recover their damages in court (known as a “private right of action”); and
• reduction of health care disparities based on race, ethnicity and other factors: by designating a single state entity to oversee collection of disparities data and to make this information available to the public at no charge through the Internet.

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Click here to download How the New Health Care Law Helps You!

Click here to download Myths About Health Care Reform

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Extending the State Fiscal Relief Provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

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Click here to download the PDF.