The state Senate this evening unanimously passed "The School Paperwork Elimination and Reduction Act of 2010" (S.3874).

This bill, sponsored by Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, the chairperson of the Education Committee, would consolidate or eliminate a number of reports required to be submitted by school districts and boards of cooperative education services to the state Education Department.

This is all well and good. Streamline reporting, mandate relief, paperwork reduction, etc.

Sen. Oppenheimer's counterpart in the Assembly, Education Committee Chairperson Catherine Nolan, has introduced the same bill, with no action to date.

Paperwork Reduction-Mandate Relief: An Old Saw
As Jason Brooks of the NY Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability pointed out earlier this month (here), this bill has been around a long time and dates back to 2002. The legislation came out of a directive of the legislature to the Education Department, which studied the issue of streamlining paperwork burdens on school districts, and proposed legislation accordingly. The Senate has since passed this bill several times while the Assembly has continually balked.

Maybe things will finally come through this year, as school districts and charter schools need all the help they can get - except this bill only helps districts. By contrast, there is a push to impose more paperwork and burdens on charter schools by the same Sen. Oppenheimer in the name of "accountability and transparency."

In addition to the inconsistent treatment between charters and school districts, there is another, larger issue at play, as Brooks points out: why does it take six to eight years and counting for the legislature to pass a bill like this, especially one supported by the Education Department? About the only argument against the bill is that it should go further; but it's a start.

The moral of the story is that any charter schools or school districts hoping the state will lighten your administrative burdens - consider it hope-less, if they can't even get this done after all this time.

Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard
Twitter.com/petermurphy26
Facebook: "Chalkboard Nycsa"