Education reforms spur N.Y. lobbying 'arms race'

ALBANY, N.Y. — Education policy is big business for lobbyists in New York state.

Various education interests have spent at least $124 million trying to influence lawmakers, officials and the general public at the state and local level since the start of 2006, including a record of at least $16 million last year, according to a review of state records by Gannett's Albany Bureau.

That's in addition to $45.3 million in lobbying expenses reported by the New York State United Teachers union and its New York City affiliate over the past nine years. They are tallied as labor organizations, not education groups, by the state's lobbying regulator.

Add in political spending and the numbers are starker: Education interests and teachers unions have spent more than a quarter-billion dollars — $285.5 million — on lobbying, campaign contributions and independent political expenditures over the past decade, according to a report by Common Cause/NY, which the good-government group is set to release Monday.

The spending surge has come amid a growing battle at the state Capitol over teacher evaluations, state aid for schools, standardized testing, charter schools and education tax breaks. And it has led to an "arms race," as a spokesman for NYSUT put it, between the powerful union and organizations backed by Wall Street activists who are championing more charter schools, a tax credit for donors to schools and more accountability.

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The end result has the potential to impact every school, teacher and student in New York — a state that has become a key battleground over education policy nationally.

"Now that you have two heavily funded sides going toe-to-toe, the question in New York is: Is the money going to cancel each other out? Or is one side going to gain an advantage over the other?" said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY. "What should emerge are thoughtful, objective proposals. Unfortunately, that's not the way the game is played in New York."

Excluding direct union spending, education lobbying has increased annually in each of the past nine years, leading to a nearly 57% increase from the $10.3 million spent in 2006, state records show. And with education issues dominating much of the state Legislature's 2015 session and seemingly ubiquitous school-related advertisements on the airwaves and in voters' mailboxes, that trend appears destined to continue.

The lobbying boost has been fueled in part by the rise of reform-minded groups — some of which are backed by former investment bankers and hedge fund managers — that have pushed for more charter schools, tougher teacher tenure and evaluations, and a tax credit for individual donors to schools, including private and parochial institutions. Those issues are opposed by the teachers union, a perennial top spender.

The playing field

When factoring in lobbying and political expenses, NYSUT and its allies have traditionally spent more than those pushing for charter schools and the proposed tax credit. That changed in 2014, when the union and union-backed groups were outspent for the first time by their opponents, $21 million to $16.5 million, according to Common Cause/NY's report.

Robert Bellafiore, a spokesman for the Coalition for Opportunity in Education, said the education debate had been dominated "for years and years and years" by unions and the "standard, district-run education system." His group and other like-minded organizations are spending to even the playing field, Bellafiore said.

The coalition was founded by the late Peter Flanigan, an investment banker, and is pushing for a tax break to donors to schools, including private and parochial institutions. It has spent a total of $2.8 million on lobbying — including various mailers and advertisements — from the start of 2013 through April 2015.

The legislative session at the Capitol ends Wednesday.

"That side has always been near the top of lobbying spending," Bellafiore said. "In the last handful of years, as a movement has grown to expand parental choices in schools, everyone has had to generate money to play at that level. You can't fight something with nothing."

Carl Korn, a spokesman for NYSUT, views it differently.

"The billionaire hedge funders who are trying to buy their version of education reform have triggered an arms race in spending," Korn said.

Money for success

In recent years, reform groups have spent more to push their agenda in Albany and New York City, with some degree of success. Union lobbying, meanwhile, has hit peaks and valleys over the past decade, with NYSUT spending a record $6 million on lobbying in 2011 — a year in which the state passed a new teacher evaluation law and a property-tax cap, two measures of concern to the union.

The two sides also spent heavily on state elections in recent years, with Senate Republicans being the biggest beneficiary over the past decade, receiving $5 million in contributions from groups and individuals backing charter schools and other like-minded efforts, according to the Common Cause report. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's re-election campaign received about $3 million from those backers, the report found.

NYSUT, its affiliates and its allies, meanwhile, contributed about $1 million to the Assembly Democrats' campaign efforts, as well as $772,000 to the Senate Republicans' campaign committee over the past decade, according to the report.

Both sides of the debate have been spending heavily on lobbying so far in 2015 — a non-election year for state posts — in large part because school-related issues have largely dominated the discussion during the state Legislature's annual session.

Cuomo proposed a series of controversial education reforms as part of his budget proposal in January, a version of which were included in the budget approved by lawmakers on March 31 and April 1. Cuomo's proposal triggered a wave of advertisements, rallies and billboards in the early part of the year, with NYSUT reporting $2.5 million in lobbying expenses from January through April.

StudentsFirstNY, a group backed by several former hedge fund managers, aired a $500,000 advertising campaign supporting Cuomo, who pushed the reforms opposed by the union.

Capitol spending battle

Three groups — the Coalition for Opportunity in Education, StudentsFirstNY and Families for Excellent Schools — have funded heavy-rotation television advertisements and direct-to-home mailers in recent weeks pushing the state Assembly to support a much-debated tax break proposal.

NYSUT, which has a team of paid lobbyists on staff, has countered with billboards, print and radio advertisements knocking the proposal. The groups and the union aren't required to disclose how much they spent on the advertisements until July.

The plan would allow donors to schools — including private and parochial schools — to write off 75% of their donation, as well as create a $500 credit for parents of private-school children.

The bill has been championed by Cuomo, Senate Republicans and Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who say it can help boost struggling private schools and give parents more options for their children. Its fate remains up in the air as the legislative session draws to a close, but it has drawn opposition from some Assembly Democrats, who control a wide majority in the chamber and have traditionally been allied with NYSUT.

Assemblyman Harry Bronson, D-Rochester, said the tax break would allow "unknown interests" to have a hand in where the state directs funding for education, rather than elected lawmakers.

"From a policy standpoint, we cannot support this piece of legislation," Bronson said.

Last year, the state's top 10 lobbying entities — which includes non-education interests — spent $25 million, according to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, which produces an annual report on lobbying spending in New York. Of those groups, education interests spent $15.6 million — including $9.6 million spent by Families for Excellent Schools, the tops in the state.

The New York City-based group spent exclusively on advertisements and rallies last year, including one featuring several thousand charter school students who were bused to the state Capitol. The spending came as charter school supporters were in a pitched battle with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, which ultimately ended with Cuomo and the state Legislature approving a bill making it easier for the schools to find space to locate.

"The 2014 top-spending lobbying entity, Families for Excellent Schools, reported $9.6 million, entirely within advertising and event-related expenses — which alone accounts for much of the aggregate increase in state and local lobbying spending from 2013 to 2014," according to the JCOPE report. "The next highest 2014 spending total for a single lobbying entity was $3.2 million by the New York State United Teachers."

Families for Excellent Schools, which has largely shielded its donors from public view,held a similar rally in March of this year advocating for an increase in the state's cap on charter schools. It won't be required to disclose the costs associated with the event — which included a performance by pop singer Ashanti — until July.

"For years, families had no voice in the Capitol to protest the crisis of failing schools in New York," said Jeremiah Kittredge, the group's executive director. "Today, legislators are fighting over how best to serve the students in these struggling schools. That's change we're proud of, and our parents won't rest until every child has access to a good school."

Korn, the teachers union spokesman, said comparing spending by the union and its opponents doesn't tell the whole story.

The union, Korn said, has 600,000 dues-paying members across the state — numbers that can't be matched by the reform groups. That increases the union's political might, he said.

"To look only at the dollars misses the point," Korn said. "Our power comes from having highly knowledgeable, energized members in every ZIP code of the state."