State education commissioner optimistic new East Ramapo monitor will be effective

Ahead of an announcement that the state will install a monitor to oversee the East Ramapo school district, the state’s new education commissioner said she expects the step will address the concerns raised in the troubled district in recent years.

“The steps that we’re taking right now will address the issues that we have in East Ramapo, and we are working in conjunction, in collaboration with the school board there, and that is a major step forward,” state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said this morning at City & State’s annual On Education conference. “We have a lot of work to do there and hopefully this will address that.”

The East Ramapo school district has been plagued by divisive battles over its finances. Critics say Orthodox Jewish members of the local school board have slashed funding to lower taxes while favoring private religious schools. Many of the district’s public school students are black or Latino, adding a racial element to the controversy.

The New York Times reported today that Dennis Walcott, the former New York City schools chancellor who served in the Bloomberg administration, will lead the oversight team. 

State lawmakers had pushed for legislation to create a monitor with veto power over the board’s decisions, but the bill died this past session in the state Senate. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the state-appointed monitor will not have veto power over the school’s decisions. 

Nonetheless, Elia said she is optimistic that the monitor would be effective. She is set to make the official announcement at a press conference early this afternoon. 

“We have to work very hard to address the issues there,” Elia said. “We’re doing that. I will hope that if we move forward that the monitors that we put in place can help to address some of the issues in East Ramapo. We’ve worked very hard with the board and the board chair there to come to the table today in a collaborative way. That will be the approach that we take.”

But Elia also urged patience in letting the process play out.

“Again, this is a process,” Elia said. “We aren’t going to have a press conference in East Ramapo and have everything fixed, nor are we going to have a press conference for East Ramapo and anticipate it isn’t going to work.”