Campaign for Fiscal Reimbursement
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The Campaign for Fiscal Equity is showing an impressive amount of gall in its sudden demand that taxpayers be forced to come up with $20 million in legal fees for their suit against the taxpayers. As reported by our Wm. Hammond at Page 1 today, the group responsible for a looming court takeover of public education in the state, which will likely force taxpayers to throw billions of dollars at the failed, monopolistic, government-run school system, now expects to be reimbursed for the fees that the Campaign’s officers and members don’t want to pay themselves.
We don’t mind saying it’s nice to see this lunge for your money and ours being resisted in court by the attorney general, Eliot Spitzer.
No one begrudges the CFE and its director, Michael Rebell, the right to bring its case in court, however illogical it seems to a lot of us. But their effort to go on the public payroll is sheer chutzpah. They have done well enough relying on the kindness of foundations to this point, and we see no reason to relieve them of the burdens of fund-raising now. The hope now for the long-suffering taxpayers is that Governor Pataki is successful in insisting that the king’s ransom demanded by the plaintiffs purchase a measure of reform.
Mr. Pataki’s Commission on Education Reform, in its report today, will begin to turn the tide if it makes proposals for real change — such as offering parents tuition vouchers, so they can move their children out of failing public schools, and giving principals the authority to pay teachers based on merit rather than seniority. The condition of Albany being what it is, however, we fear the additional billions to be spent will follow the previous billions down the rabbit hole of public education, leaving us with an even more expensive failure on our hands.
The one group that stands to benefit unequivocally is the teachers unions, who will see their ranks grow and their salaries rise regardless of whether their tenured members actually succeed in teaching anyone anything. The litigators responsible for this mess apparently see themselves as saviors who deserve a reward from a grateful populace. Better they should seek their pourboire from the teachers, who are in line for a windfall, than the people whose pockets have just been picked.
