Rebell, Michael A. (mar224)

Panel Discusses Strategies for Saving NYC Schools

A panel of six Teachers College faculty members and advocates for public education discussed the future of New York City's public schools at the Columbia Club on March 14. The event, titled, "Can Urban Education Be Saved?" was organized by the Metro New York City Alumni Club, a chapter of the TC Alumni Association.

Michael Rebell to Lead Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College

Michael A. Rebell, "lead counsel and strategist in the nation's most prominent school finance lawsuit has been named to lead the newly launched Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Campaign seeks to overcome the gap in educational access and achievement between America's most and least advantaged students.

TC for the Plaintiffs: Court Declares State Deprives City Students 'A Sound Basic Education' - Annual Report 2001

On January 10, a New York State judge, Leland DeGrasse of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, declared the state's method of financing public schools illegal, saying it deprives New York City students a "sound, basic education" guaranteed by the State Constitution.

The Price of Inequity

Educational Equity Symposium puts America's losses at "hundreds of billions" of dollars

Equity Actor

Laurie Tisch notes that many of her fellow TC Trustees had no prior ties to the College. "They're not alums, their children didn't attend TC - they simply care passionately about what TC does," she says.

Rebell with a New Cause

"We're here today to launch a new organization that will tackle the most ur-gent issue in education. "Teachers College President Arthur Levine spoke these words at a news conference in June to announce the launch of The Campaign for Educational Equity, a new effort by TC to narrow the gap in educational access and achievement between America's most and least advantaged students.

Equity Symposium to Present Research

Just about everyone preaches the value of staying in school. But what, exactly, is that value? On October 24 and 25, at the first annual Teachers College Symposium on Educational Equity, a group of 12 leading economists and other social scientists will present some eye-opening answers. For example, one study conservatively estimates that for just one person, the lifetime earnings loss associated with dropping out of high school is $260,000. A high school dropout will contribute just under $100,000 less in lifetime income taxes than someone who has earned a high school diploma. For the current crop of 18-year-olds who will never earn a high school degree, that computes to over $150 billion in aggregate lifetime earnings loss, and roughly $60 billion in lost income tax revenues for society.

Rebell Says Pataki Continues to Ignore Court Mandate

As the Governor fails to allocate $2 billion surplus on school, Michael Rebell says that the "failure to remedy educational inadequacies is contemptible".

The Achievement Gap Has Its Cost

The value of staying in school is substantial for a student -'" but it's important for the New York economy, as well.

Education Funding-A Complicated Formula

Education funding in Florida is known for three things: It's one of the nation's stingiest, one of its fairest and one of its least-understood.

Campaign for Educational Equity Launches Web Site

"The web site is intended as a resource and partnership with the TC community, said Michael A. Rebell, Executive Director of the Campaign. "The goal is to provide timely and useful information on the many issues affecting educational equity."

Legislature told to provide NYC schools billions in new funds by April 1

Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) -- the organization that brought suit over a decade ago against New York State seeking additional funding for New York City schools -- scored a major court victory on March 23rd when the Appellate Division, 1st Department directed the State to provide the city's schools with $4.7 billion to $5.63 billion in operating aid and $9.2 billion in capital funding by April 1, 2006.

The Campaign's Executive Director to Call for Research-Driven Approach to Fixing No Child Left Behind Act

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires all students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014. But with that date fast approaching and doubt growing that targets can be met, partisans of every stripe are battling over how to fix NCLB when it comes up for reauthorization next year -- or whether to scrap it entirely.

Equity Symposium to Focus on NCLB at Midpoint

While the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) may be raising positive expectations for special education students and focusing attention on the educational needs of poor and minority youth, to date, NCLB is significantly behind schedule in meeting its own goals for student performance, teacher quality, academic standards and other key school improvement measures.

The Gaps Don't Seem to Be Closing

Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman set the stage for a two-day marathon in which researchers presented new data about NCLB and debated whether and how to fix the law, which was first enacted in 2002.

Equity Symposium Asks: Can School Finance Suits in State Courts Safeguard Brown v. Board of Ed? Should They?

Since June 2007, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down plans by Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky to maintain racial balance in their public schools, many have seen the nation's education adequacy movement -- the growing wave of lawsuits in state courts that are winning more money for under-funded school districts -- as "the only game in town" for protecting the interests of poor and minority students.

Pursuing equal educational opportunity in a post-Brown world

TC's Equity Symposium asks: Can the state finance suits fill the gap as the Supreme Court retreats on integration?

Thinking Big About How to Close the Gap

At TC's Fourth Annual Symposium on Educational Equity, a star-studded cast of researchers, educators and policymakers argued for nothing less than a full-scale attempt to combat poverty and its attendant ills. Michael A. Rebell, Executive Director of TC's Campaign for Educational Equity, which organized and hosted the symposium, argued that access for children and families to what he calls "comprehensive educational equity" -- in essence, a full range of services -- should be viewed as a moral, statutory and constitutional right.

It's Not Just Academic

The knock on scholarly conferences and symposia is that too often they are just that: scholarly. Information gets presented; debates ensue - but then what?

Rebell on The Open Mind; Levin and Rebell on WNYC

On Saturday, October 22nd, Michael Rebell, Executive Director of The Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, appeared on the talk show "The Open Mind," on Channel 13. See the show in it's entirety.

The End of an Era

Arthur Levine had much to report in his annual State of the College address on September 14, but he saved the biggest news for last: he will step down as the Colleges President on July 1, 2006. His departure will cap a 12-year run during which the College tripled its endowment; refurbished and rehabilitated its physical plant; reorganized its academic departments and strengthened its faculty and Board of Trustees; conducted the largest capital campaign ever undertaken by a graduate school of education; and adopted a new mission focused on educational equity.

A Campaign for Equity: Across the State

Michael Rebell and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity are finishing what Brown v. the Board of Education started. Come to TC and take his class.

A Call to Arms

Congressman Charles Rangel and Teachers College President Arthur Levine issued a joint call for the creation of greater incentives for highly qualified teachers to work in New York City's most challenging schools. Speaking on the eve of the new school year, the two - who were joined by a panel of other speakers - aimed their message at both the New York City Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers, who are in the midst of negotiating a new contract for the city's teachers.

A Line Up of Champions

This year Teachers College is awarding eight Teachers College Medals for Distinguished Service at two master's degree ceremonies on May 17, and the Cleveland A. Dodge Medal for Distinguished Service to Education at the doctoral ceremony on May 18.

Beyond NCLB Hype: A New Agenda for the New Administration

Champion of School Funding to Speak at New York State League of Women Voters Symposium

"New York State continues to fail to provide students with their constitutional right -- the cost of which, to both the individual and to society, is enormous," says Michael Rebell

Cost of Inadequate Education to Society Is Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, Researchers Say

Symposium at Teachers College, Columbia University, to offer solutions; event inaugurates The Campaign for Educational Equity

Democrats outline education agenda priorities

Incoming Democrats have pledged to make several key changes to education funding, while at the same time trying fulfill a pledge to offset new spending with cuts elswhere or new taxes to avoid increasing the defecit.

Dropouts Cost U.S. $84 Billion Annually

The value of staying in school has never been greater. Consider that a high school dropout today will earn a projected $260,000 less over a lifetime than a young student who graduates. Or that collectively, dropouts cost American society an estimated $84 billion a year in lost income tax revenue.

Early Visits Lure Disadvantaged Students Into College

Every year, a Boston-based nonprofit organization called Citizen Schools takes dozens of eighth graders to tour a variety of college campuses. They sample college classes, eat in the dining halls, and get application tips from admissions officers.

Klein touts NYC gains at TC Colloquium

At a Teachers College colloquium this past week sponsored by TC's Office of Policy and Research, Joel Klein, New York City's Education Chancellor, outlined gains New York City has made for its public school students via increasing mayoral control of the school system.

New Books from TC Faculty

With works on topics ranging from education policy research to arts administration, the College's faculty have been prolific in 2007--08. Here's a look at some of their oeuvre.

Rebell Criticizes Mayor's New Funding Formula

Campaign Executive Director criticizes Mayor Bloomberg's proposed funding formula in today's Daily News. "The plan unveiled last week by Mayor Bloomberg for further restructuring of the New York City school system has many good points, but the proposal to alter the city's school financing system is not one of them," said Rebell.

Rebell Faces Off with Hoover Fellow over Costing-Out Studies in School Finance Cases

Showdown over Methods Used to Determine Billion-Dollar Allocations to Schools Is Highlight of American Education Finance Meetings.

Rebell Heads New TC Campaign

Public education advocate Michael Rebell was appointed head of a Teachers College campaign created to bring education research out of the ivory tower and into the cityóó-'ó-'ós public schools.

Sobol v. Sobol

On the issue of educational equity, Tom Sobol is an unabashed friend of the people. On the the issue of Tom Sobol, he takes a tougher line.

Solutions to Global Health Disparities are Focus of Teachers College Conference

Cancer Care Pioneer James Prochaska to Deliver Keynote Address

Event Hosted by TC's Center for Outreach and Innovation Includes Community Health Fair and Mammogram Screening.

The Equity Info Source

When you take on a project like suing New York State on behalf of 1 million school children, it helps to be able to rally good people to your cause. Fortunately, Michael Rebell, co-founder and for years the guiding spirit of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (the plaintiff in the nation's most prominent school finance lawsuit), has that knack. And of all the people Rebell has collected over the years, none has proven more valuable than Molly Hunter.

Tisch and Rebell Lead Campaign to Washington

Michael Rebell views the work of The Campaign as a natural outgrowth of school finance lawsuits like New York's, the timing of the New York appropriation vote and The Campaign's rollout on Capitol Hill perfectly illustrated the link between his old job and his new one.

Tough Questions, Provocative Answers, Lively Debate

TC's Equity Forum Are Packing in the Crowds-'"and Outlining the Future of Education Research

Getting Better All the Time

Teachers College "has always been an incredibly policy-rich environment," says Sharon Lynn Kagan, who was named TC's first Associate Dean for Policy and head of the newly created Office of Policy and Research (OPR) in 2004. "Now we're making it an easier place to navigate, and that's one more reason why we're becoming the institute of choice both for users of policy research and for policy students."

Only the Bathwater -- Or the Baby, Too?

If there was a central question at issue during the College's recent two-day symposium on the federal No Child Left Behind Act, it was if the country should set its sights on more realistic achievement targets than NCLB presently endorses.

School budgets

As federal aid lapses, districts face tough choices

Michael Rebell in the Daily News: Cuomo's Obligation to your Kids. Jan. 6, 2014

TC's Michael Rebell to Gov. Cuomo "Fund Schools, not Tax Cuts." The Executive Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity writes in The New York Daily News that if Cuomo's estimated $2 billion surplus is real, the state should start paying down its $4 billion debt to schools.

TC's Michael Rebell to Gov. Cuomo "Fund Schools, not Tax Cuts"

The Executive Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity writes in The New York Daily News that if Cuomo's estimated $2 billion surplus is real, the state should start paying down its $4 billion debt to schools.

TC's Rebell: U.S. "Closer to Racial Equity Than We Were 50 Years Ago"

But we are much "further from Martin Luther King's vision of equal educational opportunity than we should and could be."

Michael Rebell

Professor of Law and Education

Michael Rebell: "Nation at Risk" Gave Us Standards Movement

The Professor of Law and Education and Head of the Campaign for Educational Equity, said the report was a "blunt" assessment of weakness in American education that still resonates 30 years later.

Michael Rebell Publishes New Article on Judicial Responses to Budget Cuts

In an extensive treatise published in the Albany Law Review, Rebell writes that every federal and state court, in years past and since the 2008 recession, has found that "constitutional rights cannot be put on hold because of a recession."

Gov. Cuomo Establishes Education Reform Commission: Rebell to Press Funding and Equity Issues

Governor Cuomo Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order yesterday creating the New York Education Reform Commission. Michael A. Rebell, executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity, will be one of the commissioners.

Three with TC Ties Named to New NY Education Reform Commission

Governor Cuomo has picked Michael Rebell, John B. King, Jr. and Eduardo Marti to serve on a new commission that will recommend new reforms for public schools throughout the state.

Michael Rebell's "The Right to Comprehensive Educational Opportunity" is Published by the Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review

In this March, 2012 Harvard Civil Rights-'"Civil Liberties Law Review article, Rebell seeks to establish a statutory and Constitutional basis for the right to a comprehensive educational opportunity for all children in the United States.

On NY1's Inside City Hall, TC's Michael Rebell Says State Still Delinquent in Court-Ordered Payments to Public Schools

The Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity told Inside City Hall's Errol Lewis that children have a Constitutional right to a good education.

Rebell, Wolff: "America does not have a general education crisis; we have a poverty crisis."

Michael Rebell, Professor of Law and Education Practice, and Jessica Wolff, Director of TC's Comprehensive Educational Opportunity Project, write in Education Week that America will attain educational equity only by addressing "substantial socioeconomic barriers" that limit school success for many.

GothamSchools reports that Campaign's Comprehensive Plan Tries Persuasion Instead of Litigation

Michael Rebell, an attorney and director of the Campaign for Educational Equity, told the New York City school news blog that his organization's call for funding of comprehensive education support services for poor children aims to win policymakers' hearts and minds.

TC's Rebell Says California Class Action Settlement "Recognized Right to Adequate Education"

But, the Executive Director of TC's Campaign for Educational Equity told Educationnext that the impact of last January's settlement, which ended seniority-based layoffs at 45 under-performing schools in Los Angeles, should not have national effects.

Rebell Talks to NPR's "The Takeaway" About the National Public School Funding Crisis

The Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity was interviewed on August 29 by Celeste Headlee on WNYC Radio about the impact of shrinking school budgets across the nation.

TC's Rebell Calls NY School Funding Cuts Illegal

In the New York Daily News, the professor of education and law and a lead attorney for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case in New York, argues that Governor Cuomo's proposed budget violates New York State's constitution.

US Secretary of Education Appoints Rebell to Equity and Excellence Commission

Michael Rebell, professor of education law at TC and an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, is a national legal expert on school equity law.

Rebell, Henig Weigh In On Federal Teachers Jobs Bill

On August 10, President Obama signed an emergency bill authorizing $10 billion in funding for states to head off tens of thousands of teacher layoffs. Here TC's Michael Rebell and Jeffrey Henig assess some of the bill's pros and cons.

Educational Budget Cuts: Unconscionable - And Unconstitutional

Writing in The Huffington Post, Michael Rebell, Executive Director of The Campaign for Educational Equity, based at Teachers College, argues that children's right to a quality education, as guaranteed by state constitutions, does not evaporate in times of fiscal crisis.

Rebell Tracks Federal Education Bailout Funds on WNYC

Michael Rebell, director of TC's Campaign for Educational Equity, rates the after federal education stimulus package with WNYC's Brian Lehrer.

Equity Symposium: Federal Education Money Plugging Budget Holes But Not Advancing Equity

The annual Equity Symposium unveiled research showing that $100 billion in federal funds going to states for school systems is not advancing equity for poor students. To read a New York Times story on research being presented at the symposium, see http://nyti.ms/a0G6KE. To read an op-ed in The Huffington Post by TC's Michael Rebell on the unconstitutionality of current school budget cuts, see http://bit.ly/9nEoRy.

TC's Rebell Says Governor's School Budget Cuts are Unconstitutional

New York Governor Paterson announced on Tuesday five-percent cuts to state allocations to public schools. Michael Rebell, Executive Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at TC, says the cuts would violate New York State's constitution.

Awards Roundup: June M. Como, Mariana Souto-Manning, Michael Rebell

The Future of Teacher Tenure: A TC Conference Weighs the Implications of Several Court Cases

TC President, 11 Faculty Make 2014 EduScholar Public Influence Rankings

Rankings by Rick Hess, education blogger for the American Enterprise Institute, include President Susan Fuhrman and Thomas Bailey, Jeff Henig, Luis Huerta, Sharon Lynn Kagan, Hank Levin, Ernest Morrell, Aaron Pallas, Michael Rebell, Judith Scott-Clayton, Amy Stuart Wells and Penny Wohlstetter. Hess annually ranks university scholars by their contributions to public debates about education.