Capitol Pressroom, July 27, 2018

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The Green Party is looking to grow its support in this year’s gubernatorial election. We met the party’s gubernatorial ticket, Howie Hawkins and Jia Lee when they stopped by.

WXXI (NPR, Rochester), July 27, 2018

Howie Hawkins and Jia Lee want to make major changes in New York State. Hawkins is the Green Party candidate for governor and Lee is a candidate for Lt. Governor.

During a stop in Rochester on Thursday, the two spoke in front of Kodak Park School No. 41, which closed at the end of the school year, and will reopen in the new academic year as a different school. They said, if elected, they would make improving schools a top priority.

Lee is a teacher who has served New York City for 17 years and she says her son currently attends public school. She says they support community control of schools (not mayoral) and want to rely on experts in each municipality to tell them what fixes are neded and how to go about implementing them. She says overall the issues in school aren’t that much different than what’s seen across society:

“What you see playing out in schools is a symptom of what’s happening in the greater society and it’s disproportionately impacting black and brown communities,” she said. “It’s definitely something people high up in office who are getting contributions from the one percenters aren’t concerned about.”

Spectrum News, July 26, 2018

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Green Party candidates across the state say improving public schools is a priority.

Howie Hawkins and Lieutenant Governor Candidate Jia Lee were in Syracuse Thursday showcasing their education platform. Both are calling for district lines to be redrawn to provide more opportunities for all students.

They say urban schools are lagging.

"Who suffers the most?” said Lee. “In predominantly black and brown poor communities and that is part of systemic racism that we can no longer be a part of."

The candidates also came out against charter schools and high-stakes standardized testing. Both say those practices hurt urban districts disproportionately.

WROC TV (Rochester), July 26, 2018

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ROCHESTER, NY (WROC) - The Green Party has officially chosen its candidate in the race for governor of New York.

This will be the third time Central New York's Howie Hawkins is running for the seat.

His platform includes the state running on 100 percent clean energy by 2030, health insurance for all New Yorkers through a single-payer system and affordable housing.

"The rent is going up healthcare costs are going up but wages have been stagnant,” says Hawkins “So in terms of housing we've got to build more affordable housing. The most effective economical way to do that is to expand public housing. Not these old projects for the poor that isolated, segregated minorities. But public housing that is mixed income where middle class, working class and the poor live together."

Incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo will face Democratic challener Cynthia Nixon in the primary. Former Mayor of Syracuse Stephanie Miner is running on the independent ticket.

And on the Republican ticket: Dutchess County Exectuive Marc Molinaro.

For immediate release: July 26, 2018

Opposes High-Stakes Testing, Privatization, Charter Schools

(Syracuse) The Green Party candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor – Howie Hawkins and Jia Lee – were at the State Capitol on Wednesday to call for an overhaul of the state’s education policies, including more funding for schools in low-income communities; a move away from high-stakes testing and privatization, including charter schools; and the election of a Governor who supports rather than attacks teachers, especially following the Janus decision.

The Greens say the state should close the $4.2 billion cumulative shortfall in Foundation Aid funding that was intended to meet the requirements of the 2006 ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case. They say the should settle, not fight in court, the lawsuits from New York City/Syracuse parents and the Small Cities for full Foundation Aid funding.

Lee, a NYC public school teacher and recent candidate for UFT president, said the “best way to improve education is end the racial, class, and academic segregation in public schools. Integration has been the most powerful progressive education reform since Brown v. Board of Education by far.” Schools in New York City are the most segregated in the country and schools in upstate metropolitan regions are among the most segregated in the nation.

Politico New York, July 26, 2018

The Green Party ticket of Howie Hawkins for governor and Jia Lee for lieutenant governor has filled out a questionnaire seeking the NYC-DSA endorsement in the general election.

Hawkins, speaking at a press conference in Albany, said the NYC-DSA would do better to stay outside of the existing party structures and noted his own socialist roots.

“We’re the only socialists running,” Hawkins said. “The others that have suddenly taken the socialist label are old-fashioned liberals. They want to partially mitigate the inequalities and irrationalities of capitalism after the fact — we want distribution to be fair in the first place … and we want economic democracy, which requires social ownership.”

For immediate release: July 26, 2017

Calls for Increased School Funding, Desegregation

(Rochester) The Green Party candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor – Howie Hawkins and Jia Lee – were in Rochester Thursday to call for an overhaul of the state’s education policies, including more funding for high-poverty school districts; a move away from high stakes testing and privatization, including charter schools; and the election of a Governor who supports rather than attacks teachers, especially following the Janus decision.

Rochester is considered perhaps the worst school district in the state if not the nation. Among districts with at least 2,000 students, Rochester is worst at fourth-grade math and second-worst at fourth-grade English, beating only Syracuse. It has frequent school closings, forcing students and teachers to move from school to school. Since 2002, the district has closed 26 schools (including School 41) and opened 18. Eight percent of elementary school students passed the 2017 reading and math tests and the city's graduation rate remains the worst in the state.

Nationwide less than half the students displaced by closures end up in better schools, according to research from the Center for Research and Education Outcomes at Stanford University.

Political New York Education, July 26, 2018

GREEN PARTY WANTS TO AX PROPERTY TAX CAP— POLITICO’S Anna Gronewold: Green Party candidates for governor and lieutenant governor said the state’s cap that limits how high school boards can raise property taxes to fund their budgets would be unnecessary under their education platform. Perennial candidate Howie Hawkins and his running mate, New York City special education teacher Jia Lee, said their plan for schools includes revenue-sharing from the state and fully funding $4.2 billion in Foundation Aid, a formula which directs money to high needs districts but has never been fully enacted. Read more here.

WRVO (NPR, SUNY Oswego), July 26, 2018

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Cuomo's other opponents are also calling on him to debate. Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins is urging media organizations to set the debates with or without Cuomo.

"If Cuomo doesn't show up, that's on him, and we'll have a good debate without him," Hawkins said. "And if we start having those kinds of debates, I think he'll feel pressure to come, compelled to come."

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Newsday, July 25, 2018

Howie Hawkins and Jia Lee said the state could pay for it through higher income taxes on wealthier New Yorkers.

Howie Hawkins, seen here on Oct. 18, 2018, is running for governor on the Green Party line. Photo Credit: Newsday/Audrey Tiernan

ALBANY – The Green Party candidates for governor and lieutenant governor on Wednesday called for an overhaul of public education spending and control in a race in which the performance and cost of schools is a major issue.

Green candidate for governor Howie Hawkins and his running mate, New York City schoolteacher Jia Lee, said they would have the state pay $4 billion more in aid so schools could hire more and better teachers and reduce class sizes. The candidates also said they would restore more control of schools to parents, educators and local school boards, with fewer mandates from the legislature, governor and state Board of Regents.