In his 2012 State of the State Address, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he was a “lobbyist for students” (Hu. N.Y.Times). Speech after speech he uses data that shows that N.Y. State students are lagging behind the rest of the country. He often mentions that New York is number one in spending but 38th in results (Santos, N.Y. Times). Fact or fiction?Who advocates for students?School board members, educators, and communities are committed to providing their students with the best schools possible. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2% tax levy cap is going to take away all local control and destroy public education in New York State.When Governor Cuomo said he was a lobbyist for students, for which students does he lobby?Are these the students who will have no sports or extracurricular activities next year because a tax cap budget cannot support these items? Does he lobby for the kindergartners who will only have a half-day program next year due to the cuts necessary to get to the tax cap? Does he lobby for the high school seniors who will not be able to take electives or AP courses in their senior year because the high school is reducing its schedule from a 9-period to an 8-period day? Does he lobby for the student who now is one of 35 students in his middle school math class?For which students does he lobby? Am I missing something?My taxes are still going up this year and next, yet my children will receive nothing more than a bus to school, and then a bus home at the end of the school day. What happened? Did I miss something? What is wrong with education in New York State? The answer is Governor Cuomo.Follow the money...Mr. Wakelyn, the governor's chief educational advisor, has a total of three years of teaching experience (Teach for America) and earned a name for himself with America's Choice School Design, which happens to be a Pearson product. Pearson is one of the leaders in assessment tools and is a front runner for several contracts at the State level (SLOs, GEDs, local 3rd party assessments, etc...). Between Mr. Wakelyn and the Regents Fellows, we have several major policy advisers who have little or no public school experience. Rather, they have connections to charter schools and an abundance of ties to the special interest and for profit assessment companies.I think I just figured out who Governor Cuomo is lobbying for, but it is not the students.Thank you to those who helped to compile this information.