Chester E. Finn Jr. is an education analyst with knowledge and an opinion on just about any K-12 topic.
But, according to school finance advocates, he didn鈥檛 have his facts straight in recent courtroom testimony.
The Washington-based pundit appeared as an expert witness for New York state in a special hearing in front of the court-appointed advisers who will recommend a remedy in the state鈥檚 long-running school finance case.
Shortly after Mr. Finn鈥檚 Oct. 1 testimony, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity posted an account of it on its Web site. 鈥淪tate鈥檚 鈥楨xpert鈥� Witness Proves He鈥檚 No Expert on New York Schools,鈥� read the headline.
According to the summary, Mr. Finn failed to understand basic facts about the state鈥檚 study estimating the funding needed to comply with a 2003 court decision ordering the state to raise spending in New York City. He also failed to defend specific methodological approaches used in the state study conducted by the New York City-based Standard & Poor鈥檚 financial-analysis firm, the account said.
During cross-examination by a CFE lawyer, the account said, 鈥渋t became apparent that Dr. Finn had neither thoroughly examined the state鈥檚 proposal nor the S&P study as the state鈥檚 lawyers claimed.鈥�
Mr. Finn says the group鈥檚 version is an unfair depiction of his testimony. The state attorney general鈥檚 office, he said, asked him to explain how the ultimate resolution to the finance case would be affected by the accountability measures in the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
For almost half his time on the stand, Mr. Finn said, he answered questions about those issues posed by the three 鈥渟pecial masters鈥� appointed by a Manhattan trial-court judge. (鈥淎s Lawmakers Stall, N.Y. School Aid Case Gets 鈥楽pecial Masters,鈥欌�� Aug. 11, 2004.)
鈥淭hey were thoughtful questions,鈥� said Mr. Finn, who is the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a Washington think tank that supports charter schools, public school accountability, and vouchers. 鈥淭hey were trying to understand things.鈥�
He said that while the CFE lawyer tried to undermine his credibility, that effort wasn鈥檛 as successful as the group鈥檚 account makes it seem.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 supposed to be an authority on school finance, and I wasn鈥檛 there to get into the weeds of the methodology鈥� of the funding studies, Mr. Finn said in an interview last week. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 what the CFE attorney wanted to do.鈥�
