Carl L. Marcellino

CARL MARCELLINO

Republican

BACKGROUND: Marcellino, 75, is running for re-election on the Republican, Conservative, Independence and Reform party lines. Marcellino, who was first elected to the job in a 1995 special election, is chairman of the Senate Education Committee. He also serves on the Rules, Finance, Environmental Conservation, Transportation, and other Senate committees. Marcellino holds a bachelor's degree from New York University,  and a master's in marine microbiology, also from NYU. He  has a professional diploma in administration and supervision from St. John's University School of Education. He and his wife have two adult children.

ISSUES: Marcellino said his top three priorities are taxes, jobs, and education. “I voted over the last 8 years to cut taxes on our residents .?.?. so people have as much money as possible to run their lives.” He said that while he's been the Education Committee chairman, the state has increased aid to significantly to school districts on Long Island. “We’re going to do more of that. We want to invest in public education,” Marcellino said. Education funding has risen by $65 million over seven years to schools in the 5th Senate District, he said. On the subject of controversial teacher evaluations, Marcellino touted his proposed bill to maintain rigorous teacher performance standards, but unlinks students' performance on state tests from teacher evaluations. He said he instead favors efforts to localize the way teachers are evaluated. "Let the local districts do their own evaluations, and keep it there,” he said.