Here come the cuts: Gov. Cuomo is re portedly weighing pink slips for as many as 15,000 state employees. Trims in aid to cities and schools are also likely.
Which makes it absolutely vital for him to get lawmakers to scrap seniority rules for laying off teachers in New York City.
Cuomo clearly has no choice about the cuts — but there’s no legitimate reason why layoffs, especially in the schools, can’t be made sensibly. For the city, that means deep-sixing ineffective teachers, not good ones — regardless of seniority.
Frankly, it’s outrageous that the city can’t do that now, thanks to a state law known as “last in, first out.” (For details, see Schools Chancellor Cathleen Black’s op-ed article on the preceding page.)
And the fact that Cuomo’s plan will likely lead to additional teacher layoffs — even beyond what Mayor Bloomberg has already announced — only underscores the urgency of the situation.
When Cuomo presents his budget a week from Tuesday, it’s critical that he include legislation to erase the seniority law, once and for all.
Clearly, Cuomo is in a quandary.
* He’s got a $10 billion deficit.
* He can’t raise taxes — already America’s highest — without doing perhaps fatal damage to New York’s already-fragile economy. (Wisely, he promises not to.)
* And borrowing to fund current expenses would only saddle future taxpayers — and dig Albany’s hole deeper.
So — cut he must.
But the arithmetic is such that less state aid for schools, and more pink slips for teachers, are inevitable.
In the city, Bloomberg is already planning to let go some 4,500 teachers. And those numbers will surely grow if Cuomo decides to slice beyond what City Hall’s budgeted, as he seems set to do.
Say goodbye to a lot of teachers.
Good teachers, too, if the law stands.
Bloomberg and just-departed Chancellor Joel Klein spent much of the past eight years trying to assemble the best possible pedagogical staff. Layoffs based on seniority, rather than merit, would gut their hard-won gains.
And there’s no reason for it — save that the teachers union, set up to protect weak members, demands it.
Cuomo mustn’t let it happen.
Surely his mission — to sway union-beholden lawmakers — won’t be easy. And the city’s interests aren’t likely to trump the state’s in his mind.
Which is why Bloomberg needs to be involved — personally and energetically.
Sure, the mayor this week ID’ed the problem: “By not allowing schools to take merit into account [for layoffs], the state would . . . deprive our children . . . of great teachers.” He called the law unfair — and vowed to fight it.
So far, there’s scant evidence he has.
He certainly hasn’t put a personal stamp on the fight — indeed, lately his mind seems to wander. But if he doesn’t do it soon, he’s not going to win.
His legacy — education — is at stake.
The mayor needs to bring the governor on board on this issue. Period.