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ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo has abandoned any hope that Mayor Bloomberg and the teachers union can agree on a new teacher-evaluation system, and he will submit legislation this week authorizing the state Education Department to impose such a system on the city, The Post has learned.
“There is no deal in sight. Neither side trusts the other, and as a result, there’s a total impasse,’’ a senior Cuomo administration official said yesterday.
“Unless something totally unexpected happens in the next few days, the governor will submit the legislation this week,’’ the official continued.
Cuomo’s proposal will be part of a series of “30-day amendments” that are planned to modify the state budget he proposed to the Legislature last month.
The proposal, which is expected to win easy approval from the Legislature, would still give the city and the United Federation of Teachers until Sept. 17 to reach an agreement, but if they fail to do so, an evaluation system drafted by the state would take effect.
Late last month, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), a strong union ally, and the leaders of the Senate made it clear they were ready to back Cuomo on imposing a teacher-evaluation deadline on the city.
Sept. 17 is the date set in law for final approval of a second round of special-education grants that only school districts with teacher-evaluation plans can receive. The city has already lost $250 million in the funding because of its failure to adopt a plan.
While most of the state’s more than 700 school districts have reached agreements with their unions on evaluations, the city’s is by far the largest and most important.
“As long as there’s no agreement with the [union], you really can’t say that New York state has complied with the federal Race to the Top mandate for stronger systems to evaluate teachers,’’ an education-reform activist told The Post.
The Post disclosed two weeks ago that Cuomo had notified Mayor Bloomberg and union President Michael Mulgrew that he would submit legislation in mid-February to impose a new evaluation system if the city and the teachers failed to reach agreement.