ALBANY – If the city and its teachers’ union can’t come up with their own teacher evaluation plan, the state will do it for them, Gov. Cuomo and legislative leaders warned today.
Cuomo said he’ll propose a law empowering the State Education Department to develop an evaluation plan if the two sides can’t come to an agreement “shortly.”
The city was among a handful of districts around the state that failed to meet a Jan. 17 deadline for submitting an SED-approved evaluation plan – and blew its $250 million, 4 percent state school aid increase.
Cuomo disclosed his plan after a 90-minute meeting with legislative leaders.
“This is truly an extraordinary circumstance,” Cuomo said.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate co-leaders Dean Skelos (R-Nassau) and Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) said they agreed with Cuomo’s plan.
“I think it’s appropriate to put in a system of default,” Silver said.
“I think SED has to step in,” said Klein.
Cuomo and the leaders said they think the plan should spur a city-United Federation of Teachers agreement, but wouldn’t put a deadline on it.
“Maybe with this default mechanism, this will give them a different perspective,” Cuomo said.
Bloomberg complained to lawmakers on Monday that New York is the only state to condition school aid increases on union-approved teacher evaluation plans.
But the governor said he didn’t see his proposal as a threat to collective bargaining.
“We have total respect for the system of collective bargaining,” he said. “SED approves these plans anyway.”
The Cuomo plan would ensure the city receives hundreds of millions dollars of state and federal aid in the future that are conditioned on approved teacher evaluation plans.
But he and legislative leaders said it’s too late for the city to try to recoup the $250 million it lost this month.
“I welcome Gov. Cuomo’s involvement, and while we would prefer a negotiated settlement, it’s good to know that should the talks fail again, people who actually understand education will be part of the decision-making process,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “Parents need to know that, thanks to the governor and the legislative leaders, there will be no further risk of the loss of state money for our schools.”
City and union spokesmen did not have an immediate comment.