Gov. Cuomo is finally taking our advice: If the city and teachers union can’t agree on a system for rating teachers, he’ll impose one on them.
It’s a big admission from Cuomo. He’d insisted that the law he pushed a year ago would prompt school districts to adopt such systems, claiming they’d lose state aid if they didn’t. We disagreed, arguing that unions would never agree to any plan with real consequences. And if Cuomo had been serious about evaluations, he wouldn’t have given unions a veto over the details.
Sure enough, the United Federation of Teachers refused to sign off on a meaningful plan for the city by Cuomo’s Jan. 17 deadline — and Gotham lost $250 million in state aid. Which led us to ask: “Will Cuomo heed our warning now and push legislation that holds teachers accountable, even over union objections?”
Yesterday, he suggested he might. If the city and union don’t come up with a plan soon, he said, the state would “step in” and “handle the evaluation process” itself.
Now, it’s swell to see Cuomo admitting failure and taking his cues from The Post. But parents would be wise to hold off on any celebrations — until they see what kind of “process” he has in mind.
After all, the state Education Department, which is controlled by lawmakers beholden to the teachers union, would likely draw up the rules. In other words, expect a sham plan.
And while evaluations are meant to hold teachers accountable (a critical goal), the best kind of accountability is imposed not by educrats or Cuomo, but by parents, who have the biggest stake in school outcomes.
That might explain why some moms and dads are planning protests today at the offices of three mayoral hopefuls — former city Comptroller Bill Thompson, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and current Comptroller John Liu. The trio vowed to block parent-driven charter schools from opening and to keep failing union schools from closing.
If Cuomo wants to help kids, he’d find a way to put parents like these in charge.