Opinion

King draws a line

Teachers unions are playing chicken with State Education Commissioner John King over some $105 million in federal funds — about $58 million for New York City alone — and King’s not blinking.

Good for him. He shouldn’t.

The DC cash is supposed to help districts fix their worst schools. Much of it, in effect, is destined for teachers’ pockets.

But the money, known as School Improvement Grants, comes with strings attached: Local officials and union leaders were to agree — by Dec. 31 — on a rigorous plan to evaluate teachers and principals.

Most of them have failed to do so.

And King says no deals, no cash.

“The clock is ticking,” he warned yesterday. “When the ball drops at midnight on New Year’s Eve, the money drops off the table.” The state, King said, was ready to “take action” to suspend funding on Jan. 1.

That would be a shame, of course. But the unions did agree to a serious evaluation system — one that would allow officials to identify persistently weak teachers.

Last year, Albany passed a law — with the unions’ “blessing” — that requires such a rating system, so as to help the state win federal Race to the Top funds. Those funds, King says, are also in jeopardy.

But ever since, the two principle teachers unions have stonewalled. When the state came up with parameters for such systems, New York State United Teachers sued.

And the unions have resisted deals with the locals, even though the feds require districts to have evaluation plans to win SIGs.

“These districts and their local unions have known about this deadline,” King said. “The last thing the students need is to lose resources because the adults . . . won’t fulfill their responsibilities.”

But the “adults” — i.e., the teachers unions — couldn’t care less about students.

Other than as a source of jobs, that is.

King is right: Why throw money at districts that keep lousy teachers in the classroom?

Here’s hoping King enforces the deal.