Opinion

Evaluating Andrew

Of all the nutty notions floating around Albany, the idea of letting some parents — but not the general public — see teacher-evaluation ratings surely ranks among the most inane.

Gov. Cuomo, who calls himself the “students’ lobbyist,” can earn that label — by burying this wacky idea, post-haste.

Yet Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker reported yesterday that Cuomo and state lawmakers are near a deal to push the zany plan through. All that’s left, it seems, is for the pols to resolve a few “unanswered and difficult questions,” as one source put it.

Only one problem: Those questions can’t be answered in any logical way.

Even if they could, the idea would be self-defeating: Hiding teacher rankings from much of the public defeats the whole point of the grades in the first place.

Start with those “difficult” questions.

“No one wants to see parents arrested for disclosing the information they receive on a teacher,” the source said. “We don’t have an answer on that.”

Arrested?

Wow! If only military secrets were treated as seriously.

But, yes, under the plan, moms and dads would see ratings for their kids’ teachers — and then be forced to keep the info confidential. No wonder lawmakers have no answer for how to make that work — because it’s unworkable.

There’s more: Parents might be blocked from seeing the ratings of teachers their kids could have next year or thereafter.

That’s precisely the kind of information they’d need to help determine if those teachers are right for their kids.

But evaluations serve more than parents.

As Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday, moms and dads “have to make a decision . . . based on the quality of teachers,” but “rankings provide pressure to constantly upgrade” education more generally.

Besides parents, taxpayers (who fund teachers’ wages) also need to know what’s going on in classes — which teachers are winners, which are losers and what consequences the latter face.

Alas, Cuomo doesn’t see it that way.

“Teachers,” he’s said, “have a right to privacy to some extent.” Yes, “the parent’s right to know outweighs” the teacher’s right, but “after that, it is less clear to me.”

Meanwhile, he and his Albany pals face enormous heat from the teachers union, which is desperate to shield incompetent teachers from scrutiny.

Of course, Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, union lapdogs both, can be relied on to throw kids under the school bus.

But that would be tragic: New Yorkers were grateful after The Post won its hard-fought battle in court and published thousands of teachers’ grades. No one except bad teachers — and their union leaders — want to take a step backward.

If Cuomo acquiesces, he’ll be forfeiting his pro-kid claim.

And selling out the rest of the state, too.

Now’s the time, Gov, to do right by kids.