ALBANY – Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-L.I.) threw cold water on Gov. Cuomo’s surprise bid to overhaul “last in, first out” teacher job protections, casting doubt on whether the changes would be ready soon enough to help Mayor Bloomberg cope with more than 4,500 layoffs.
Skelos told The Post on his way into the Capitol that Cuomo’s proposal to expedite and expand the “Race to the Top” teacher evaluation system already being drafted by the Board of Regents doesn’t go far enough.
The Republican Senate leader – Bloomberg’s closest ally in Albany – called on Cuomo to include a more decisive overhaul in the final state budget proposal due April, a position pushed for weeks by mayoral aides.
“I don’t think it would be done in time,” Skelos said. “The mayor needs something done now.”
“This whole setting up an evaluation system based on Race to the Top, that’s been lingering out there for probably over a year so we need action now and then we can discuss what’s necessary for the rest of the state,” Skelos continued.
Cuomo aides last night rejected similar criticism from City Hall, insisting the new evaluation could be ready by June, when school administrators finalize their budget proposals.
Skelos seemed miffed that Cuomo waited until moments after a Republicans shepherded a Bloomberg-backed proposal through a narrow Senate vote 33-27 yesterday to announce his alternative plan.
“I found it coincidental that he popped out that press release as soon as we passed it,” Skelos, adding, “you’d have to ask him,” when questioned on whether he thought Cuomo attempted to overshadow the Senate GOP’s victory.
Conversely, the Senate bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Flanagan (R-L.I.) had, before seeing the details last night, welcomed the governor’s involvement, saying, “It’s great and it moves the issue forward.”