Little steps for little feet, as the saying goes — and sometimes for big ones, too.
Gov. Cuomo yesterday said he was prepared to work with Mayor Bloomberg on how to handle teacher layoffs — specifically, ending the age-old system of “last in, first out.”
Bloomberg, of course, is pushing hard for repeal of the law, which mandates that only seniority be taken into account when laying off teachers, with no consideration of actual merit.
The mayor had hoped that Cuomo would call for repeal in his state budget message — but that didn’t happen.
Yesterday, however, the governor sounded much more open.
“The mayor’s point is there should be a different decision-making process than just seniority,” said Cuomo. “I think there is receptivity to the point that there should be objective, fair criteria that don’t penalize seniority. But also understand that there are other criteria to take into consideration.
“And that,” he added, “is the conversation worth having, in my opinion.”
That’s a big step forward — especially coming just days after Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, normally a dependable union lackey, opened the door to a discussion of changing LIFO, if not repealing it.
Like Cuomo, Silver called for “an objective standard to measure people.”
And practically speaking, some such standards do exist: Thousands of non-teaching teachers — and many found wanting for other reasons — are already on the payroll.
They should be the first to go.
At the same time, however, we favor full, outright repeal — with an understanding that while “objective criteria” are important, principals must have wide discretion to retain the best available teachers.
Count on the unions to fight like hell.
But it sure seems like the debate is moving in the right direction.