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Mayor Bloomberg vowed yesterday to keep up the pressure on state lawmakers to abolish the “last in, first out” rules for laying off city teachers as he unveiled a $65.6 billion spending plan that calls for the largest reduction in the teaching force since the 1970s.
“In terms of doing with fewer teachers, that’s the budget reality, and that’s one of the reasons why you need [to change] LIFO. The fact of the matter is not everybody is a great teacher. What we’ve got to constantly do is improve the pool and making sure better people are working,” Bloomberg said.
He said ending LIFO would “mitigate the pain,” adding, “Now is the time to do this.”
Bloomberg’s preliminary budget recommends the elimination of 6,166 teaching positions — including 4,666 layoffs. The balance of the cut would come through attrition. The reduction would eliminate about 8 percent of the 75,000-strong teaching force and save $350 million.
The mayor emphasized that a $2 billion surge in city tax revenues — and previous belt-tightening — staved off even steeper cuts.
Bloomberg also recommended eliminating 100 senior centers, 16,000 child-care slots, 5,500 summer youth jobs and cutting $192 million in rental subsidies to former shelter residents, which he attributed to cuts in state and federal aid. The plan calls for shutting 25 fire companies.
In addition to the teacher cuts, another 2,000 city jobs would be lost.
Bloomberg’s spending plan anticipates $600 million in state aid that wasn’t included in Gov. Cuomo’s budget proposal. If the relief doesn’t materialize in budget negotiations in Albany, he warned that the city will have to cut services even deeper.
Supporters of LIFO — including the teachers union — accused Bloomberg of using the threat of layoffs as a political club to win the right to abolish teacher seniority rights.
“Given the city’s growing revenues, along with the governor’s clear statement that the state budget should not require local layoffs, the mayor’s insistence on teacher layoffs becomes more and more bizarre,” said United Federation of Teachers President Mike Mulgrew.
State Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz (D-Bronx) said: “The mayor seems to be saying this every year. This is more of a pressure tactic than anything else.”
A teachers reform group endorsed Bloomberg’s bid to end LIFO.
“Lawmakers must act immediately to change the ‘last in, first out’ policy that requires seniority — not effectiveness — be the sole basis of layoff decisions,” said Evan Stone, co-founder of Educators4Excellence.