Metro

Mike ‘states’ case on school layoffs

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Mayor Bloomberg urged state legislators yesterday to repeal the “last in, first out” law, which mandates that teachers be laid off based on seniority instead of merit — saying the policy sends “exactly the wrong message” to students who are judged on classroom performance.

“State law includes a ‘last in, first out’ provision, which would force us to lay off some of our very best teachers, while keeping some of our worst. Those layoffs would be felt heavily in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, where schools tend to have the newest teachers,” Bloomberg testified before the Legislature’s Budget Committee in Albany.

“And they’d send exactly the wrong message to our children. We tell them, ‘Work hard, and you can rise as high as your talents can take you.’ But in their classrooms, they’d see that that’s not really true,” the mayor added.

“To lose the best and keep some who aren’t carrying their weight is just a travesty.”

Bloomberg said proposed cuts in Gov. Cuomo’s spending plan as well as city budget reductions could force public schools to lay off thousands of teachers. He urged the governor and lawmakers to revise the law so schools can keep the best teachers and get rid of the lowest performing teachers — regardless of how many years they have in the system.

“We need to be able to make these difficult decisions based on what matters most: success in the classroom and what’s good for kids,” he said.

While the schools with the highest percentage of junior teachers would be hurt the most, Bloomberg emphasized that all schools would be affected because senior teachers have “bumping” rights to fill vacant slots caused by the layoffs.

He said the “merry-go-round” of teachers going from one school to another “would create a firestorm of complaints like you’ve never seen before.”

The mayor appealed to lawmakers’ to do the right thing.

“We can’t do this without you,” he said.

Bloomberg later met with Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Senate Minority Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn).

Bloomberg said the governor was sympathetic to changing LIFO.

After meeting with the mayor, Silver — considered the teachers union closest ally in Albany — was noncommittal. He said he would “look at” revising LIFO, but only if there are “objective standards” by which to determine whom to lay off.

carl.campanile@nypost.com