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Give ’em an F!
State Education Commissioner John King read Mayor Bloomberg the riot act yesterday — threatening to suspend the city’s ability to spend $830 million in federal aid because of its failure to enact a teacher-evaluation plan.
Albany would determine how to spend the federal dollars earmarked for needy students in Big Apple public schools if the city doesn’t submit an action plan by Feb. 15 to train teachers and principals on new teacher evaluations, King said.
“We are taking action because of their failure,” King said at a press briefing and in a letter to Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
“It is unfortunate that I am forced to take these actions, but the 1.1 million children who attend New York City public schools deserve the very best education we can give them.”
King said the city’s inability to implement a teacher-evaluation plan with the teachers union also jeopardizes $700 million in federal Race to the Top funds for all of New York state, including $256 million dedicated to the city.
He said the state could be considered in violation of the federal program because its largest school district — representing nearly 40 percent its students — lacks a required evaluation program.
And US Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s office strongly suggested New York is not in compliance.
“It does give cause for concern, as we expect the state to meet the goals laid out in their application,” a Duncan spokeswoman said.
In total, the city’s failure to reach a deal on a new teacher-evaluation system with the union could end up depriving public schools of more than $500 million in state and federal aid combined, King said.
Cuomo — who set yesterday’s deadline to have an evaluation system in place in exchange for a $250 million increase in state aid — offered no sympathy.
“Almost every school district got it done in the state except New York City . . . They asked me several times would I extend the deadline, and I said no, because a deadline is a deadline,” Cuomo said on WOR radio.
Cuomo said the Bloomberg administration and the United Federation of Teachers “both failed.”
Meanwhile, King seemed to agree with the union over one of the key sticking points that scuttled the deal — the time frame for when the evaluation system would lapse.
The mayor insisted he opposed a two-year “sunset” because it takes two years to fire a tenured teacher and the short time frame makes the evaluation system meaningless.
But King said that even if the agreement sunsets, the city would still have the ability to boot bad teachers under state law.
Walcott sent a letter to principals saying a loss of aid over the evaluation debacle would have an “adverse impact” on budgets.
“We hope to protect schools from these cuts as much as possible,” he said.
A controversy erupted earlier yesterday when the city Health Department conducted an inspection of the cafeteria at UFT headquarters at 52 Broadway.
UFT President Mike Mulgrew claimed it was payback for the dispute over the evaluations. But a City Hall spokeswoman said the inspection had been scheduled.
The inspectors gave the union cafeteria a passing “A” grade.