But oddly, the DOE admitted rescinding the grant after three months without even bothering to call the union to the negotiating table.
The so-called School Innovation Fund (SIF) grant program, for which districts across the state submitted competitive applications last summer, requires participating schools to put a new teacher evaluation system in place for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.
It also requires that staffers be trained on the new system by July.
State Education Department officials said they were willing to let the city and United Federation of Teachers strike a limited deal on the evaluations that would cover just the three schools participating in the grant program.
Such a side-deal could likely be reached faster than waiting for the two sides to hammer out a broader city-wide evaluation system — which Gov. Cuomo has given them until January 2013 to do.
Yet city education officials told The Post they returned the funds without asking the UFT for a side-deal and without notifying the public about the grant — which had been awarded December 16.
Their decision came nearly four months before the grant program’s deadline.
Asked about the timing, DOE officials said they didn’t believe they could get an agreement with the UFT and conduct the required training in time to meet the deadline — particularly because two of the three schools are new.
“I am aware that the award is contingent on an agreement to fully implement the provisions of [the teacher evaluation] law during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 grant periods,” Deputy Schools Chancellor Marc Sternberg wrote to the state Friday. “Unfortunately, as the Department is unable to meet this requirement at this time, I must regretfully rescind our application for these three schools.”
The schools are 21st Century Middle School Academy and the International HS of the Arts — both slated to open in September— along with PS 531/PS 536 in the Parkchester section of The Bronx.
They said they had tried to reach a side-deal with the union on 33 schools this winter under a separate grant program — but that talks fell apart after schools had already started spending the money.
They pulled the plug on the SIF grant last week rather than risk a repeat of that scenario, they said.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew said he wasn’t notified about the awarding of the grant or its subsequent return to the state. He said he was never asked to negotiate a 3-school evaluation deal.
“For them to say they’re going to give money back for something that the deadline isn’t until four months from now, it’s just pretty clear evidence that they have no intention of negotiating a new agreement,” he said.
While there’s still plenty to negotiate, the city and union are closer than ever to reaching a citywide evaluation deal.
A statewide framework for an evaluation system was written into the state budget last month. On the same day, the city and UFT approved an appeals system for bad ratings that had been the biggest hurdle toward finalizing a local evaluation deal.
The SED never publicly announced the awarding of the SIF grants — which also netted Rochester and Geneva City a combined $5 million.