Cuomo Seeks Speedy Change in
Teacher Evaluations
By THOMAS KAPLAN
Published: March 1, 2011
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Tuesday that he would introduce legislation to speed the implementation of a statewide system to evaluate teachers’ performance.
Related
His announcement came minutes after the State Senate passed legislation sought by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg that would reverse a rule protecting long-serving New York City teachers from layoffs regardless of their effectiveness.
Mr. Cuomo’s proposal would have far broader implications, affecting school districts across the state. But it would not affect the thousands of layoffs that Mr. Bloomberg maintains he will be forced to carry out because of cuts in state aid.
Rather, Mr. Cuomo is seeking to accelerate the introduction of new standards for teacher and principal evaluation that the state’s Education Department, with the support of teachers’ unions, has been developing since last year.
“It is time to move beyond the so-called last in, first out system of relying exclusively on seniority,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “However, we need a legitimate evaluation system to rely upon.”
Mr. Cuomo’s budget would cut projected state funding to New York City schools by $1.4 billion, a reduction that Mr. Bloomberg has said would force him to lay off 4,600 teachers in order to balance the schools budget. Mr. Bloomberg reacted coolly to Mr. Cuomo’s proposal, saying the city needed more leeway now in determining who is laid off.
Mr. Bloomberg and the New York City schools chancellor, Cathleen P. Black, have focused their budget-season lobbying on persuading the Legislature to change teacher seniority rules that dictate whose jobs would be first on the line.
The bill that passed the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday, by a vote of 33 to 27 that broke virtually along party lines, would allow the city to lay off teachers based on factors like performance and disciplinary records, rather than seniority.
Mr. Bloomberg praised the bill as “a landmark proposal that puts the needs of our children first.”
But the bill does not appear to have a future beyond the Senate. Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, said on Tuesday that although he supported creating an objective system to evaluate teachers, he would not consider the Senate bill.
Mr. Cuomo’s proposal would speed the creation of an evaluation system that was approved by the Legislature last year as the state competed in the Race to the Top federal grant competition.
Under the current law, the new evaluation system would cover only math and English teachers in limited grades in the 2011-12 year and would not cover all teachers until the following academic year. Mr. Cuomo would apply the standards to all teachers in all grades beginning in September; in the long term, they would provide an avenue through which school systems could terminate poorly performing teachers.
“While seniority should be part of the equation,” Mr. Cuomo said in his statement, “it cannot be the only factor when making important employment decisions in our schools.”
But Mr. Bloomberg said the evaluation system would do nothing to help him deal with the near term.
“We can look at long-term ways to use merit to evaluate teachers — nothing wrong with that,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a news conference in Manhattan. “But we have a problem now, and we need the governor to help us now.” An aide to Mr. Bloomberg accused Mr. Cuomo of presenting a “smoke screen” that, instead of addressing “last in, first out,” simply served to please the United Federation of Teachers, which represents city teachers.
The president of the teachers’ union, Michael Mulgrew, said in an interview, “I’m clearly in favor of an objective evaluation system for teachers, and that’s something we’ve fought for.”
But there were still questions about what exactly the bill would have in store on seniority — whether it signaled the beginning of the end of a system that has shielded senior teachers from being the first to be laid off, or if it would make seniority protection a criterion that the unions could negotiate into their contracts with individual school districts, rather than a statewide mandate.
The sponsor of the Senate bill, John J. Flanagan of Suffolk County, praised Mr. Cuomo for addressing the issue but expressed concerns about how long it would take for his proposal to help school districts. “There’s a real distinct possibility that nothing will get done for far too long,” he said.
Mr. Cuomo’s bill could face a warmer reception in the State Assembly, where the Democratic majority is closely aligned with teachers’ unions. Mr. Silver said his preference in addressing the seniority rules would be to apply the Education Department’s new standards when layoffs are being proposed.
Mr. Cuomo’s proposal would have far broader implications, affecting school districts across the state. But it would not affect the thousands of layoffs that Mr. Bloomberg maintains he will be forced to carry out because of cuts in state aid.
Rather, Mr. Cuomo is seeking to accelerate the introduction of new standards for teacher and principal evaluation that the state’s Education Department, with the support of teachers’ unions, has been developing since last year.
“It is time to move beyond the so-called last in, first out system of relying exclusively on seniority,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “However, we need a legitimate evaluation system to rely upon.”
Mr. Cuomo’s budget would cut projected state funding to New York City schools by $1.4 billion, a reduction that Mr. Bloomberg has said would force him to lay off 4,600 teachers in order to balance the schools budget. Mr. Bloomberg reacted coolly to Mr. Cuomo’s proposal, saying the city needed more leeway now in determining who is laid off.
Mr. Bloomberg and the New York City schools chancellor, Cathleen P. Black, have focused their budget-season lobbying on persuading the Legislature to change teacher seniority rules that dictate whose jobs would be first on the line.
The bill that passed the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday, by a vote of 33 to 27 that broke virtually along party lines, would allow the city to lay off teachers based on factors like performance and disciplinary records, rather than seniority.
Mr. Bloomberg praised the bill as “a landmark proposal that puts the needs of our children first.”
But the bill does not appear to have a future beyond the Senate. Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, said on Tuesday that although he supported creating an objective system to evaluate teachers, he would not consider the Senate bill.
Mr. Cuomo’s proposal would speed the creation of an evaluation system that was approved by the Legislature last year as the state competed in the Race to the Top federal grant competition.
Under the current law, the new evaluation system would cover only math and English teachers in limited grades in the 2011-12 year and would not cover all teachers until the following academic year. Mr. Cuomo would apply the standards to all teachers in all grades beginning in September; in the long term, they would provide an avenue through which school systems could terminate poorly performing teachers.
“While seniority should be part of the equation,” Mr. Cuomo said in his statement, “it cannot be the only factor when making important employment decisions in our schools.”
But Mr. Bloomberg said the evaluation system would do nothing to help him deal with the near term.
“We can look at long-term ways to use merit to evaluate teachers — nothing wrong with that,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a news conference in Manhattan. “But we have a problem now, and we need the governor to help us now.” An aide to Mr. Bloomberg accused Mr. Cuomo of presenting a “smoke screen” that, instead of addressing “last in, first out,” simply served to please the United Federation of Teachers, which represents city teachers.
The president of the teachers’ union, Michael Mulgrew, said in an interview, “I’m clearly in favor of an objective evaluation system for teachers, and that’s something we’ve fought for.”
But there were still questions about what exactly the bill would have in store on seniority — whether it signaled the beginning of the end of a system that has shielded senior teachers from being the first to be laid off, or if it would make seniority protection a criterion that the unions could negotiate into their contracts with individual school districts, rather than a statewide mandate.
The sponsor of the Senate bill, John J. Flanagan of Suffolk County, praised Mr. Cuomo for addressing the issue but expressed concerns about how long it would take for his proposal to help school districts. “There’s a real distinct possibility that nothing will get done for far too long,” he said.
Mr. Cuomo’s bill could face a warmer reception in the State Assembly, where the Democratic majority is closely aligned with teachers’ unions. Mr. Silver said his preference in addressing the seniority rules would be to apply the Education Department’s new standards when layoffs are being proposed.
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