They reneged on that:
ALBANY—School funding and teacher evaluations are linked after all, a top official with the state education department said late Monday.
In the apparently still-fluid state budget, Governor Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers are considering making an increase of at least $1.4 billion in school aid contingent on state approval of locally negotiated evaluation plans for teachers and principals by a mid-November deadline. The structure would be similar to 2013, when districts first implemented the current evaluation system.
That year, the New York City Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers missed the state-imposed mid-January deadline, prompting officials to withhold $250 million from the state's largest school district.
According to budget language that has not yet been finalized, the department would craft—subject to approval of the Board of Regents—regulations outlining a new evaluation system by June 30, deputy senior education commissioner Ken Wagner told Capital on Monday.
Some aspects of the rating system would be optional, so they would require negotiations between school districts, teachers and principals’ unions.
“Theoretically, all districts would have to review their contracts and see whether their contracts have to be modified,” Wagner said. “They would have to renegotiate their contracts, and all of the plans would have to be submitted and approved by November 15 to get their increase in state aid.
“They would still get their base state aid, but they wouldn’t get their increase,” he continued. “Statewide, we’ve seen numbers from 5 to 6 percent. Let’s just say it’s a 5 percent increase in state aid; that 5 percent would be removed from their aid allocation from the entire year.”
The more we learn about this budget deal, the worse it gets.
Imagine if Cuomo wasn't staring down Preet Bharara and living with underwater job approval ratings.
What would have gotten then?
What a fiasco. Total failure of leadership. From this point on Cuomo owns the fiasco he has made of NY education. Magee is right in calling for OPT OUT--no kid should be forced to take the stupid Pearson tests.
ReplyDeleteIn comedy timing is everything. Magoo could have been caling for this since the day she and Messner and Co. got their double pensions. But she waits until now? Barn door calling horse that's run out, white courtesy telephone please...
ReplyDeleteOkay - I'm not fully understanding this with papers yet to be graded. Does this mean that any new evaluation has to be bargained and then approved by the state? If a district's plan is not accepted, the district doesn't receive any additional funds? Am I reading this incorrectly?
ReplyDeleteUFT & DoE contractual agreement doesn't expire until 2018, but does it mean that the union will make an amendment to the existing contract? I'm wondering about this because it reminds of the APPR and its implementation in late 2012. The union had a chance to negotiate it into the contract and make changes to the teacher evaluation. Here's a flashback from December 2012.
ReplyDeletehttp://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/looking-into-eterno-crystal-ball-on-new.html
What a mess. So this is Pre APPR in the city again? Tons of buildup with teachers left in the dark as to what Unity is going to negotiate. Mulgrew comes back and says they negotiated out the independent evaluators but the rest is still all bull. Won't this deny the entire state having one clear and defined evaluation. I like so many are am confused.
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