UFT Would Be Foolish To Announce Endorsement Of De Blasio Right Now

James Eterno wrote back in early December that UFT President Michael Mulgrew has hinted a UFT endorsement of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is coming soon.

Mulgrew's reasoning?

Other unions have already announced early endorsements of de Blasio, there will be a corporate-funded general election candidate who will look to run against public education and the teachers union, and de Blasio settled all the outstanding contracts with the municipal unions that Bloomberg refused to settle in his third term.

Since that Mulgrew hint, we also learned that AFT President Randi Weingarten will hold a fundraiser for de Blasio in January:

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, will hold a fundraiser for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s re-election campaign in January, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by POLITICO New York.

The fundraiser will be held at AFT headquarters in Washington on January 5. Guest tickets are $1,000 a head, “supporter” tickets are $2,500, and “host” tickets are $4,950.

The event will be co-hosted by the lobbyist Harold Ickes, a friend and mentor to de Blasio who has enjoyed lobbying successes under de Blasio’s tenure. Ickes’ lobbying partner, Janice Enright, will also co-host the fundraiser. John Stocks, the director of the National Education Association, the nation’s other most prominent teachers union, is on the host committee for the event.

The event comes as de Blasio begins to gather endorsements from the city’s most prominent unions — both the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store union have given the mayor their early endorsements. But de Blasio has not yet won the endorsement of the United Federation of Teachers, the largest and most powerful branch of the AFT, representing teachers in New York City.

Weingarten’s upcoming fundraiser could add to pressure for UFT president Michael Mulgrew to give the mayor his union’s endorsement soon.

Now those of you who are close Randi/Mulgrew watchers know there is no daylight between either, so it's doubtful that the Weingarten fundraiser is "pressure" coming from Randi onto Mulgrew to endorse de Blasio early as opposed to another part of a multi-pronged strategy to get on board the de Blasio express early and prove loyalty to the mayor (especially necessary since the UFT worked against de Blasio in the primary last time around.)

That strategy might make some sense if de Blasio was a powerful incumbent with a proven track record of helping teachers and public schools, but as James wrote in his piece on the likely UFT endorsement, the case for that is slim:

In the school system I work in, teachers and other UFT members feel almost like they are under siege on a daily basis in multiple schools. Many of us fear drive by Danielson observations by abusive administrators, being rated based on student test scores in schools where the students are not exactly well prepared, overburdened paperwork demands made by those abusive principals and their assistants, the war on seniority with (un)fair student funding which makes senior teachers a burden on school budgets and much, much more.

Our job has been turned into a nightmare in many school buildings. In spite of the working conditions deteriorating to the point where a large number of teachers cannot physically or emotionally take it much longer, our Union President's response is hinting that we want more of the same.

Add in the de Blasio contract that holds back pay to 2020 (but only if you're still in the system!) and gives yearly increase averages of just over 1% and gee, what's not to like about endorsing de Blasio early, given all that wonderful stuff?

Well, how about the news that de Blasio is the subject of two grand jury investigations and criminal charges are likely to come against some of his cronies (and perhaps even de Blasio himself)?

Two separate grand juries in Manhattan have begun hearing testimony in connection with federal and state criminal investigations into Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign fund-raising, according to several people with knowledge of the matters.

It was unclear whether either inquiry would result in criminal charges against the mayor, but the grand jury activity appeared to be the strongest indication since the investigations came to light in April that prosecutors may be moving closer to one or more indictments, possibly against some of Mr. de Blasio’s closest aides.

The inquiries have centered on Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, and several of his senior aides, according to the people with knowledge of the matter, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret.

The state investigation has focused on whether the mayor, or those acting with him or on his behalf, violated state election law by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through three upstate county committees and funneling it to Democratic candidates during the party’s unsuccessful 2014 bid to gain control of the State Senate.

The questions asked by state prosecutors in their grand jury presentations suggest their inquiry is in some measure centered on Emma Wolfe, Mr. de Blasio’s top political aide, Ross A. Offinger, who was then his campaign finance director, and Josh Gold, a union political operative who worked on the 2014 Senate effort, the people with knowledge of the inquiry said.

The federal investigation has examined whether Mr. de Blasio or his aides took beneficial action on behalf of donors in exchange for contributions they had made to his 2013 mayoral campaign, his political nonprofit or both in roughly a half-dozen instances, according to people with knowledge of that inquiry.

As I wrote Thursday, this leak came straight out of publicity-happy US Attorney Preet Bharara's office and Preet doesn't leak this kind of stuff without criminal charges following soon.

That's how it played out with Shelly Silver, Dean and Adam Skelos and Cuomo's cronies Joe Percoco and Alain Kaloyeros - there's no reason to think it won't play out the same way here.

With criminal charges all but certain against somebody linked to de Blasio and with the NYC media already having an adversarial relationship with the churlish de Blasio, you can bet he's going to get hammered day after day after day in the newspapers and on TV, further weakening an already weak incumbent (polls consistently show de Blasio is underwater on the "Deserves Re-Election" question.)

Now I can understand why the UFT would look to finagle an early endorsement of de Blasio despite his administration showing itself to be anti-teacher in its treatment of teachers in the evaluation process (superintendents are instructing school administrators to ratchet up "ineffective" and "developing" ratings against teachers, especially veteran teachers), the budgeting process (which rewards schools that shed veteran teachers) and contractually (back pay all the way to 2020) - that's because the UFT leadership only cares about the access de Blasio and Chancellor Farina have granted them, not how they have treated their members so badly.

But why would the UFT want to announce an endorsement of de Blasio now with Preet bearing down on him and charges coming for one or more de Blasio cronies?

That Thursday night leak to the NY Times about the state and federal grand juries looking into de Blasio didn't come out of nowhere - that's a clear indication that Preet intends some charges against someone and wants to give a heads up that they're coming.

There's no indication yet that the charges will reach de Blasio himself, but even if they don't, weakened unpopular incumbent that he is, de Blasio may not be able to withstand major figures in his political circle getting taken down on criminal charges.

I think the UFT would be smart to wait for Preet to make a move and see what the political and practical fallout is before they endorse.

But the words "smart" and "UFT leadership" do not sit well together, so they just may continue with the AFT/UFT pro-de Blasio strategy despite new information that suggests that strategy may be politically and practically short-sighted and ill-conceived.

NYSUT And The UFT, Allied Again With Cuomo, Spend Millions On Propaganda To Fool Their Members And The Public

Had some fun on Twitter yesterday with a couple of union hacks, one the PR guy from NYSUT, that went something like this:

@perdidostschool @edbobgreen @nysut Why do deliberately misstate our position and communications? Hard to debate nonsense.

— Carl Korn (@CarlKornNYSUT) January 23, 2016

My response:

@CarlKornNYSUT @edbobgreen @nysut Who's misstating? You say no state tests in evals. Regents exams are in evals.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 23, 2016

@CarlKornNYSUT @edbobgreen @nysut When you say there's a moratorium on state tests in APPR, you are wrong.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 23, 2016

There was no response from Carl Korn, but another union hack jumped in with this bit of genius:

@perdidostschool @edbobgreen @CarlKornNYSUT 3-8 NYS tests in my eval this year? Zilch, nada, bubkis. Union still supports my kids #optout.

— Don C. (@TchrNORPAC) January 23, 2016

My response to that:

@TchrNORPAC @edbobgreen @CarlKornNYSUT You do know CCSS Regents exams are in APPR, yes? Those don't count?

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 23, 2016

Lace To The Top jumped in with this very relevant fact:

@perdidostschool @TchrNORPAC @edbobgreen @CarlKornNYSUT and 3-8 Eval scores will still be generated and be used as "advisory"

— lacetothetop (@lacetothetop) January 23, 2016

Which got this response from said union hack:

@perdidostschool @edbobgreen @CarlKornNYSUT Got it. Get it. Still work to do. Still making progress.

— Don C. (@TchrNORPAC) January 23, 2016

To which I responded:

@TchrNORPAC @edbobgreen @CarlKornNYSUT No, you get zilch, bupkis, nada - to use your own words back at you.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 23, 2016

@TchrNORPAC @edbobgreen @CarlKornNYSUT The victory rhetoric from both the UFT and NYSUT show how little leaders get.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) January 23, 2016

Here's the truth of things - Cuomo is sucking up to the union these days, what with his poll numbers in the toilet overall (39% job approval in the last Siena poll) and especially negative on education issues (68% of New Yorkers disapprove of the job he is doing handling education.)

The hacks running the union could care less about whether their members are harmed by APPR or not, they care only for their own power, prestige and perks.

They're happy to have the governor back on board, sounding almost like Mike Mulgrew when he talks about community schooling, well, that is progress indeed!

Unless you're a teacher affected by Cuomo's odious 2015 education law that requires 50% of a teacher's evaluation come from test scores - a law which Cuomo says does not need to be amended or repealed, a law which neither the UFT nor NYSUT plan to work to repeal.

So now, with Cuomo friendly with the union leadership again, the union heads have allied with the governor against their own members, spending millions of member dues on ads that are full of lies and propaganda (here's the UFT ad, here's the NYSUT ad.)

Even the governor himself has contradicted what the union ads are telling the public, saying back in December that test scores are indeed STILL part of APPR evaluations:

“There are teacher evaluations that are in the report and they are connected to tests, either state tests or locally approved tests,” Cuomo said on Sunday in Syracuse.

In case you're not willing to believe me or the governor, here's NYSED, via James Eterno at ICEUFTblog:

Footnote 10 in the SED Q & A states:
Teachers with SLOs that are based on Regents assessments will not be impacted and must continue to use SLOs with such assessments.

This is footnote 3 from the Q & A from SED:

Please note that teachers and principals whose APPRs do not include the grades 3-8 ELA and math State assessments or State-provided growth scores on Regents examinations are not impacted by the transition regulations and their evaluations shall be calculated pursuant to their district’s/BOCES’ approved APPR Plan without any changes. For example, a building principal of a CTE program whose APPR utilizes CTE assessments as part of the student performance component of their APPR will not be impacted by the transition regulations.

Yet the union ads - and the union hacks on Twitter - tell us differently, that the number of test scores in APPR evals this year is "zilch, nada, bupkis..."

I dunno about you, but I have had enough of the lies and propaganda out of NYSUT and the UFT, the harm they are doing to teaching, teachers and schools with the games they play with their ed deformer allies (see here for more of the games Mulgrew has played with Cuomo over the years.)

And if you think this is all hyperbole, that there's no way the union heads are playing a pro-wrestling "Good Guy/Bad Guy/Good Guy Game" with Cuomo - check out who's Number 4 on the all-time Cuomo meeting list and who enjoys late lunches with the governor to, you know, talk things over.

That would be one Michael Mulgrew of the UFT, the largest local in the state that can literally whack NYSUT leaders when they don't like what they're doing.

As I said above, I've had it with the games the union leaders play, the lies and deception they send out with every ad, every social media piece.

NYSAPE sent out this very informative tweet about where things stand today regarding state tests, the opt out movement and APPR teacher evaluations - you should send this tweet wide and far to cut through the self-serving jive and propaganda emanating out of NYSUT and the UFT, all of it using YOUR money to pay for it.

Do not be fooled, NOTHING has changed. Here is what you need to know: pic.twitter.com/cAKteQLtZI

— NYS Allies 4 Pub Ed (@NYSAPE) January 24, 2016

Cuomo And Mulgrew: Professional Wrestling At Its Finest

Anybody else enjoy the Mulgrew/Cuomo Show the way I do?

It's the best professional wrestling exhibition you'll ever see.

Back in 2011, Governor Cuomo and UFT President Mulgrew used to be pals (even teaming up against Mayor Mike Bloomberg over teacher layoffs Bloomberg was pushing.)

They were still pals in 2012 when Cuomo was pushing teacher evaluations tied to test scores and getting his way - Mulgrew was there when Cuomo declared APPR a "victory for all New Yorkers!"

Then after a few years of Cuomo's bashing teachers and bragging that he planned to"break" the public education monopoly, they became enemies, with the UFT running ads about the governor's agenda and Mulgrew saying all sorts of nasty things about Cuomo publicly.

But behind the scenes, Cuomo and Mulgrew continued to meet even as they feuded publicly.

For example, Bill Mahoney's analysis of Cuomo's meeting schedule showed Mulgrew was number 4 on the all-time Cuomo meeting list.

In fact, also behind the scenes, Mulgrew was making sure the Working Families Party wouldn't endorse a candidate for the general election that would cause Cuomo problems in 2014, threatening the party with fianancial ruin if they did so.

So even while they were publicly at odds, behind the scenes the Mulgrew/Cuomo relationship was much more, uh, nuanced. 

But now that Cuomo's spent a year getting beaten up on public education and other issues and seen his poll numbers fall into the 30's (39% in last Siena poll, even lower on the public education issue), he's started to sound like Mulgrew on community schooling and he and Mikey are great friends again publicly, so much so that the UFT is running a pro-Cuomo ad that cost $1.4 million.

Whew - in the UFT universe, just like in pro-wrestling, Governor Cuomo used to be a good guy, but then became a bad guy, but now he's a good guy again!

What a show, huh?

Cuomo Sounds Like Mulgrew On Community Schools

Tom Precious in the Buffalo News:

In his speech Sunday, Cuomo also appeared to soften his rhetoric substantially from last year on the causes of public schools that are deemed to be “failing” as learning centers for their students. A year ago, Cuomo released a report showing 109,000 children across the state go to school in 178 persistently failing schools – marked by high dropout rates, low test scores and other factors. At the time, he was pushing a plan to allow for outside takeover of failing schools and making it harder for teachers to get tenure.

On Sunday, he criticized “the bureaucracy” that resists change in the education system, but he talked of “community” school-type settings as the solution. “We want to take those failing schools and say, ‘Look, the problem isn’t just education,’ ” he said.

Cuomo said that if people think that the problems in such failing schools are teachers and the education system, “then you’re missing the point, because the kids in those schools need a lot more than a teacher and normal education.”

The Cuomo budget plan to be released Wednesday will call for $100 million to expand an array of services offered at failing schools. A precise breakdown by school was not available Sunday, but he suggested it will offer more money for nutrition, mentoring, afterschool, counseling and other programs in the failing schools. “Don’t call it a school. Call it a community school,” he said.

A Cuomo spokesman noted that community schools were added “as an eventual product of the process” involving failing schools. “This is consistent with that,” the spokesman said.

What to make of all this?

Why is Cuomo "softening" his tone on so-called "failing" schools and calling for the community school model to solve the problems.

Well, I have a theory:

Remember all those meetings Mulgrew has had with Cuomo (he's # 4 on the all-time meeting list) and the July lunch date he had with the governor and his secretary, Bill Mulrow, in New York?

Remember when Mulgrew told the DA that there's not much they expect to get done this legislative session?

Looks like some kind of deal was worked out between Mulgrew and Cuomo.

Here's what I bet happened:

Cuomo wants the law to remain on the books so he doesn't look like a complete schmuck, having the thing dismantled one year after spending so much time, energy and political capital getting it through.

The unions want community schools to be the model for fixing "failing" schools.

I bet Mulgrew and the unions agreed they wouldn't push against Cuomo's odious 2015 education reform law that imposed receivership and 50% test scores in teacher evaluations in return for Cuomo supporting Mugrew (and Randi"s) beloved community school model.

I've seen a lot of teachers on social media wondering why the unions aren't pushing to have the 2015 education law changed.

It makes no sense, what with the governor under 40% in job approval and running scared that he's going to be charged by the US attorney for corruption, that the unions wouldn't seek to dismantle last year's law.

In addition, it's an election year - when would you ever have more leverage on pols in Albany than in an election year?

But they're not working to dismantle Cuomo's education reform law at all - instead they're tamping down expectations, saying nothing can get done this year because the politicians are busy and don't want to talk to them.

Seems odd but look no further than the way Cuomo's talking about community schools to get an indication for why.

A deal appears to have been worked out, with the unions selling teachers down the river on test scores/APPR and schools on receivership in return for Cuomo pushing community schools.

Just theorizing, of course, but given the history of UFT/NYSUT sellouts and given all the meetings Mulgrew has had with Cuomo,idle theorizing it isn't.

It makes no sense that the unions wouldn't be fighting tooth and nail to have that 2015 law dismantled unless they got something back from Cuomo in order to sit on their hands and do nothing.

And you know how Mulgrew (and Randi) love community schools.

There we have it - another vaunted UFT sellout.

Your union leadership at work, selling you out, one meeting at a time.

Mulgrew's #4 On List Of Cuomo Meetings

An interesting tidbit via Bill Mahoney at Politico NY

Mahoney went through Governor Cuomo's schedule for the last four years and listed the people Cuomo's met with the most over that time period.

He hasn't met much with Comptroller Tom DiNapoli - Cuomo actually met more with Jay Z than Tom DiNapoli over the last four years.

He has met quite a bit with Michael Mulgrew, however - a total of 13 times, which puts Mulgrew at #4 on the list of people outside of government meeting with Cuomo.

Only Howard Zemsky of Larkin Development Group, Family Planning Advocates CEO Tracey Brooks and NARAL Pro-Choice NY President Andrea Miller met more with Cuomo than Mulgrew.

Just something to think about next time Mulgrew does one of his pro-wrestling bits about Cuomo.

Will Randi/Mike Oust Another NYSUT President?

In April 2014, former NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi was ousted by AFT President Randi Weingarten and UFT President Michael Mulgrew in a coup that saw the entire leadership of NYSUT, other than Executive Vice President Andy Pallotta, whacked from office.

Today Ken Lovett at the Daily News reports another NYSUT leadership whacking could be in the offing:

The recent surprise retirement of the state teacher union’s top lobbyist came amid pressure from Michael Mulgrew, head of the city teachers union, sources said.

Mulgrew, whose members make up a major segment of the state union, is said to have grown disenchanted with Steve Allinger during the legislative session.

Mulgrew didn’t deny he played a role in Allinger’s departure.

“We have to get work done, move fast, and everyone has to be on the same page,” he said.

Union insiders say the Allinger situation is part of a larger schism that has left state teachers union President Karen Magee isolated from the rest of her union leadership halfway through her first term.

Sources said Mulgrew is also unhappy with Magee, though he denied it.

The two unions, Mulgrew said, “are moving together in a much more coordinated effort than we were before. All (Magee’s) positions have been good. She’s taking the right path on things.”

It was NYSUT that was telling members of the Legislature NOT vote for Cuomo's poison pill budget that increased the test score component in APPR to 50% and gave the state the power to takeover schools with a "receivership" program, while Mulgrew and the UFT were telling them it was okay if they did vote for it.

If Magee's isolated from the rest of her union leadership (i.e., Andy Pallotta, Mikey's Man at NYSUT), it can't be because Mulgrew thinks she's not standing up enough against Cuomo and his ed deform juggernaut.

Hell, nobody rolled over to Cuomo more than Mulgrew and the UFT in the last legislative session.

In any event, it sure didn't long for another UFT-engineered whacking at NYSUT, did it?

UFT Warns Over Friedrichs But Still Doesn't Get The Real Danger

UFT President Michael Mulgrew on the Friedrichs case:

The U.S. labor movement today faces perhaps the gravest threat to its existence since the creation of our modern system of labor law and collective bargaining in 1935.

In Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, now before the U.S. Supreme Court, the plaintiffs challenge the “fair share” requirement that public-sector workers in unionized jobs who choose not to join their union must still pay their fair share of the cost of union representation and services.

They argue that agency fees should be abolished because money is speech, and requiring nonmembers to pay fees to unions therefore violates their First Amendment rights. That is patently false. Agency-fee payers can choose not to have their fees spent on unions’ political activities.

Let us be clear: Friedrichs isn’t about the First Amendment; it is about undermining this country’s labor unions because we are the last great defenders of working people and the middle class. The far-right forces behind the lawsuit despise unions because it is our collective voice and collective action that prevent them from further enriching themselves at ordinary Americans’ expense. They don’t just want to abolish agency fees; they want to abolish our unions and undo the decades of progress we have made.

Let us be clear: Mulgrew's upset not because Friedrichs threatens to undermine the "last great defenders of working people and the middle class" in this country but because it threatens to undermine the gravy train that the current leadership of the AFT/UFT/NYSUT ride on.

The AFT/UFT/NYSUT leadership stopped defending the rank and file years ago, have sold us out at every turn to the education reformers, are complicit in much of the harm done to the teaching profession (including the use of VAM, which AFT President Weingarten once championed along with Chancellor Joel Klein when Weingarten was UFT President, and teacher evaluations tied to test scores, which UFT President Mulgrew happily agreed to in 2012), and exist simply to aggrandize their own egos and enrich their own purses.

With the Friedrichs decision looming, you'd think the AFT/UFT/NYSUT leadership would become more responsive to rank and file, especially since they might have to beg members to stay with the union and continue to pay dues post-Friedrichs.

But instead, they continue to do whatever the hell they want, from endorsing Hillary Clinton long before the presidential primary season started to telling New York State legislators who voted for Cuomo's poison pill budget that imposed a receivership law for "failing" schools and upped test scores to 50% of a teacher's evaluation that it was all right for doing so.

And they spend their time attacking critics to their leadership, as happened this past week when NYSUT Executive Vice President Andy Pallotta asked the NY attorney general to look into a blog post written by a teacher that dared to criticize NYSUT for selling members out.

Quite frankly, I see the words someone wrote that Mike Mulgrew signed his name to about Friedrichs and I roll my eyes because I know that they know that they don't give a shit about any of the stuff Mulgrew says he does.

Al they care about is maintaining power, maintaining control, and maintaining the gravy train.

It's a shame they're not taking the Friedrichs threat seriously and thinking about ways to become more responsive and responsible union leaders.

Alas, it seems that the leadership of the AFT/UFT/NYSUT is incapable of that.

Mike Mulgrew And Andrew Cuomo Meet For A Late Lunch

Sent along by Harris Lirtzman is this interesting tidbit from Governor Cuomo's July schedule:

Thursday July 16, 2015: Dock's Restaurant 633 Third Avenue, New York NY - 3:40 PM
Meeting with Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers
Staff Participant - Bill Mulrow, Secretary to the Governor

Anybody want to hazard a theory on what was discussed at that meeting in July?

There's a story out today at State of Politics about how Cuomo is making nice with former enemies like Chuck Schumer and some state workers unions in an attempt to isolate Bill de Blasio even more than he already is.

Over the summer, Cuomo was gathering as many former de Blasio allies to himself as well, people like Melissa Mark-Viverito and Tish James, in order to isolate de Blasio and make life uncomfortable for the mayor.

Could be this meeting was part of that same strategy.

Or it could be that Mulgrew wanted to meet with Cuomo so he could let the governor know just what a mess he has made of public education in this state and implore him to change course.

Or it could be that, just as the animosity between professional wrestlers is all phonied up for the camera, the animosity between Mulgrew and Cuomo is as fake as Sandra Lee's margarita mix and they were just catching up for old time's sake.

Your thoughts?

UFT Claims "Overcrowded" Classrooms Are Down In NYC Schools - Is This True?

From the State of Politics "Here and Now" update for the day:

At 1 p.m., an annual UFT survey has found that for the first time in five years the number of overcrowded NYC classrooms has shown a significant decline, UFT President Mike Mulgrew and elected officials will call on the state meet its obligations under the Contract for Excellence, including lowering all city classes to the state average, steps of Tweed Courthouse, 52 Chambers St., Manhattan.

Mulgrew and Company see themselves as co-leaders in the NYCDOE these days, so anything they say about the NYCDOE is suspect.

What experiences are NYC teachers having out there?

Are the number of "overcrowded NYC classrooms" really declining?

Michael Mulgrew "Bitching" About Working Families Party Discussion Of Bernie Sanders Endorsement

Ken Lovett at the Daily News:

The head of the powerful city teachers union is trying to quell talk by some in the labor-backed Working Families Party about backing Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary, insiders say.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew has been contacting heads of the building trade unions who help make up the Working Families Party, a source said. He’s “complaining and bitching” about the party and the discussions on whether to endorse Sanders, the self-proclaimed socialist US senator from Vermont, the source said.

Mulgrew, who declined comment through a spokeswoman, is also a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, which already has endorsed Clinton.

While the state Working Families Party does not have a presidential primary and does not have to set its ballot until September of 2016, its leaders have not ruled out publicly backing Sanders during the primary season to send a message to Clinton that she needs to go farther to the left.

Considering the damage Governor Cuomo has done to teachers and UFT rank and file, the end of the Lovett column is quite interesting:

The WFP, which was already feuding with Gov. Cuomo, isn’t doing its doing itself any favors alienating a major party player like Mulgrew and the potential Democratic nominee in Clinton, one source said.

In the analysis of this "source," we have Working Families Party and Sanders on one side of the political equation and Mulgrew, Clinton and Cuomo on the other.

That would seem odd, given how Cuomo has declared he wants to "break" teachers and public schools, until you remember that Mulgrew was said to have threatened WFP with financial dissolution if the party endorsed challenger Zephyr Teachout over Cuomo in 2014.

Just another sign that the "fight" between Cuomo and the UFT/AFT/Mulgrew/Weingarten crew is as "real" as something from professional wrestling.

That said, I don't particularly care whether WFP endorses Sanders or not.

Quite frankly, I don't "feel the Bern" after Sanders voted to continue the Endless Testing regime in NCLB Jr.

From my vantage point, Sanders is as full of shit as every other Democratic politician when it comes to the issue that matters most to me - education.

I will be voting Green come 2016 because I cannot and will not support a candidate who supports Endless Testing as a "civil right."

Weingarten, Mulgrew, Magee Met Personally With Cuomo In April

Jimmy Vielkind at Politico NY:

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Catholic archbishop of New York, several weeks before re-introducing legislation to grant financial assistance for parents whose children attend private and parochial schools.

According to newly posted schedule records, the Democratic governor huddled with the Catholic prelate as well as with James Cultrara, the Catholic Conference's top education official, and Anthony de Nicola, a fund manager and board member of the group that pushed for the tax credit, on April 13 at the cardinal's residence in midtown Manhattan. Cuomo later held events around the state to rally support for the tax credit, which lawmakers did not enact.

The schedules also show:

-- Cuomo met with a trio of teachers' union leaders, Karen Magee of NYSUT, Michael Mulgrew of the UFT and Randi Weingarten of the AFT, on April 10, and again on April 22. The unions were vociferous opponents of the tax credit plan.

No word on what was discussed at those meetings.

Was it just about the tax credit plans?

Or was the rest of Cuomo's education reform agenda devised to "break" the public school system discussed as well?

In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter because we know what the outcome was:

They weren't terribly successful at much other than holding the line on vouchers (which may have happened because voucher proponents overplayed their hands anyway.)

Cuomo got pretty much everything else on education that he wanted.

UFT, NYSUT Leaders Meet With Cuomo Aide And State Educrats To Help Save APPR From A Well-Deserved Demise

Ken Lovett in the Daily News:

Cuomo’s recent efforts to improve relations with the Democratic party’s left wing seemingly includes the powerful teacher unions with which he’s been warring.

Top Cuomo aide James Malatras recently met in Albany with city teachers union President Michael Mulgrew, officials from the state teachers union, and new state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia to discuss enacting an appeals process for a tough teacher evaluation system Cuomo pushed through earlier this year, sources said.

Two weeks after the meeting, the state Board of Regents enacted a new appeals process — a move Cuomo publicly supported.

“I think he wants to get this behind him without looking like he caved too much,” said one source familiar with the meeting.

Instead of looking to put a shiv into the whole system and kill it off, the UFT and NYSUT leadership look to assuage rank and file by joining the state educrats and Cuomo administration officials in crafting an appeals process to a fatally flawed teacher evaluation system that sees VAM scores jump from 14 out of 20 to 1 out of 20 to 11 out of 20.

Isn't that swell?

Because why look to have APPR sent to the scrap heap and replaced with a sane system when you can try and help save it with minor tweaks instead?

NYSUT Pushback On APPR Is Meaningless Without Accountability For Pols Who Vote For Cuomo Reforms

From Liz Benjamin at State of Politics:

The Regents are scheduled to meet next week (Sept. 16-17) to, among other things, vote on the emergency regulations establishing the new evaluation system, which is largely (though not entirely) based on the results of Common Core tests from which a whopping 20 percent of students opted out this year – with NYSUT’s urging and support.

NYSUT has set up an email and fax campaign so its members can bombard the Regents with letters between now and next week, urging them to “do everything in your power to stop the over-testing of students and end the insane practice of evaluating educators based on a single standardized test.”

Nick Reisman at State of Politics writes that NYSUT is also putting together a Campbell Brown protest:

The New York State United Teachers union plans to stage a formal protest of former CNN anchor Campbell Brown’s appearance at the Business Council’s annual meeting on Sept. 16.
At the same time, the statewide union is urging state lawmakers in a letter to not attend the meeting, including the opening reception and dinner that Brown, a vocal proponent of the education reform movement, is expected to attend.

“We ask that you cancel any plans to attend the opening reception and dinner of the New York State Business Council Annual meeting, and stand with public school students, parents and educators,” NYSUT wrote in a letter to state lawmakers, obtained by Capital Tonight. “Please support our great public schools, students and educators and do not cross this picket line.”

In the letter — which was signed by both NYSUT Vice President Andy Pallotta and Alliance for Quality Education Executive Director Billy Easton — Brown is billed as someone who opposes “full funding of our public schools, promote high stakes testings and supports the continued privatization of public schools.”

The letter writing campaign and protests are all well and good, but so long as there are no political prices to be paid by lawmakers who vote with "heavy hearts" for the Cuomo education reform agenda, there isn't much tangible effect to this stuff.

When Mulgrew told Assembly Heavy Hearts that there would be no price paid for voting "Aye" on the Cuomo education reform agenda in the last budget, the message was sent:

Don't worry - we don't really mean it when we say we're fighting against the Cuomo education reform agenda.

Message To Corporate Media, NY Politicians And Educrats: The Teachers Union Is NOT The Moving Force Behind Opt-Out

Jon Campbell from Gannett:

On a plane returning Tuesday from Cuba, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was asked about the opt-out effort and the New York State United Teachers union's suggestion that parents consider refusing the tests.

Whether or not to opt-out of the exams is a parent's choice, he told reporters.

"From a parent's point of view, they have the right," Cuomo said. "What the teachers union advocated -- the legality of that, the funding, that I'll leave to the federal government and the (state Education Department)."

Cuomo is canny enough to know that when you already have 185,000 opt outs counted from 73% of the districts on the ELA exam, with 27% of district still to be counted, and the math exams coming up now with even higher numbers of opt-outs expected, it's not a winning political battle to take on parents.

So he, like some of the editorial boards around the state, like the awful reporting in the NY Times this week, tries to put the blame for the opt-out movement onto the teachers union.

Here's a message to the corporate media, the corporate journalists/public relations specialists, the educrats and the politicians:

Parents did NOT decide to opt their children out of the state tests because Karen Magee of NYSUT threw her support behind the movement after Cuomo's education reform agenda was shoved through in the budget deal.

The opt-out movement has been growing every year and the numbers were going to increase dramatically this year no matter what Karen Magee and NYSUT did or said about the movement.

For that matter, even as Magee and NYSUT have thrown support to opting out, Mulgrew and the UFT have criticized the movement and echoed the same jive warnings we're getting from the educrats, the politicians and the newspaper editorial boards (i.e., the feds will take school money away as a result.)

I don't quite get how the state teachers union, which couldn't manage to get Assembly members to vote the way it wanted to on the budget, somehow convinced 185,000 parents to keep their kids from taking the state tests, especially when the largest local in the state is warning against opting out of the state tests.

The only thing I can think is, the corporate-owned media, the educrats, the politicians, they need scapegoats for this massive grassroots rebellion raging in New York State and, as so often is the case these days, the teachers union provides a convenient target.

But they are fools if they dismiss the significance of the anger parents have over the state's Endless Testing regime and imposed Common Core implementation.

As Loy Goss, co-founder of United To Counter The Core wrote:

As we complete the first round of counts for ELA and move into the first round of counts for math, it is important to remember why parents do this.

Make no mistake, this wave of civil disobedience is not just about Andrew Cuomo and his teacher evaluation plan. Cuomo is the flavor-of-the-month in a long line of ill-prepared, ill-advised education reformers, each worse than the one before. These sometimes well-intentioned reformers have nevertheless damaged an entire generation of America's schoolchildren going all the way back to No Child Left Behind.

Hundreds of thousands of parents are not making political statements, they are looking at crying, defeated children around their kitchen tables and demanding meaningful change. NY parents and teachers want education reform that is educator-driven, that is tested and proven, that addresses the real problems facing our schools and our children, and that is implemented with a modicum of competency.

A reduction of testing or evaluations does not address the underlying issue. NY parents want what parents have wanted since time began - a better education for our children.

Education reformers and their propagandists are so used to winning the education reform battles with their reflexive teachers union- and teacher-bashing that they're missing the very real anger many parents around the state have toward the state's education reform policies.

UFT Runs Ad Attacking Cuomo After Months Of Helping Him Out

The UFT's kidding with this ad, right?

“For months Andrew Cuomo attacked teachers and public schools. Now, with his support at record lows, so-called education reformers and their billionaire backers are running TV ads trying to rewrite history. But we know the truth.

“Cuomo wants to pile on high stakes testing, privatize classrooms, and divert money away from public schools by giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy.”

“Governor, New Yorkers agree: Put politics aside and put our kids first.”

First off, UFT President Mulgrew already declared victory after the budget:

The United Federation of Teachers on Sunday night declared victory in an email to its members, writing that most of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Draconian agenda” had been turned back by state lawmakers.

“Now all of our hard work is paying dividends,” the teachers union that represents mostly New York City teachers wrote in the email to members. “The governor’s Draconian agenda has, in large part, been turned back. We want to thank the Assembly and the Senate for standing up for our schools and school communities.”

It turned out that the governor's draconian agenda had not been turned back, that he had, in fact, gotten almost everything he wanted in the budget (including higher weight of test scores in evaluations, merit pay, school receivership for the state, tenure changes and certification changes), but that didn't stop Mulgrew and the UFT leadership from doing what they always do and declaring everything a victory.

This came after Mulgrew and the UFT gave Assembly Dems the okay to vote for the budget while NYSUT leadership told legislators not support the education provisions:

ALBANY — State lawmakers raced to finish work on New York’s budget Tuesday amid simmering resentment over Gov. Cuomo’s education reforms - which opened up an unusual rift between the city and state teachers’ unions.

...

City teacher union president Michael Mulgrew angered NYSUT President Karen Magee and her team after he put out a statement Sunday night - before the education bill was even in print- claiming victory in beating back some of Cuomo's more strident proposals, sources said.

While Magee urged lawmakers to reject the education measures, city lawmakers said they were told by Mulgrew's team that voting for the package would not be held against them.

"They just weren't on the same page," said one legislator of the two unions. "The issue between them was whether to strike the best deal they could or whether to oppose it outright."

Then came the opt out movement, which the NYSUT leadership supported but Mulgrew and the UFT leadership criticized.

And we got UFT functionary Peter Goodman blogging how the new Cuomo APPR evaluation isn't so bad and Randi Weingarten, Mulgrew's mentor, retweeting that post.

This is not to mention that when the time to really fight Cuomo was at hand - during the election - Mulgrew and the UFT did all it could to help him out without looking like they were helping him.

When the Working Families Party was fighting over whether to put Cuomo on its ballot or give the nod to Zephyr Teachout, Mulgrew and the UFT ensured that Cuomo got the nod by threatening WFP with financial dissolution if Teachout were nominated by WFP.

When Teachout's running mate, Tim Wu, had a really good shot to knock off Cuomo's running mate, bank lobbyist Kathy Hochul, Randi Weingarten took to the air with robocalls for Hochul, helping her beat back Wu's challenge.

Now, after all the help Weingarten, Mulgrew, and the UFT have given to Cuomo, both before his re-election and since by barely fighting against his agenda, they send out an ad that's hard-hitting and calls Cuomo on his attacks.

It's too little, too late and useless for anything other PR for people not paying close attention - which is emblematic of nearly everything the UFT and AFT do.

Norm at Ed Notes called them a company union yesterday in a post.

Looking at how this re-election season and budget process unfolded, I think you can make a very good argument that is the case.

First the AFT and UFT ensured Cuomo would not have to face a third party challenger in November by threatening WFP with financial ruin if Teachout were given the nod, then helped ensure Cuomo would have his running mate, the bank lobbyist, instead of Teachout's running mate, the law professor, win in the primary.

When it came time to fight Cuomo's education reform agenda, they did just enough to make it look like they were fighting it without effectively fighting it.

Then they gave the okay to Assembly Dems to vote for it even as NYSUT leaders were saying not to.

The time for the tough ads attacking Cuomo, the really tough ones, was before the budget was passed, not after.

Alas, now that the battle is over and Cuomo won big time, the UFT trots out the attack ad.

Maybe that will fool a few rank-and-file that the UFT is fighting Cuomo.

But it doesn't fool those of us who have paid attention to this fight and have seen with our own eyes how they helped Cuomo out at critical junctures to ensure he got everything he wanted.

City Teachers Had Better Start Asking Some Hard Questions About Their Pension Fund Before It's Too Late

Guest Post By Harris Lirtzman, former Director of Risk Management for the New York City Retirement Systems in the NYC Comptroller's Office from 1996-2002 and former Deputy State Comptroller for Administration from 2003-2007.

During the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of news about the way that the City invests the money that backs your retirement benefit and none of it is good.

There are few things less interesting to read about than the condition of your pension fund system.  But, other than the financial condition of the City that prints your paycheck and the insurance company that provides your medical coverage, there is nothing more important.

Two weeks ago, the City Comptroller released a report that contained information that didn’t surprise anyone who follows these things closely but which should scare the bejesus out of any active or retired New York City school teacher.  According to an article in the New York Times, “The Lenape tribe got a better deal on the sale of Manhattan island than New York City’s pension funds have been getting from Wall Street.” 

Turns out that the trustees of the City pension funds, including your fund, the Teachers’ Retirement System of New York City, have been investing the money that backs your pension in ways that have given almost all of the market’s gains for the last ten years right back to the Wall Street firms they hire to do the job as big fat fees

Surprised?  I didn’t think so.

Wall Street has spent the last twenty years convincing public pension fund trustees, like the ones who run TRS, that only a company like Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan Chase is smart enough to know how to invest your retirement money.  Our trustees bought this story lock, stock and barrel.  We all know how well Wall Street has looked after the rest of us the last ten years.  Wall Street knows a sucker when it meets one and our pension trustees have been suckered, good.

This stuff is a little complicated but hang with me for a minute or two:

• Over the last 10 years, the return on very basic investments like stocks and bonds—more than 80% of the City’s pension portfolio—has exceeded expectations by more than $2 billion, despite the financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed.
• But nearly all that extra gain—about 97% of it—has been eaten up by Wall Street management fees, leaving only $40 million behind for the benefit of City retirees.
• Around 20% of the City’s pension funds is invested in complicated and expensive things called “alternative investments,” such as real estate and hedge funds.  The City began to invest in these investments in 2000, just at the moment when they began to do significantly worse than other parts of the market.
• The combination of the poor underperformance of these alternative investments and the huge fees that Wall Street firms charge to manage them for the City cost the pension funds—your pension funds—more than $2.5 billion since the end of 2004.

According to a New York Times editorial, “Even non-experts can grasp a primal personal-finance principle: buy low-cost funds linked to the overall performance of the stock market, be patient and don’t try to outsmart the market or pay someone an arm and a leg to do it for you. That a succession of fund trustees would never have thought of this before and found ways to reduce the damage done by excessive fees, is incredible.”

So let’s ask some of our trustees—members of the UFT who sit on the TRS board—what they think about all of this.  The UFT has three representatives on the TRS board of trustees: Mel Aaronson and Sandra March, who’ve been members for more than 20 years, and Thomas Brown.  Rank-and-file teachers elect these members to the board in some election process you probably never knew about or can remember.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the UFT, said that “he was happy that his union’s pension fund, TRS, had been performing well.  But he said the fees paid to some managers were ‘ridiculous’ and should be renegotiated if those managers are retained.  Education’s always being put under reform; maybe some of these financial practices should be put under reform as well.”

Ya think?

Teachers in New York City: According to an independent industry analysis, TRS now has money in it equal to around 58% of the future pension benefits that it must pay to current and retired teachers over the next 30 years.  As a comparison, the New York State Teachers Retirement System—which covers teachers who work in schools outside of the City—has around 96% of the money in it required to pay teacher pensions in the rest of New York State.  That means that your retirement benefit is only 61% as secure as the retirement benefit of a teacher who works outside of New York City.

Teachers in New York City:  The City TRS had a total investment return of 17.6% in 2014.  As a comparison, the State Teachers System had a total investment return of 18.2% in 2014—your retirement fund did 3.3% worse than did the retirement fund for teachers in the rest of the state.
Teachers in New York City: In 2014, the cost to run the City pension fund, including administrative expenses and fees paid to Wall Street firms, was almost twice the cost it took to run the State Teachers System. 

The UFT trustees sitting on the board of the TRS—the trustees your union nominated and that you elected—are guilty of gross negligence and of “investing-while-stupid.”

Teachers of New York City, if you don’t want to eat cat food when you retire start asking Michael Mulgrew, Mel Aaronson and Sandy March some hard questions about how they manage your pension fund.  If you make a big enough ruckus now there is still time to protect your pensions.  If you wait much longer I guarantee you that it will be too late.

Mulgrew, Tisch Insist Tests Will Not Count 50% For Teacher Evaluations

They keep sending out this jive that Cuomo didn't win his 50% test component:

The law also charges the education commissioner and Regents chancellor with determining “the weights and scoring ranges” for the testing and observation components. Tisch, who has said she supports an evaluation system in which test scores count for 40 percent in the past, did not specify what an ideal weight for tests should be. But she repeatedly suggested there is enough flexibility in the legislation for the Regents to keep it at less than 50 percent.

“What we are going to do at the State Education Department is create an evaluation system that takes guidance from the legislation as was intended,” Tisch said. “[Lawmakers] didn’t put in 50 percent, which means they couldn’t agree to 50 percent.”

City teachers union President Michael Mulgrew said in an interview that his reading of the law also left plenty open to interpretation.

“It’s not 50 percent test scores,” Mulgrew said. “It’s not a victory for [Cuomo] at all.”

 Carol Burris dispenses with the Tisch/Mulgrew jive here:

This is the plan they approved: Teachers will receive two, component scores–one based on “student performance” and a second based on observations. State standardized tests must be used for the first score, if such tests are part of the course or grade level taught by the teacher. Schools may add an additional test, but it must be created by the New York State Education Department (NYSED), or be on a NYSED approved list. In both cases, NYSED must create the means to generate a standardized “growth score” for that test. Clearly, when the legislature politely called this measure “student performance,” they were talking about tests, not talent shows.

Using a matrix, the two scores (performance and observation) will be blended to produce the final evaluation score, according to the line by line instructions in the bill, which you can find here.

...

Incredibly, both Chancellor  Merryl Tisch and United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew as well as many who voted for the bill, claim tests do not comprise 50 percent of the new APPR evaluation. As Stuyvesant High School math teacher, Gary Rubenstein, explained, if the tests were not worth 50 percent, the chart would not have symmetry. It’s a simple concept apparently not being grasped by policy makers.

I suspect that policy makers didn't grasp this concept because they didn't want to grasp it.

It is in their interest to keep saying Cuomo didn't get his 50% test component just as it is in Michael Mulgrew's interest to keep repeating that assertion as well.

But that certainly doesn't make the assertion true.

Wall Street Journal: Mulgrew's "Victory" Claim Made Cuomo Come Down Harder On Teachers

From Mike Vilensky in the Wall Street Journal:

Although Mr. Cuomo and legislative leaders on Sunday said they had reached a deal, interviews with lawmakers, aides and other Albany players revealed that it unraveled almost immediately, damaged by a war of words between the governor and the teachers union that affected the language of the education bill.

...

In a statement announcing the budget deal late Sunday, Mr. Cuomo said it represented “a complete overhaul of the entrenched education bureaucracy.” Mr. Mulgrew issued a competing statement, saying that legislators had stomped Mr. Cuomo’s “corporate” initiatives.

Mr. Mulgrew’s comments rankled the governor, said people familiar with the matter, and “there were changes made in response,” Mr. Benedetto said. From Sunday to Tuesday, “there was a reaction to it, which delayed the process terribly, and modified the final education wording,” he said.

Details of the bill that emerged after Sunday caught Democratic Assembly members off-guard and upset them, several of them said.

A Cuomo spokesman denied that any changes were made in response to Mr. Mulgrew’s comments. Cuomo administration officials said negotiations continued after Sunday, but the substance of the bills remained the same.

Isn't it time we send UFT President Mulgrew packing?

Now you see why the conflict between NYSUT and the UFT emerged in public, with NYSUT urging legislators to vote no on the education bill and the UFT telling legislators it would not be held against them.

They were pissed off at Mulgrew's bufoonery that seemingly made things worse in the end.

I'm skeptical that much changed from Sunday to Tuesday in the bill, but it's possible some of the more odious (and unexpected) stuff that's in the bill got there during the time frame.

It's just as likely that legislators are trying to pin the blame for having to take a tough vote on the budget bill on Mulgrew than anything else.

Still, it's an interesting story, that we have Mulgrew to blame for an even worse budget bill.

Perhaps we have Mike Mulgrew to thank for the loss of permanent certification and the inclusion of the "Moral Character Review" provision.

Mulgrew And The UFT To Blame For The Cuomo Deform Budget

A lot of teachers are waking up to the news that they have been stripped of their permanent certification and tenure protections and are subject to a odious new evaluation system that will be designed by the same incompetent bureaucrats who rolled out the mess that is Common Core and gave a liar named "Dr" Ted J. Morris Jr., MA, Ph.D, MSW a charter school.

A lot of teachers are wondering just who to blame for the shiv that got stuck into them last night.

Fingers are pointing at Cuomo, of course, because he pushed these reforms and ensured they would be in the budget.

Fingers are also pointing at Assembly Dems who, with "heavy hearts," passed this budget laden with education reforms into law, all the while claiming it was the best they could do:

@DeborahJGlick Your betrayal will not be forgotten.
— rbe (@perdidostschool) April 1, 2015

And while it's useful to let pols like Glick know that her sellout will live long in the memory of individual teachers, the truth is, she doesn't care about individual teachers any more than Cathy Nolan, Assembly Education Committee chair, or Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie care about us.

That's because Mike Mulgrew and the UFT gave Assembly Dems the okay to sell us out:

ALBANY — State lawmakers raced to finish work on New York’s budget Tuesday amid simmering resentment over Gov. Cuomo’s education reforms - which opened up an unusual rift between the city and state teachers’ unions.

...

City teacher union president Michael Mulgrew angered NYSUT President Karen Magee and her team after he put out a statement Sunday night - before the education bill was even in print- claiming victory in beating back some of Cuomo's more strident proposals, sources said.

While Magee urged lawmakers to reject the education measures, city lawmakers said they were told by Mulgrew's team that voting for the package would not be held against them.

"They just weren't on the same page," said one legislator of the two unions. "The issue between them was whether to strike the best deal they could or whether to oppose it outright."

Make no mistake, had the UFT joined with NYSUT and opposed passage of this budget because of the odious education reform provisions in it, many of the Dems who voted "yes" on the budget last night with "heavy hearts" would have had to think twice before casting an "aye" vote.

But Mulgrew told these sellout Dems not to worry about their betrayal, that the UFT understood and it was okay.

I suggest you vent your frustration at sellouts like Heastie, Nolan and Glick today by calling them at all their offices, emailing them and countering their self-serving jive on Twitter the way I did with Glick.

But you need to call the UFT and let them know that you hold Mulgrew and the UFT leadership ultimately responsible for this disaster.

It was reported that Mulgrew took the lead over Magee and NYSUT in "negotiating" the reforms that would end up in the budget.

Mulgrew declared "victory" on Sunday claiming the lack of merit pay and the hold on the charter cap were "wins" for teachers.

Alas, merit pay actually is in the budget, along with the loss of tenure, permanent certification and an insane new evaluation system developed by the hostile teacher-haters at SED, and the charter cap will be raised later in the legislative session.

Finally, Mulgrew refused to oppose the budget and the reforms in it in any meaningful way, giving Assembly Dems all the cover they needed to stick the shivs into teachers and public schools.

To be sure, this is Cuomo's "reformy" budget - but it couldn't have been done so easily had Mike Mulgrew and the UFT not helped him.

Ultimately, teachers need to blame the UFT for selling them out.

Cuomo Wins A Complete And Utter Rout

So here's some of what's in the Cuomo Deform Budget:

Permanent certification is gone - teachers with permanent certification have to "register" with NYSED every five years showing they have done 100 hundred hours of "rigorous" PD.

Tenure is gone - two "ineffective" ratings and a district may have a teacher fired in 90 days.  Three "ineffective" ratings in a row and a district must move to have the teacher fired in 30 days.

The same geniuses who brought you the mess that was the Common Core roll-out and gave a liar named "Dr" Ted J. Morris Jr. MA, Ph.D, MSW a charter school are now in charge of creating a new evaluation system that links tests scores and observations, including one from an "outside evaluator," by June.

Teachers who teach subjects and/or courses that do not end in state tests will be evaluated by "Student Learning Objectives" that will be developed by NYSED.

If a teacher comes up "ineffective" on the test-based component, they may opt to have students take another test approved by the state, but no funding will be provided for the test:

The budget describes the following as eligible options for the second test: “state tests or assessments developed or designed by the state education department, or that the state education department purchased or acquired from another state; an institution of higher education; or a commercial or not-for-profit entity.”

The optional "second test" idea is in the evaluation system in order to put the onus of overtesting onto teachers according to a Cuomo official.

Education aid increases are tied to the new evaluation systems being in place in individual districts by November.

“No school district shall be eligible for an apportionment of general support for public schools from the funds appropriated for the 2015-2016 school year and any year thereafter in excess of the amount apportioned to such school district in the respective base year unless such school district has submitted documentation that has been approved by the commissioner by November fifteenth, two thousand fifteen,” the bill says.

Students may not be instructed two years running by "ineffective" teachers.

There's more - and it's all bad.

You can see the rest of the mess here at this Capital NY rundown by Jessica Bakeman.

This is what UFT President Mike Mulgrew called "victory."

This is what Assembly Dems passed with "heavy hearts" last night.

If it wasn't clear to you before this that teachers have been abandoned by their union leadership and the politicians we support both financially and politically, it should be now.