Education The Mayor’s D.O.E. and UFT Will Resume Talks Today, Just Hours Before $300M Deadline
by John Surico
For whatever reason, “coming down to the wire” doesn’t cut it here. Maybe it’s the $300 million that’s at stake. Who knows.
As we reported last week, a deadline has been set for tomorrow on statewide teacher evaluation deals. If achieved, the state will qualify for millions in Race to the Top grants from Washington, which will help fulfill a staked-out 4 percent increase in education funding from Governor Cuomo’s office. The rest of New York’s schools are waiting on the city to negotiate this relatively touchy subject.
But that’s no surprise: The two parties — the Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers — have had longstanding politics between each other for years now. The fact that the teachers haven’t had a contract with the mayor’s office since 2007 doesn’t help. And Bloomberg likening the UFT to the NRA two weeks ago didn’t, either. For many more reasons than none, the talks stalled some time before Christmas, letting the intensity of this issue build up like a student writing a 30-page paper on existentialism the night before it’s due.
But, hopefully, students are in luck: the AP has reported that the two parties have agreed to come back to the table this afternoon. While the clock ticks away, it’ll be their last attempt to fix a mess that could have widespread repercussions. But no pressure or anything.
The Voice will keep you updated.