Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has issued an ultimatum to the United Federation of Teachers and New York City’s education department: If they don’t agree to a new teacher-evaluation system by May 31, then the state will impose one, the New York Times reports.
Cuomo was scheduled to introduce a rider today to a budget bill that would put that trigger into place.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and UFT President Michael Mulgrew have been squabbling for years over the shape of teacher evaluations in the city, which educates some 1 million students.
A 2010 state law required every district in the state to create such a system, but gray areas in the succeeding regulations about how much weight could be given to standardized-test scores versus other gauges of student achievement have delayed the groups’ attempts to reach an accord.
One was reportedly on the table recently, but fell through at the last moment—costing the city $250 million in additional state aid. Or maybe not: as I write this, the Wall Street Journal just tweeted that a judge has blocked that penalty.
For background on this situation, try my colleague Andrew Ujifusa’s write-up from last year.