By Ariel Kaminer
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders said on Monday that they had reached an agreement to help New York City and its teachers’ union settle on a teacher evaluation system and save the city from losing hundreds of millions of dollars in future education financing.
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The agreement on a new measure in the state budget seeks to resolve a standoff between the Bloomberg administration and the United Federation of Teachers about how to assess the performance of public school teachers, as required by a 2010 state law. That standoff cost the city at least $250 million in state aid when it missed a Jan. 17 deadline to finalize details of its evaluation system, and put hundreds of millions more dollars in jeopardy.
Under the agreement, New York City, along with three other New York school districts, will have until May 29 to work out the details of an evaluation system. If they cannot, the matter will be settled by a round of binding arbitration overseen by the state education commissioner, John B. King Jr., that will impose a system by June 1. The districts will not get back the money they have already lost, but the agreement will protect them from future penalties, as long as they carry out the evaluation systems.
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