By The Editors 7/11/12 9:48am

opinion

A Blow to School Reform

It shouldn’t be this hard to do right by the city’s public school children.

An arbitrator recently ruled that the Bloomberg administration could not go forward with plans to close—and then reopen—24 failing schools throughout the city. Why not? It would be wonderful to report that the arbitrator found that the city hadn’t gone far enough on behalf of students. But, alas, that’s not the case. Instead, the arbitrator contended that the plan violated labor contracts.

So it’s all about the teachers—and the teachers’ union. Read More

By The Editors 2/29/12 8:42am

opinion

A Victory for School Reform

A week after Governor Cuomo and the teachers union agreed on a new, more robust system to evaluate public school teachers, the city released data reports measuring the performance of about 18,000 of the city’s 75,000 public school teachers. Advocates of educational accountability have good reason to cheer.

The battle to make the teacher ratings public was long and difficult, thanks to the predictable efforts of the United Federation of Teachers, which devoted a portion of its vast resources and energy to keeping the ratings away from the prying eyes of parents and taxpayers. The UFT was not particularly gracious in defeat—it never is. Union head Michael Mulgrew said the city’s Department of Education should “be ashamed of itself.” Shame, it should be noted, is not a characteristic we associate with the UFT.

The ratings are not perfect. Read More

By The Editors 3/02/11 12:34am

Editorial

Double-Dipping Teachers Cost NYC More than Just Money

Mayor Bloomberg has put together a list of schools that will be affected if the city has to lay off more than 4,500 teachers because of state cuts to education. Most of the schools are in poorly served neighborhoods, because that’s where most of the city’s youngest teachers work. If City Hall has to abide Read More

By Dan Duray 5/25/10 6:42pm

A Judges’ Union?

This almost sounds like a joke-a State Supreme Court justice has suggested that he and his colleagues ought to join a union in order to extract a wage increase from the state. Are you laughing yet? Well, consider this-the judge, Arthur Schack, is talking about joining the United Federation of Teachers.

If you’re not Read More

By Azi Paybarah 9/10/09 7:49pm

Aborn May Have the W.F.P., But Vance Gets 1199 and 32BJ

Cy Vance’s campaign announced endorsements today from 1199, the health care workers union, and 32BJ, the city’s largest private union.

They’re major unions with well-proven Get Out the Vote operations. It’s also worth noting that they are part of the labor coalition that runs the Working Families Party which, as an umbrella organization, backed another Read More