Bloomberg Likes How the State Senate Voted [updated]

Bloomberg gets one step closer to his goal:

“Today, the New York State Senate passed a landmark proposal that puts the needs of our children first. Putting great teachers in front of every classroom – regardless of how long they have been on the job – is the most important thing a school system can do to help its students. Enormous credit is due to Senate Education Committee Chair John Flanagan, who has established himself as a statewide leader on education reform, to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and to the Republican Conference – particularly New York City’s champions, Marty Golden and Andrew Lanza – for taking a stand on behalf of our 1.1 million schoolchildren. I also want to thank Senators Jeff Klein and David Valesky of the Independent Democratic Conference for putting the needs of public school children ahead of special interest politics. Now, we urge the Governor to include this critically important reform in his budget proposal on Thursday and for the Assembly to support it.”

UPDATE: Speaking to reporters on 53rd Street just now, Bloomberg said layoff notices “have to” be mailed “in the next couple of months” and “we need the governor to help us now by putting [the new legislation] in this budget by Thursday.”