Leading up to the unveiling of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's first budget proposal, Mayor Bloomberg ominously warned that as many as 21,000 teacher layoffs could occur because of cuts. Then, he backpedaled from that statement, promising, "We'll have to find another way." Now that the dire budget proposal has been revealed, Bloomberg has gone back to sounding the alarm for teachers...we think?
Already upset over NYC getting the shaft in the budget, Bloomberg told reporters yesterday that teachers would be getting pink slips: "We're playing with fire. And we want to have our workforce as motivated as possible...It'll be thousands [of pink slips], but I cannot give you an answer yet until we work with the governor." However, moments later he said he thought changes in Albany mandates could preserve jobs: "We've found ways to do it, and we can find ways to do [it] this [year]. That's why we need help from the governor." But none of that might matter anyway, because teachers might just bail with all this uncertainty: "Some teachers might sit there and say maybe it's time to look for another job and not wait around. My job is to protect the teachers."
So to summarize: there are definitely going to be thousands of teacher layoffs. Unless there won't be, if Albany intervenes. But Albany better do something soon, because teachers are a scared lot who will abandon ship at a moment's notice. But Bloomberg never flip-flops! We may have no idea what Bloomberg really thinks, but at least we know he's not upset with Cuomo, even though he sounded pretty upset with Cuomo yesterday. Bloomberg testily told one pesky reporter, "We're not going to have a public fight. I'm not going to provide the theater you want. I'm sorry about that. I don't feel betrayed at all. My job is to work with the governor. We've done it. We've had lots of conversations, and then we'll have myriad conversations over the next three years."
