The State Assembly blocked a bill introduced by Sen. John Flanagan that would require teacher layoffs based on merit and not on tenure yesterday, and Bloomberg says that could lead to a devastating number of layoffs. Governor Cuomo reportedly announced his own bill to reform the policy, but Bloomberg says it isn't enough: “I have not seen the details, but I think the bottom line is we need legislation that allows us to lay off teachers this year using merit, and that’s the legislation the governor should put in the budget, and anything else just doesn’t help us right now."
Cuomo's plan will reportedly base statewide layoffs both on merit and seniority, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said that merit-based layoffs are already in effect as part of the state getting Race To The Top Funding. He told the Staten Island Advance, "We're not ready to abandon that. We made a commitment to the federal government: 'Give us money and we will do this.'" However, there are Assembly members who do support some level of the "last in, first out" policy. Senator Andrew Lanza told WNYC, "A good teacher who has been teaching for ten years is probably better than the good teacher who's been teaching for ten minutes. So I believe that LIFO does have a place in public service when it comes to our teachers. But not inasmuch as it protects bad teachers, so let's fix it. This does it."
Other sources say Cuomo's plan is just a soft attempt to make a deal with the teachers union. (Yesterday was the Annual UFT Lobby Day in the Assembly.) One Bloomberg aide told the Daily News, “we’re assuming the Cuomo bill was drafted by the [United Federation of Teachers].” The AFL-CIO union didn't support the bill either, saying, "Experience only comes with time and as such seniority must and should be the primary determining factor when there are no alternatives of layoffs." If the governor's bill passes it would be put into effect next year. Teacher layoffs in the city could begin as early as this spring.
