In a continuing story being played out in Albany, the United Federation of Teachers, and their affiliated unions, have worked hard to block expansion of the very successful and popular Charter School program here in NY. When will they start to be held accountable by the voter?...
The city teachers union did its best to scuttle the state's application for $700 million in federal school aid by refusing to embrace reform measures required to compete for the funds, education authorities told The Post.
State officials confirmed that the United Federation of Teachers refused to sign a memo supporting the state's Race to the Top application because it would have allowed student test-score data to be used in the evaluation of the union's members.
The UFT also refused to agree to paying the best teachers extra to work in high-poverty schools, arguing that such a move smacked of merit pay. And it sought to add obstacles for bouncing the lowest-performing teachers from the system, city officials said.
"What the union was proposing on issues of teacher evaluation and teacher compensation not only was not in accordance with the mandates of Race to the Top but would have damaged the state and the city's ability to win the $700 million award," Deputy Schools Chancellor John White said...
"Any statement that the teachers union was trying to satisfy the requirements of Race to the Top through an agreement with the state and the [city] Department of Education is a lie."
UFT President Michael Mulgrew countered that the union had been looking to negotiate a memo with the city for weeks but that education officials waited until the 11th hour to tackle the tough issues.
He said many of the items in a separate memo the UFT signed and sent to the state demonstrated it was a ready partner.
"It clearly says that we are willing to sit and work with the state on coming up with some sort of [teacher-evaluation] system," he said. "The Department of Education is once again spinning and misrepresenting . . . If they're saying we're lying, then I'll tell you they're lying, and I can prove it."
A copy of the UFT-signed memo contains language that runs counter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's push to have teachers evaluated based on how well their students perform.
It says twice that "test-score data cannot be used for teacher evaluation or individual compensation."
Mulgrew said the union's opposition to using test-score data was a no-brainer given questions from top state education officials about the reliability of state tests.
...the Republican Party and its candidates need to make clear how anti-child and anti-parent these policies are. In the end, the Teachers Union only cares about our kids when they are making money off of them...
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written by Quickjustice , January 26, 2010
Here's the overview from a couple of years ago about the Teachers Union from the Empire Center:
http://www.albanyinc.com/alb04.html
written by Quickjustice , January 26, 2010
I should add that I support Charter Schools, but also think the state education tests are dishonest and inflate test scores, making Bloomberg and the teachers look better than they are.
written by Jay Golub , January 26, 2010
"I should add that I support Charter Schools, but also think the state education tests are dishonest and inflate test scores, making Bloomberg and the teachers look better than they are."
Like I've said before here on UE, there should be an investigation of the inflated test scores to determine who is responsible for the standardized testing fraud.
The people responsible for these weaker tests are shortchanging our children and are allowing ineffective teachers, sub-par teaching practices and useless methods of teaching to be imposed on our innocent children - ALL SO THAT THE SPECIAL INTERESTS AND THE POLITICAL CLASS CAN GIVE THEMSELVES A GOOD GRADE...
written by Jay Golub , February 16, 2010
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/l...kvCSfhC7yJ
Proof that the UFT and the public education system can afford to take a cut during the State's fiscal crisis...
"An audit has found state public schools have been socking away hundreds of millions of dollars in reserve accounts that they can't touch now in the midst of a budget crisis.
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office identified $615 million that school districts have been holding "unnecessarily." He said last week that the districts placed more money than they would ever need in reserve accounts for employees to receive accrued sick and leave time."
...the Teachers Unions don't care about our kids - they only care about themselves. And as someone who knows many, many teachers, I know they DO CARE about our kids, but feel intimidated by union leaders and the public education system establishment.
After Paterson proposed holding back a few hundred million in fund distributions for the schools system State-wide, the union started crying foul - yet it is clear that the schools have been over-funded for years.
NY State pays the most per-child for public education in the country - and probably the world - yet these greedy union leaders keep pushing for more.
In another related story, the Post outlines new secret powers being pursued by the union related to day-care workers...
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/gov_child_care_plan_gives_union_Au3n8NAYszDyiBefp7kEoI
"The United Federation of Teachers could reap a multimillion-dollar windfall if lawmakers approve a little-noticed provision in Gov. Paterson's budget that would force day-care workers to pay union dues.
The proposal, buried deep within the governor's 2010-11 spending plan, would cap a massive labor expansion first authorized in 2007 when then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer gave child-care providers the right to unionize.
The UFT -- with help from the lightning-rod activist group ACORN -- has since added 28,000 city day-care workers to its ranks and negotiated a contract promising health benefits and better wages at taxpayer expense.
"This is a real favor to them," said E.J. McMahon of the business-backed Manhattan Institute.
"This will further empower the unions financially. This is the part that really matters to them. This is why they did it."
Labor unions, as part of a national effort to expand their ranks, have complained that day-care workers lack benefits and proper wages.
After getting the OK from Spitzer, unions set about organizing day-care workers in a series of lopsided -- albeit modestly attended -- elections. Members approved their first contract last fall.
Critics complained those covered included unlicensed providers paid to watch one or two kids for a relative.
At the time, Mayor Bloomberg warned the move could cost the city as much as $90 million a year. because many day-care workers are paid by public agencies, as they watch children of the working poor."
...just another cause for the excessively high cost of living in NY City and State and just another reason why so many people are jumping ship to more affordable locations for their families...
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