New York state plans to take back the $260 million in funding for NYC schools that was lost after the city and the teachers’ union failed to come to an agreement on teacher evaluations by the January 17 deadline. According to GothamSchools, some lawmakers are now saying they don’t agree with this approach:
The law was meant to be more of a threat, some said Wednesday, and they never expected it to go this far.
Andrea Stewart-Cousins, head of the Senate Democratic Conference, is one lawmaker who now feels the funds should not be taken from NYC’s schools:
“The children shouldn’t have to suffer because the adults couldn’t agree,” Stewart-Cousins said.
Despite the lack of support from some lawmakers, the Independent Democratic Conference feels that cutting the funding is the appropriate consequence for failing to reach an agreement on teacher evaluations:
“Unfortunately, the law is the law,” said Jeff Klein, a Bronx senator who heads the Independent Democratic Conference. Klein said he instead supported Cuomo’s legislation to allow state Education Commissioner John King to decide the evaluation system if New York City can’t come to an agreement for next year. “I think restoration of the money is going to be very, very difficult, because it was mandated in law. It was very clear.”
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