The State Capitol, Albany NY.
ALBANY – State lawmakers will continue with a busy day today in Albany as they work to approve various bills for the 2015-16 state budget.
On Sunday night, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced that a budget deal had been reached – less than three days before the April 1 budget deadline. On Monday, lawmakers began reviewing and acting on the bills that are associated with the budget.
As lawmakers approached tonight’s state budget deadline, Gov. Cuomo on Monday was finalizing what could be described as a take-it-or-leave education reform package that continues to rely heavily on standardized test results but seems to put the onus on the state teachers union to seek second chances for low-scoring teachers.
The Education Transformation Act is tied to a school funding increase of more than $1.33 billion, but it may be a hard pill for lawmakers to swallow — especially in the Democrat-dominated Assembly, where members are closely aligned with teachers unions.
Under the plan, teachers whose students persistently do poorly on tests designed to show student growth during the school year could be fired, even if they are tenured.
At the same time, Karen Magee – the leader of the New York State United Teachers union – was urging parents to boycott the tests given in grades 3 to 8. The tests are currently the basis for up to 20 percent of a teachers rating.
Magee said instructions on how to opt out were available on the union’s website.
As she was calling for a boycott, though, the governor’s office was preparing school “runs,” or charts showing how much state aid the various school districts will receive under the final budget plan.
To get that money, lawmakers would have to approve the new testing program.
Local school districts have had their budget process in a holding pattern as they await those school aid runs. Jamestown, in particular, is waiting with bated breath as it needs to come up with several million dollars in additional state aid to help close a looming $4.9 million budget gap for next school year.
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