Wisconsin union holding federal funds hostage
Governor Dayton’s Baleful Influence on Labor Relations
By Lisa Fleisher, The Wall Street Journal
Plans for a new teacher rating system for New York City schools that would include measures of student performance—a hallmark of national education reform efforts—were dealt a setback on Friday after negotiations broke down between the city and the teachers union.
The failure to reach an agreement before a year-end deadline had an immediate, if minimal, effect: The state suspended a program to funnel nearly $60 million in federal funds to the city to improve a small number of troubled schools. The money represents less than 0.3% of the Department of Education’s annual budget.
More broadly, however, the breakdown suggests a stalemate over implementing new teacher evaluations for the entire city school system, a state requirement that’s also one of the most ambitious items on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s schools agenda. In addition, including student performance in teacher evaluations is a key component of President Barack Obama’s education policies.
