UFT presses for more funding from Albany

El-Wise NoisetteUFT President Michael Mulgrew, with union counsel Carol Gerstl, testifies before state lawmakers on Jan. 23. In testimony before state lawmakers on Jan. 23, UFT President Michael Mulgrew made a forceful case for additional funding for New York City schools while setting the record straight on teacher evaluations and the struggling schools that the mayor has abandoned.

Compared to last year, when Gov. Cuomo proposed cutting $1.4 billion from schools statewide, this year’s budget came as a relief as the union’s push for tax reform paid off. But more needs to be done, Mulgrew testified.

“Our schools have been cut 11 percent since 2009,” he said. “What our students have lost is staggering, from tutoring, college prep courses, art, music, theater, science labs and more.”

In his executive budget, the governor proposed giving New York City $135 million in school aid, with another $88 million in reimbursements, which amounts to a 2.9 percent increase.

“It is critical that more school aid is invested to revive our schools and bring back the programs and services our students need,” Mulgrew said.

In particular, he asked lawmakers to do the following:

• add $5 million to expand College Now to all 540 city high schools. The program run by the City University served more than 20,000 students in 390 high schools last year;
• expand career and technical education schools through public and private partnerships;
• improve oversight over the Contracts for Excellence to make sure funding allocated for things like lowering class size is used properly;
• invest more in early child care. Recent reports say only 27 percent of income-eligible families receive child care;
• restore Teacher Center funding to continue providing relevant professional development, mentoring and support to educators; and
• develop a teacher evaluation system that helps teachers improve and provides a fair and valid appeals process.

Mulgrew said he welcomed the governor’s efforts to get the mayor back to the bargaining table on teacher evaluations.

“Amazingly, the mayor continues to thumb his nose at the governor’s ultimatum. The UFT stands ready at the negotiating table, but there’s no one on the other side and my phone hasn’t rung,” Mulgrew said.

[On Jan. 24, the union and the city began informal talks.]

Moreover, Mulgrew charged, Bloomberg is “playing games with school communities” by starting the process of closing dozens of schools.

“The mayor said he would rather close schools, remove teachers and lose millions of dollars in extra funding than create an evaluation system that will truly improve our public schools,” he said.

Read the full testimony.