A delegate votes on a motion using a clicker, a technique that was adopted when the Delegate Assembly became both in person and virtual after the COVID-19 pandemic.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew told delegates at the Delegate Assembly on Jan. 17 that the union faces both a city and a state budget fight this spring.
Gov. Hochul’s proposed 2.6% increase in state aid for New York City public schools was “a good starting point, but not enough,” he said.
The governor previously won accolades for committing to fully fund Foundation Aid, but this year she has proposed two changes to that aid that together would result in school districts receiving significantly less than they expected.
Under existing law, Foundation Aid is adjusted annually to reflect the consumer price index from the previous year. In her budget proposal, Hochul uses a 10-year consumer price index average and drops the highest and lowest years. Under the new formula, New York City public schools would receive $132 million less.
Mulgrew said the union also opposes the governor’s proposal to eliminate the “hold-harmless” provision that has prevented school districts from losing Foundation Aid when their enrollment drops. Such a change wouldn’t affect New York City this year, because of the influx of new immigrant students, but he said it would set a bad precedent.
The UFT continues to take issue with the state’s unequal support for charter schools, Mulgrew said. The per-pupil funding for charters, he noted, includes facilities funding for each student even though New York City is forced by state law to provide space or pay the rent for charter schools.
Mulgrew then briefed delegates on the union’s state legislative agenda for 2024. Nearly 1,000 union members, including many chapter leaders and delegates, will travel to Albany to lobby for that agenda on the union’s Lobby Day on March 11.
Even as the budget fight heats up in Albany, Mulgrew told delegates that the union’s fight with Mayor Eric Adams over his unnecessary school budget cuts must continue.
In mid-January, Adams allocated some funding for community schools and the Summer Rising program, but he went ahead with the bulk of the $560 million in midyear school budget cuts he had announced in November.
“With what the state has already sent us, there should be no cuts to our schools,” Mulgrew said.
Adams’ rationale for the deep cuts was the mounting cost of new immigrant families coming to the city. In mid-January, he reduced that cost estimate, “but it’s still way overinflated,” Mulgrew said.
“This is all only about him playing political gamesmanship,” Mulgrew said. “It’s turned into a straight-up soap opera telenovela where he doesn’t know how to get out of the box he’s put himself into.”
David Kazansky, one of the three teacher-member trustees on the Teachers’ Retirement System board, made a presentation on the union’s Fix Tier 6 pension campaign to the delegates.
“Our No. 1 focus is to make sure that members in Tier 6 who retire at age 55 after 30 years of service are able to collect their unreduced pensions,” Kazansky said.
Currently, Tier 6 members who retire at 55 after 30 years of service face a 52% reduction in their pension benefit.
Kazansky said the union wants to bring the final average salary calculation for Tier 6 into line with Tier 4. Final average salary calculations for Tier 6 now use the average of the five highest-paid consecutive years, while Tier 4 uses the average of the three highest-paid consecutive years.