UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the Delegate Assembly in January that the union hopes to have a new contract by the end of June.

That is important, he said, because the union wants whatever changes it negotiates to the teacher evaluation system and to other working conditions to be in place by September.

“We cannot do that unless we have a contract that is done and ratified by the end of the school year,” he told delegates in a packed hall at UFT headquarters on Jan. 15.

The fact-finding hearings that the union and the Department of Education began last spring before an independent panel of arbitrators have now concluded, he said, and each side was preparing final briefs on what it thinks should be in the new contract. The next step is for the panel to issue its recommendations, which could serve as a framework for a settlement.

The Bloomberg administration told the fact-finding panel that the city could not afford to give raises. “The last mayor went out of his way to say the city is broke,” Mulgrew said.

In fact, Mulgrew said, the problem is where the city spends its money on education.

“There are literally billions of dollars a year spent on the accountability complex of the Department of Education,” Mulgrew told delegates. These are the DOE divisions devoted to the school progress reports, the quality reviews, the learning environment surveys — “all the stuff that’s been driving us nuts for years,” he said.

The DOE’s huge accountability operation was one reason that the department under Bloomberg had more than 700 employees who were not educators. Many were lawyers, and others had MBA degrees, Mulgrew said.

“We have to get this accountability system fixed,” he said. “We cannot afford to keep using so much of our education funding on this.”

Now the UFT has a new chancellor to negotiate with for a contract. The city also has a new City Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito.

Mulgrew noted that Mark-Viverito has shown interest in Community Learning Schools and other important education initiatives.

“She spent two days in Cincinnati with us,” Mulgrew said, referring to the community school project that serves as a model for the UFT’s initiative. “She’s a huge supporter of what we do, and I think she’s going to be a fantastic speaker.”

Drawing applause and cheers, he also announced that the number of former UFT members holding City Council seats has grown to six.

Mulgrew asked the room to stand for a moment of silence in honor of a longtime union activist who recently died.

“Joseph Shannon was somebody who really dedicated so much of his life to this union,” Mulgrew said. “He was a pension trustee. He was one of our main lobbyists in Albany at times. He was the Staten Island borough representative. He did so many things and gave so much of himself not just to teaching but to this union.”