In remarks to the Daily News editorial board, Gov. Andrew Cuomo discussed imposing stricter standards for teacher evaluation and referred to public schools as "one of the only remaining public monopolies."

In response, UFT President Michael Mulgrew issued the following statement:

In terms of schools and teachers, Governor Cuomo has it backwards.

He talks about more rigorous standards and evaluations for teachers and students, even while the charter schools he champions function without any effective oversight. Charters are permitted to ignore the law that requires them to educate the same number of high-needs students as district schools.

He also claims that New York’s education budget is too high, without noting that because of the wide disparities of income in the state, children in wealthy districts benefit from much higher spending and students in poorer districts have to make do with far fewer resources.