In his State of the State address on Jan. 21, Governor Andrew Cuomo tied $1.1 billion in additional state education aid to the passage of his "reform" proposals in the state budget: individual merit pay, more charter schools, punishing struggling schools, and making teacher evaluation hinge on state test scores.

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

The Governor’s speech was warmed-up Bloomberg leftovers — ignore the real problems, blame the teachers for everything that's wrong, and toss in a few failed schemes like individual merit pay.

 I'm inviting the Governor to drop the rhetoric of his hedge-fund pals who hate public education and come visit a real New York City public school, where teachers, kids and parents are working to make education a success.