In a bid to better position himself going into what will be a tough election year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg "is getting ready to trade away the education of New York City's children for a deal with Gotham's most powerful union boss, Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers." So says Ryan Sager in two recent Op-Eds in the New York Post. Sager claims that, rather than working to reform and streamline teacher contracts, "Bloomberg is going to let the UFT keep the vast majority of the privileges enshrined in past contracts," which limit, among other things, how long a teacher can work each day, how schools set faculty meeting agendas, and how teachers are hired and fired. (Click here for more.) If true, such a compromise would deal a severe blow to his own schools chancellor, Joel Klein, who has staked his chancellorship on breaking what he called "the three poles of civil service: lockstep pay, seniority, and life tenure," which are embodied in the current teacher contracts and which, according to Klein, prevent policymakers "from making the changes that will encourage and support excellence in our [school] system." City Council Chair Eva Moskowitz - a vocal critic of the work rules enshrined in the teacher contracts - agrees, arguing that "if we don't get fundamental reform of the [teachers] contract, Chancellor Klein, as talented and committed as he is, isn't going to be able to make significant headway in improving public education."
"Kicking Klein to the curb," by Ryan Sager, New York Post, October 27, 2004
"Mayor on the edge of a sellout," by Ryan Sager, New York Post, October 20, 2004