Deal reached on teacher evaluations

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and educators announced a deal Thursday on a new system for evaluating schoolteachers across the state, just 12 hours before a deadline he had set.

The new system makes only a few -- but significant -- changes from an evaluation system enacted by the Legislature in 2010. Cuomo had called that law weak.

Notably, the new system gives the state Education Department explicit authority to approve teacher-performance measures bargained by local school boards and their unions. The plan also more tightly prescribes what types of students' test scores will go into evaluating teachers.

More than $1 billion was at stake. The federal government has said a delay in implementing an evaluation system could endanger $700 million in aid to New York State. In addition, Cuomo imposed a deadline of Thursday for unions and state education officials to create a teacher-evaluation template for school districts statewide to use.

Further, the governor had said that any district that doesn't implement a new teacher-evaluation system by January 2013 will have to forgo its share of an $805-million increase in school aid planned for this year.

"My position is that this resolves the issues [the federal government] raised," Cuomo said at a news conference with union officials. "We have done everything we needed to do. I expect the federal government will come to the same conclusion."

Later, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the deal puts New York "in great shape" to secure the federal funding. "Obviously, there's a lot of hard work ahead of New York . . . but this was a major roadblock . . . and I think they are over that block in a great way."

The head of the state's largest teachers union applauded the compromise. "There's a balance that makes us feel comfortable," said Richard Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers, "and a balance that makes the governor feel comfortable."

In a separate but related announcement, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city had reached an agreement with its teachers on how to handle ratings appeals. That stalemate had slowed negotiations on the new statewide plan.

The 2010 law was not implemented because of disputes over how much weight to give state standardized tests. In moving to begin the system, the state Education Department proposed making test scores count up to 40 percent rather than 20 percent as outlined in the law.

The teachers union sued and won the first court battle, but the state appealed and the sides hadn't reached an accord. Cuomo last month gave the sides until Thursday to reach a resolution or he'd put a new evaluation system in the budget legislation.

"Today, the new evaluation system becomes a reality," the governor said, adding: "This was not an easy discussion for any of the people involved."

Under the plan, 60 percent of a teacher's rating would be based on classroom observations, 20 percent on students' scores on state standardized tests, and 20 percent on a list of three scoring options. That could include locally developed tests, tests offered by third parties or a simple doubling of the value placed on the state tests. School boards would have to negotiate the final 20 percent with their local unions.

State Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. acknowledged this was similar to the framework provided in the 2010 law, but added: "We've constrained the choices. We've created a very clear menu" for determining the final 20 percent.

Timothy Kremer, head of the state School Boards Association, said the plan leaves sticky issues to be bargained with local unions -- such as how to handle appeals by teachers rated "ineffective" and whether school superintendents would arbitrate those appeals. But he said the agreement is conceptually "positive" and "something we can work with."