State teachers' ads target Cuomo

ALBANY -- The state's largest teachers union went on the offensive Wednesday in its fight with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over teacher evaluations, launching a statewide advertising campaign.

The New York State United Teachers bought ads in newspapers across the state "to set the record straight" on what's become the hottest political issue in the early weeks of the 2012 legislative session.

Just hours before the union announced its campaign, Cuomo reiterated his threat to withhold state funds from school districts that don't change their evaluation process.

The ads' theme, "Teachers Know: A Child is more than a test score," is a lightly veiled shot at the governor, who is pushing to have a teacher's evaluation more strongly tied to students' scores on standardized tests.

The ad buy costs about $100,000 and puts a focus on two union goals: getting the word out about the increased use of standardized tests, and countering "some assertions" -- an apparent reference to the governor -- that no progress is being made toward reaching an agreement on the issue.

"Our message is that students' test scores have their place in teacher evaluations," said NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn, "but we want parents to know that we're concerned about the over-reliance on tests."

The battle involves a 2010 law that would make students' tests scores account for about 20 percent of a teacher's evaluation. The state Education Department tried to put in regulations to make it 40 percent. The union sued and won at the first court level, but the state has appealed and the sides haven't reached a settlement. The two sides met again Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the federal government has said the delay could endanger $700 million in aid to New York.

Last month, Cuomo said he's giving the sides until Feb. 16 to resolve it or he'd put a new evaluation system in the budget legislation, which would have to be approved by the legislature. Though he hasn't spelled out his plan, the Democrat has criticized the 2010 law as weak.

Further, the governor said 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. He repeated that threat Wednesday.

"We have the [Education Department] at the table working with the unions on coming up with an evaluation," the governor said. "I want to see first if they meet the deadline and if they get it done. And if they don't get it done, then I'll put my evaluation plan on the table"

NYSUT president Richard C. Ianuzzi said in a statement: "The public should know that progress is being made, and more importantly, we need to get it right. All across the state, teachers and school districts are working to develop rigorous and fair evaluation systems that are good for students, fair to teachers and that work for their own communities. What they don't need is another 'one size fits all' unfunded mandate imposed by Albany bureaucrats."

With Ted Phillips