Pols Knock Mayors School Plan
By [Megan Finnegan Bungeroth] Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg laid out a sweeping vision for New York in his State of the City address, given at Morris High School in the Bronx. With a broad focus on education, creating jobs and bolstering the economy, Bloomberg echoed many imperatives that Gov. Andrew Cuomo laid out in his State of the State address the previous week while putting forth some specific, and controversial, plans of his own. Perhaps the biggest issue Bloomberg tackled was education, giving a five-point set of goals that seemingly blindsided the United Federation of Teachers and has education advocates either grinning or wringing their hands, depending on who you ask. While emphasizing the need to attract and maintain talented teachers with initiatives to help pay off teachers" student loans and programs to bump up salaries by $20,000 after two consecutive years of stellar ratings, Bloomberg called for the power to get rid of the ineffective ones. â??Under a school turnaround program already authorized by federal and state law and consistent with a provision of the existing union contract, the city can form school-based committees to evaluate teachers on merit and replace up to 50 percent of the faculty, Bloomberg said, pointing out that 33 schools missed out on $58 million in federal funding because of poor performance and that the city was unable to replace any of those teachers. â??Under this process, the best teachers stay [and] the least effective go. And now, that is exactly what will happen, he said. Michael Mulgrew, president of the UFT, was reportedly not told about the mayor"s pronouncements until shortly before the address. He mocked Bloomberg for being â??lost in his own fantasy world. â??What I saw was a man who was trying to set up a smokescreen about the decade of disaster that he has put upon our city schools, Mulgrew said in a statement. â??He"s trying to start a fight with the UFT rather than negotiate with us on an evaluation system so that all children will be helped more. Upper East Side Council Member Dan Garodnick said he doesn"t know what Bloomberg"s education pronouncements will ultimately lead to as far as actual policy changes. â??I think we will see whether the aggressive posture that the mayor took will allow for any compromises to be reached with the teachers" union or whether they"re just going to have to go to the political process, he said. Bloomberg also highlighted the need for better recycling programs and said the city will begin turning wastewater into renewable energy and explore ways to cleanly convert solid waste. Garodnick applauded that notion as important to his constituents. â??The part that I was most encouraged by for our area was the emphasis on recycling and to continue moving buildings to cleaner heating oil, Garodnick said. â??Our area has some of the worst air quality in the city, and that needs to continue to be a priority for all of us going forward. City Council Member Jessica Lappin also highlighted the mayor"s emphasis on the environment in his address. â??I"m glad that Mayor Bloomberg reaffirmed his commitment to recycling, Lappin said in an email.ˆ â??His plan should increase residential recycling and build on my legislation that created public space and textile recycling programs. Bloomberg called the debate over bike lanes â??hot and heavy and said that the city would step up enforcement of traffic laws while encouraging even more bike use through the bike share program. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer applauded the mayor"s calls for a higher minimum wage but criticized some of his other proposed measures, like selling three buildings in Lower Manhattan to raise money for the city instead of utilizing them. â??I wish he had spoken more about the squeeze facing New York"s middle-class families, Stringer said in a statement. â??Too many New Yorkers are working harder than ever but feel like they are falling farther and farther behind.