GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

We’re told there are layoffs coming. But how many people will be laid off? Who will they be? And will you or your child’s teacher be among them?

“I wish I had more money and I wish I had more clarity,” was Chancellor Joel Klein’s answer to these questions a few weeks ago, speaking to principals by conference call.

The process of laying off teachers in New York City is so complex that few people have clear answers right now. But after studying the state law that sets teacher hiring and firing rules, talking to union and city officials, and looking back to the 1970s — the last time a economic crisis forced thousands of teacher layoffs — I have some clues. Here are answers to questions I’ve heard from parents and teachers (send more!).

Will there be layoffs?
Several scenarios exist that could reduce — but probably not eliminate — the number of layoffs.

In its leaderless, unpredictable state, Albany could rewrite the budget forecast as I type these words. (more…)

What is the point of merit pay for teachers? Isn’t that the first question we should be asking? And then, given that answer, do we think that it will work? Let’s take a look!

(Let me be clear here: for the sake of this discussion, I am talking about some sort of compensation structure by which individual teachers get bonuses and/or raises based on their own students’ performance on some sort of test or measure.)

One possible reason to adopt merit pay is that it seems more just, in a way. That is, it would be only be fair if better teachers should be paid more money. I mean, who wouldn’t think that better teachers — even if by “better teachers” we mean “teachers who get better results” — deserve more money? We could argue about which outcomes and measures are meaningful, but the basic idea has a lot of appeal.

There is another big potential reason to adopt merit pay — a far more compelling possibility. If a merit pay program would somehow lead to improved outcomes, who would oppose such a thing? But I wonder if that result is even plausible, given the realities and details that so many people want to ignore. So, let’s think about what the theory of action (i.e. how/why such programs lead to the desired outcomes) might be. How could a merit pay program lead to improved outcomes? I have three big questions. (more…)

• Chancellor Klein outlined a slate of “horrid” budget cuts before the City Council yesterday. (Post, WNYC)
• Among the cuts: High school principals can choose to fire parent coordinators. (GothamSchools, NY1)
• Legislators didn’t meet yesterday to hash out a possible charter cap compromise. (GothamSchools)
• But in late-night talks, anti-charter sentiment dominated and some are saying a deal is unlikely. (Post)
• The Post calls on Regents head Merryl Tisch to throw her support behind SUNY as charter authorizer.
• At the same time charter supporters want the cap lifted, there are questions about oversight. (Times)
• Detroit is grappling with whether kids should be paid for their school successes. (Detroit Free Press)

• Teachers in withdrawal after last night’s “Lost” finale can try out some lesson plans inspired by the show.
• City Councilman Oliver Koppell showed off a good non-charter school, PS 7, to Mayor Bloomberg today.
• Arguing against seniority layoffs, Chancellor Klein points to Malvola Lewis, a PS 40 teacher who’s at risk.
• Budget cuts could eliminate school choice guides and choices in the cafeteria line for city students.
• The DOE spruced up its homepage a little bit today. Don’t see a difference? Look for the Twitter icons.
• An overview of the myriad reports the DOE puts out about its schools, by a school-searching Mommy.
• Politics, not school quality, appear to have put SUNY in jeopardy as a charter school authorizer. 
• New Utrecht HS (which my grandparents attended!) is planning ahead for its 100th birthday in 2015.
• A pro-charter school group reports that unions have long opposed charter schools.
• A Washington Post reporter double-checked some of the data in Steven Brill’s Race to the Top article.
• Randi Weingarten is accusing Brill of fabricating a quote from her. Brill is mystified by the charge.
• Folks who don’t win Race to the Top can at least win Race to High-Quality Research funding.
• Flypaper blogger and USDOE aide Andy Smarick will be New Jersey’s deputy education commissioner.
• PS 29 mom Claiborne Williams Milde reports on celebrity chef Rachel Ray’s visit to the school’s garden.
• Massachusetts, which has tough standards, kind of has to agree to new standards sight unseen. Crazy!
• The coming common standards don’t say anything about English language learners.
• Bad news for the MySpaceTwitterChatroulette generation: Multitasking isn’t good for kids’ brains.

Joining 6,400 teachers on the chopping block are 350 parent coordinators whose schools will no longer be required to employ them, Chancellor Joel Klein announced today.

For the first time since the position was created in 2003, high schools will be allowed to go without a parent coordinator, Klein told principals today, saving up to 350 schools just over $40,000 a year each. Parent coordinators whose jobs are eliminated will be at high risk of layoff, according to Department of Education spokeswoman Ann Forte. Elementary and middle schools are still required to keep a parent coordinator on staff.

The instruction is a stark example of how budget cuts could undo some of Mayor Bloomberg’s most ambitious education initiatives. The creation of the parent coordinator position in January 2003 was a central element of Bloomberg and Klein’s early reforms.

Klein also announced today that the Fair Student Funding formula the city devised to fund schools according to their students’ needs no longer covers some schools’ essential costs. (more…)

With the clock ticking down toward probable layoffs, school officials say the fiscal picture hasn’t grown clearer in the last month.

Department of Education officials are still aiming to give principals their preliminary school budgets on June 1, Chancellor Joel Klein told City Council today. “That said, things in Albany are changing each day and our situation remains fluid,” said DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte.

As they decide exactly when to release school budgets, officials are seeking to strike a delicate balance. Principals need enough time to plan how to work large cuts into their budgets. But officials are also hesitant to pull the trigger on announcing exact cuts and layoffs too early, for fear of having to retrace their steps if a state budget follows soon thereafter.

City officials are currently anticipating that, unless Albany passes a less austere budget than the governor’s current proposal, the city schools will lose as many as 6,400 teacher positions — 4,400 of them through layoffs — and schools will face cuts that are much larger than the 4.9 percent reductions they saw this year.

Layoff decisions could begin “within days” of when schools receive their preliminary budgets, the DOE’s Chief Schools Officer Eric Nadelstern said today. Earlier this month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that if the state passed a more generous budget after teachers are already laid off, the funds might not be used to hire teachers back. (more…)

Volunteers from the insurance company New York Life visited the Bronx earlier this month to help fifth-graders at P.S. 78 plant a garden outside their school. The visit was coordinated by the nonprofit after-school provider BELL, which has a new partnership with New York Life. A BELL representative sent us the photo. Send us pictures from your school.

• The state has just a week to boost its Race to the Top bid by lifting the charter cap. (Wall Street Journal)
• But with lawmakers booked up most days, a charter cap deal needs to happen today, the Post argues.
• Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein touted charter schools at black churches yesterday. (Daily News)
• The union said it could soon turn to the less charter-friendly Assembly in the cap fight. (Daily News)
• But negotiations might have moved forward on Saturday, with a colocation council in the works. (Post)
• The Daily News says the UFT is wrong to push for limits on how many charters can open in one area.
• The charter cap war is also an ad war between the union and charter advocates. (GothamSchools, Post)
• NYC Charter School Center head James Merriman says “faux reforms” aren’t enough. (Crain’s NY)
• Many state politicians who oppose charter schools went to nonpublic schools themselves. (Post)
• A band of state judges are considering joining the state or city teachers union to get raises. (Post)
• MTA board members will make a final determination on the fate of student Metrocards June 23. (Post)
• City students and teachers can sing and act so well they could be “Glee” cast members. (Daily News)
• Nearly 1,000 incoming kindergartners won’t get seats at their zoned schools. (GothamSchools, Post)
• PS 143 in the Corona section of Queens has the longest waiting list, with 110 children. (Daily News)
• Overcrowding isn’t abating at Francis Lewis HS, the city’s second-biggest school. (Queens Courier)
• Two new school buildings in Midtown are being built on private developers’ dime. (NY1)
• Race to the Top could have long-lasting implications for the fate of American teachers unions. (Times)
• The Times says Hawaii is shortchanging students by cutting school days to save money.

• Chancellor Joel Klein’s approval rating dropped nine points since February in a new poll.
• In a reversal, the city will continue to cover the tabs of students who don’t pay their lunch money.
• The USDOE gave New York $20 million to improve the state’s data systems.
• On WNYC, Ed Sec Duncan worried about layoffs, shorter school days and disappearing summer school.
• To be judged well, teachers should forget their anti-cheating strategies, Arthur Goldstein writes.
• A Klein aide’s Bloomberg connections may have doomed his bid to lead the Empire State Pride Agenda.
• A Teach for America member likes the group, but hopes it isn’t around in another 20 years.
• State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery’s challenger is taking aim at her record on charter schools.
• A union columnist breaks down the data on IS 588 and Kings Collegiate Charter School.
• Rising sixth graders will find out their middle school destinations starting Monday.
• Do rising NAEP reading scores mean the city’s promotion policies are working? Paul Peterson wonders.
• And Haiti’s schools are slowly re-opening, though most in temporary buildings.