GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A parent wonders if Regents Week could mean more than letting students stay home. (Insideschools)
• Attendance in District 75 schools was 73 percent today, the highest during the bus strike. (GS Twitter)
• The UFT’s MORE caucus wants teachers to share their experiences with new observations. (MORE)
• Two teachers were censured for using school email accounts to run for union chapter leader. (GS Scribd)
• Reporters and advocates live-Tweeted a discussion in Washington, D.C., on school closures. (Twitter)
• The feds say all school closure complaints get looked into, but not necessarily resolved. (Politics K-12)
• Here’s a look at “teacher voice” organizations, which have some teachers unions concerned. (Ed Next)
• A new study provides additional ammunition for opponents of helicopter parenting. (Atlantic)
• Kids these days should probably be making videos to advertise books like these from 1983. (Hairpin)

Nolan chastised Bloomberg for his role in New York City’s failure to reach a teacher evaluation deal, which will likely cost the city $240 million in state school aid.

Today, she told Mulgrew, “This is the fault of labor and management together.” Nolan chairs the Assembly’s education committee and usually sympathizes with the union on education issues.

“It is unbelievable to me that this union, with its great history, could not negotiate this deal,” Nolan added as she questioned Mulgrew, whose testimony before the legislature was supposed to be about the 2013-2014 state budget but focused instead on the failed evaluation deal and issues surrounding upcoming assessments aligned to new standards.

Mulgrew and Chancellor Dennis Walcott, whose testimony earlier in the day generated less confrontation, both told the legislature that they are open to resuming negotiations. Walcott even conceded that a misunderstanding could have fueled one major issue preventing a deal. (more…)

Following up on his promise to detail school budget cuts required by the collapse of a teacher evaluation deal earlier this month, Mayor Bloomberg today described how he plans to reduce costs in the Department of Education’s central administration.

The rest of the $250 million funding will cut come from schools, Bloomberg said during a press conference in which he announced the first city budget revision to reflect costs incurred from Hurricane Sandy.

In addition to the cuts that Chancellor Dennis Walcott outlined in an email to principals on Monday, Bloomberg said he would restrict hiring centrally and eliminate vacancies in areas such as administration, human resources, budget, and help desk staff.

He said the city would also cut non-personnel costs–the costs of running an office that don’t include staff salaries–in administrative and field-based offices by 90 percent, and reduce spending on contracts for services such as youth development, professional development, and anti-bullying programs. (more…)

State Education Commissioner John King was the first official to testify on the 2013-2014 budget this morning.

Albany — A day after Mayor Bloomberg declared the chances of a teacher evaluation deal with the city’s teachers union “impossible,” both sides confirmed this morning that they are returning to the table.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew first announced that talks were set to resume at the union’s legislative breakfast this morning, the Daily News reported.

The announcement comes hours before Mulgrew is set to testify before the state Assembly and Senate education committees about the 2013-2014 budget. He is among dozens of education officials and advocates who will make their case to the legislature about what they like and what they don’t like about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal. (more…)

Schools won’t have to cut their budgets this month, but they will have to start tightening their belts and won’t be able to sock away any savings for next year.

That’s what Chancellor Dennis Walcott told principals in an email sent Monday evening, the first to name specific actions the Department of Education is taking to make up for $240 in state school aid sacrificed when the city and teachers union failed to agree on new teacher evaluations earlier this month.

Mayor Bloomberg is set to offer details about his plans to close the midyear school budget gap at a press conference later today. But Walcott said the department would absorb enough of the cuts centrally that he would not have to impose cuts of a certain size on each school, as happened several times during the leanest years of the economic recession.

Still, he announced several significant policy changes that could cost schools just the same. The department is doubling down on hiring restrictions, blocking schools from hiring substitute teachers, reducing aides’ schedules, and seizing funds that principals had set aside in this year’s budget for next year. (more…)

• Federal authorities will take up city advocates’ civil rights complaint about school closures. (WSJ, Times)
• Newly released reports show cheating investigations in city schools. (GothamSchools, Daily News, Post)
• Among those cited in the reports is an ex-iSchool principal and a repeat offender at M.S. 322. (Post)
• A mediator who met with bus drivers Monday said their strike could drag on. (SchoolBook, Daily News)
• Labor tension is expected to mount today as replacement school bus drivers cross the picket line. (NY1)
• Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota said he does not support a school closure moratorium. (Post)
• Mayor Bloomberg warned of school budget cuts. (GothamSchools, WSJ, Post, NY1, SchoolBook, Times)
• Cuomo said Bloomberg’s take on other districts’ evaluation plans was “factually incorrect.” (Times Union)
• Parents in District 7 in the Bronx, which is now unzoned, can apply for kindergarten online. (Daily News)