GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

The city and teachers union won’t meet this week’s deadline to hammer out a new teacher evaluation system — and it doesn’t look like they will reach an agreement any time soon.

State Education Commisioner John King this week issued a strict ultimatum to New York and nine other districts: Agree on new teacher evaluations in a subset of low-performing schools by Dec. 31 or lose special federal funds for those schools. The city is receiving about $60 million in the funds, called School Improvement Grants, for 33 schools.

In July, the city and union agreed to roll out new evaluations in the schools, but they still had some details to finalize. They were locked in negotiations until today but threw in the towel this morning, citing irreconcilable ideological differences, particularly around due process protections for teachers who receive low ratings.

The impasse has potentially far-ranging consequences. The first is that the 33 struggling schools will stop receiving funds midyear, leaving them in the lurch to pay for programs, personnel, and nonprofit partners that are already in place.

“I am left with no choice but to suspend SIG funding” to New York City, King said in a statement this afternoon, hours after city officials essentially petitioned him to consider awarding the funds despite the impasse. (more…)

New York Historical Society CEO Louise Mirrer, Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman, and State Education Commissioner David Steiner met this afternoon to discuss the chancellor appointment of publishing executive Cathie Black.

In a rebuke to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an eight-member panel of education experts recommended this evening that State Education Commissioner David Steiner deny publishing executive Cathleen Black a waiver to become the next schools chancellor.

And Steiner told the panel that his own preference is to wait to grant the waiver until the city also installs a top educator with some independent power, the panel’s chair said.

Four panel members voted against granting the waiver, two voted in favor, and two voted “not at this time,” said the panel’s chair, Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman. Neither Fuhrman nor state education officials would say how individual panel members cast their votes.

Without a background in education, Black needs a waiver from the state that will let her bypass the prerequisites: that she have a degree in education and several years of teaching behind her. The final call rests with Steiner, who would not say when he plans to make his final decision.

Speaking to reporters after the panel adjourned, Fuhrman said that Steiner gave the panel several options: they could vote to grant the waiver, deny it, or to reconsider Black “in a different context.” Fuhrman gave a specific example of what those different circumstances might look like: if, for example, the city proposed to install Black as chancellor alongside a Chief Academic Officer who had academic experience and some autonomous power in the department.

“I think it’s novel, and innovative, and an attempt to split the baby,” said former city schools chancellor Harold Levy.  ”But I think…it would be very difficult as a pragmatic matter to make this work.” (more…)

New York State has won coveted federal Race to the Top grant funds in the second round of competition.

State education officials spent this morning in a meeting as news of the win began to spread. Governor Paterson, State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, Commissioner David Steiner and New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein are expected to hold press conferences later in the afternoon. We’ll have updates as we learn more.

UPDATE:  The other winners are Florida, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Maryland, Hawaii, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.

One big question we don’t know yet: exactly how much money the state has won. But by our math (see below), it seems possible that all of the winners will get the maximum amounts for which they are eligible. And Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch just told me that she’s heard the state will receive almost all of the $696 million it asked for in its application.

UPDATE: State officials have confirmed that New York’s application will be fully funded. New York City is likely to see about $250-300 million of the state’s award.

Here’s our summary of how the state plans to use the money, and here’s our rundown of the lead-up to today’s announcement.

New York received the second-highest score overall in the competition’s scoring rubric, coming behind only Massachusetts. (The list of the winning applicants and their final scores is below the jump.) This is the state’s second try at the funds; in the first round, New York placed second-to-last among all the finalists.

The formal announcement of winners will come this afternoon from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. We’ll have updates throughout the day. (more…)

For the second time, the city’s attempt to close 19 schools has been foiled by the courts.

Five appellate court judges unanimously upheld a lower court ruling today that voided the city’s attempt to shut down the schools. The ruling means that the city will have to re-start the lengthy and arduous process to shutter the schools next year, when the city had hoped to begin closing them.

In March, a state Supreme Court judge ruled that the city did not follow the proper school closure process laid out in state education law. State law requires that the city prepare “educational impact statements,” or EIS’s, that analyze the effect that closing a school will have on the students and surrounding community, as well as hold a series of public hearings with local parent boards.

In their decision (available in full below the jump), the appellate court justices unanimously agreed, saying the city did not follow the legal requirements for a hearing, nor did the city prepare detailed enough impact statements. (more…)