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Assembly Education Chair Catherine Nolan and other lawmakers speak in support of restoring funds to New York City at a press conference in the state capitol.

Democrats in the Senate are split along new political fault lines over a push to restore state schools funds to New York City.

Three city senators from a breakaway group of Democrats, formed as part of a power-sharing deal with Republicans, said this week that they would not join with party colleagues during upcoming budget negotiations in calling for increased aid for the city’s schools.

The state is planning to take back $260 million from the city after the city and its teachers union failed to reach a deal on evaluations before Jan. 17, a deadline mandated by law. The loss of funds would result in cuts to the school system’s central offices, extracurricular programs, and school staff.

The legislature passed the law last year, at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s urging, to incentivize local school districts to come to agreements over contentious teacher evaluation plans.

Many of the same lawmakers who supported Cuomo’s carrot-and-stick approach say they now made a mistake and want to reverse course. The law was meant to be more of a threat, some said Wednesday, and they never expected it to go this far. (more…)

With just weeks left in the legislative session, bills to shield teachers’ ratings from public scrutiny are still on the table in Albany. But no consensus has yet formed about exactly what that shield would look like — if one is constructed at all.

Albany lawmakers are hung up on one key issue that distinguishes at least three proposed versions of the legislation: Should parents be allowed access to teacher ratings?

Republican Senator Greg Ball and Democratic Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, both of Westchester, have proposed bills that say they should not.

“I just feel very strongly that this is a part of a teacher’s personal and confidential record and that the grades should be handled appropriately,” said Galef, whose bill has so far collected 24 co-sponsors.

Twenty lawmakers, including Education Committee Chair Cathy Nolan, a Democrat, have signed onto a third bill in the Assembly that would give parents limited access to evaluations. The bill would require parents to make a special request for the evaluations. (more…)