State Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead ruled today that officials from D.C. 37, the union that represents the school aides and plaintiffs in the case, made a convincing argument that the layoffs violate parts of the state constitution and education law.

Edmead focused on D.C. 37′s argument that the city is illegally replacing unionized school aides with less expensive temporary workers who will not receive benefits. The judge found that the Department of Education’s contract for temporary workers to perform many of the same duties of the laid-off school aides may violate the state constitution and a chancellor’s regulation that requires school workers to report to the education department.

She also found that schools violate a chancellor’s regulation when they use parent association funds to hire their own aides for schools. In July, the city reached a deal that allowed parents to fund the school aides in spite of a long-ignored rule banning them. The union has argued that allowing schools with wealthier parent associations to hire their own aides while laying off union aides harms students in lower-income schools.

But the judge found that the union did not give enough evidence to support their claim that the school aide layoffs would disproportionately harm the city’s neediest children. She pointed out that the layoffs do not mean that schools will be left entirely without aides to perform vital functions in the schools.

“Thus, petitioners failed to establish a likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the School Professionals Contract perpetuates educational inequity and endangers the right of poor students to a sound education,” she wrote.

The ruling came after a day of testimony from several school aides slated to lose their jobs, including Sheanica Davis, whose school, Mosaic Preparatory Academy, was the site of a rally to save school aide jobs on Friday. All of the current aides at Mosaic are set to lose their jobs if the layoffs go through, though they will be replaced by more senior aides in the district.

Edmead acknowledged that the layoffs are distributed unequally around the city, however, noting that East Harlem’s District 4 will lose more than a fifth of their aides, while wealthier districts in Manhattan will lose just one percent.

“[I]t appears that the scheduled layoffs create a significant diminution of educational services and opportunity for poorer students, and contracting for Teacher Aides at the wealthiest schools in New york City does not promote an equal educational opportunity for all the students of New York City,” she wrote.

“I’m happy that the case is being reviewed by a Judge who understands the importance of the issues,” D.C. 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said in a statement.

City officials have filed a motion to dismiss the suit altogether. Edmead said that she is likely to issue a decision for that request next Wednesday. The temporary restraining order extended today will last until then.

“We believe the court erred in this decision, and are hopeful that we will ultimately receive a favorable ruling on the City’s request to dismiss this case,” Georgia Pestana, the city’s chief labor attorney, said in a statement.

School Aides PI 10-27-09 – (# Legal 2469472)

State Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead ruled today that before the city laid off hundreds of “the most vulnerable employees,” the Court had to ensure that the layoffs did not violate the state’s constitution and the education law.

Officials from DC 37, the union that represents the school aides, argued in court yesterday that the city was laying off civil servants in order to replace them with less expensive temporary workers who are not given health benefits.

They also said that the layoffs would disproportionally affect schools that serve low-income students. According to union officials, the Mosaic Preparatory Academy (P.S. 375), where 90 percent of the students quality for free or reduced lunch, is set to lose all of its school aides. In contrast, P.S. 6, where roughly 6 percent of students are at the poverty line, is hiring 17 teacher aides. A breakdown of the school aide layoffs at each school was not made available.

According to city officials, savings from the layoffs would come to about $13 million.

“The loss of school aides at schools like Mosaic Preparatory Academy (P.S. 375) in East Harlem, which is allegedly a particularly overcrowded school, will have an immediate, irreparable impact upon the safety of New York City school children,” Edmead wrote in her decision.

The union said that the city was adding insult to injury by allowing parent associations to pay for school aides, a battle that parents fought and won this summer. D.C. 37′s lawyers claimed that allowing parent-paid aides gives preference to wealthier school districts while harming schools in poorer districts that are slated to lose more school aides and don’t have parent associations that can afford to pay their own.

“We believe that the lower court decision was in error, and we will be taking an immediate appeal,” said Daniel Gomez-Sanchez, a lawyer for the city. The Department of Education refused to comment.