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The teachers union will vote on its final stance on term limits this afternoon, at a meeting of the union’s delegate assembly that is beginning now. (“It’s standing room only!” my source at the meeting just said via cell phone.) The expectation is that the delegates will support the resolution passed last night by the executive board, which urged a voter referendum rather than Bloomberg’s proposed City Council route for changing term limits.

But new amendments could be added, and whatever debate occurs will likely turn on how strongly the UFT should oppose Bloomberg. The resolution passed last night does not state a position for or against term limits, and it does not challenge the mayor on any points; rather, it projects, as president Randi Weingarten’s first statement did, a sense of the seriousness of the economic crisis — and keeps open a door for supporting a third Bloomberg term through a referendum. The idea communicated last night, according to one source who was there, is not to spend too much “political capital” on fighting the mayor on term limits, when other fights (such as the budget) are around the corner.

Not everyone at the union wants to play this safe route. Among teachers, there is a lot of animosity toward the Bloomberg administration, especially among the veterans who are the most active in UFT politics, and some are voicing that. Today, an opposition group that often pushes Weingarten, the Independent Community of Educators, will push its own resolution, which would have the union cut off funding from City Council members who vote for changing term limits, a member of ICE’s steering committee, Jeff Kaufman, told me. (The union’s PAC, UFT COPE, gives thousands of dollars to Council members each cycle.)

So far Weingarten has tended to angry members by drawing a line between him and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein: Klein is the bad guy, and she agrees he’s bad; Bloomberg is okay. But it’s hard to imagine Bloomberg tossing Klein, so supporting Bloomberg will be very difficult for Weingarten.

We’ll keep you posted on how the union votes.

As we indicated it might, the United Federation of Teachers’ executive board has just passed a resolution recommending a voter referendum on term limits. Tomorrow at a Delegate Assembly, the resolution goes before the delegates — teachers and other UFT members representing each city school — who could add amendments.

For now, here’s the fifth of six resolutions the delegates will see:

Resolved, that at this moment of economic crisis, UFT affirms its fundamental belief in the importance of respecting the democratic will of the people, and calls for the submission of any change in the term limits law to popular referendum.

We’ll post the full text of the resolution as soon as we have it.

Update: Read the resolution after the jump. (more…)

Members of the United Federation of Teachers’ executive board are being briefed on the union’s tentative position on term limits at the UFT’s headquarters at 52 Broadway as we type. Whatever they decide, it will be a bombshell, since Randi Weingarten and the union could hold substantial sway over the undecided City Council members who will determine whether Mayor Bloomberg gets an open door to the mayoralty or not. (There are 17 undecideds, at NY1′s last count.)

A committee of the executive board has been drafting several options — including, according to two sources familiar with internal discussions and proposal drafts, one that would call for a voter referendum on term limits. But the final draft is being released right now to those at the executive board. Then, delegates at a Delegate Assembly meeting tomorrow will vote on whether to accept the proposal. The delegates are teachers and other UFT members.

Three years ago, Mayor Bloomberg said his 20-point margin of victory in his reelection campaign showed that New Yorkers were happy with his schools leadership. Next year, voters could have a chance to reaffirm that choice — or reverse it.

Tomorrow, Bloomberg will announce plans to run for a third term, despite the two-term limit imposed by voters 15 years ago. Although polls indicate that the public isn’t happy about the mayor’s bid to use the City Council to overturn democratically imposed term limits, they also show that he is popular enough to coast into office for a third term.

What would a third Bloomberg term mean for the city’s schools? Judging from Bloomberg’s attitude when he was reelected in 2005, he will interpret a win at the polls as voter approval of his education initiatives, regardless of what issues New Yorkers actually consider when casting their ballots. His reelection would be a disappointment to his critics, some of whom have already started counting down the days until the end of his term. But it would provide stability for principals and students in schools that have only recently found their feet after the most recent round of disruptive reorganizations. Consistency in the DOE could also generate data that’s desperately needed to evaluate the city’s recent school reforms.

Four more years of Bloomberg would mean four more years of Children First initiatives and four more years of Chancellor Klein, who has long said that he will continue to lead the city’s schools as long as the mayor asks him to. A third Bloomberg term would likely herald four more years of business-style, accountability-driven reforms and ambitious experiments, such as the pay-for-performance incentives program organized by Harvard professor Roland Fryer. And, unless the State Assembly mandates parent involvement or checks and balances on the mayor’s power in June when it must consider the 2002 law that gave control over the city’s schools to the mayor, we’re likely to see four more years of top-down education reform that doesn’t include parents, teachers, or students in the decision-making process.

Solidifying assembly support for mayoral control is one of Bloomberg’s major goals for his third term, the Post reports today. (more…)