Thousands of New York City teaching jobs could soon be eliminated under the spending plan being unveiled by Mayor Bloomberg today, and the teachers union is not happy.
Over 6,000 teaching jobs are headed to the chopping block. That’s one in every 12 public school teachers in the Big Apple. Mayor Bloomberg blames a statewide slash in education funding for the drastic cutbacks.
“New York City’s share of that will be a $1 billion cut,” Bloomberg said.
The cuts run so deep the mayor said the only way to handle it is to change the hiring system. Instead of seniority, he wants schools to be able to keep the good teachers and get rid of the bad ones.
The mayor spoke on the issue late last month. “In the private sector nobody would do last in, first out. You do, you know, who are the most productive and you say to the others ‘Look it would have been nice if we could afford it but the world isn’t that way’,” he said.
Union officials were fighting the layoffs, saying they’re unnecessary and target the city’s hardest workers.
“We are going to have a catastrophic effect on children’s education and we cannot let that happen,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers.
The layoffs come despite a projected $2 billion increase in tax revenue.
The teacher’s union accuses Bloomberg of playing a political game to push his merit policy through Albany. The organization released a , statement Thursday.
“Given the city’s growing revenues, along with the Governor’s clear statement that the state budget should not require local layoffs, the mayor’s insistance on teacher layoffs becomes more and more bizarre,” the union said.
{CBS Local/Matzav.com}
