Class-Size Dispute, Too
UFT, DOE Clash On School Funding Shift 

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The debate over school reform became more heated last week as city officials pushed a funding plan that the United Federation of Teachers said could jeopardize the most-needed change in the system: smaller class sizes.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow WHERE'S THE BEEF?: United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who's at odds with the Bloomberg administration on how additional school aid should be spent, asks the City Council, 'If mayoral control is working so well, why is there another top-to-bottom restructuring?'

Spitzer Budget Key

City Council Members remained skeptical about several aspects of the plan, notably the way schools will be funded, and the UFT clashed again with the Department of Education over the tightened tenure requirements.

The impact of the changes will depend in part upon how much state money the city receives and how Governor Spitzer doles it out, which he will detail in his Jan. 31 budget address.

"If mayoral control is working so well, why is there another top-to-bottom restructuring?" said UFT President Randi Weingarten before testifying Jan. 25 at the Council Education Committee.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow FROM THE DARWIN SCHOOL: Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein tells a City Council hearing that good Teachers should be paid more than their peers, and not all bad ones can improve with help.

Two days earlier Ms. Weingarten announced that the union would push for $1 billion in state money to be earmarked for lowering class size. The money is expected as part of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity's (CFE) successful lawsuit that led the State Court of Appeals to mandate $1.9 billion in additional state funding annually for the city.

The union is frustrated that most of Mayor Bloomberg's reforms and proposed increase in city education spending would push the money toward other initiatives.

Questions Priorities

"Rather than join parents and Teachers in Albany to urge that CFE money be devoted to lowering class size," said Ms. Weingarten in her testimony, "and therefore give schools more wherewithal to do the one reform guaranteed to raise student achievement ... the city wants to use CFE money to change the funding formula."

The city's proposal would mean that instead of funding schools based on how many Teachers they need - a formula that is blind to individual Teachers' salaries - schools would get money based on the number of students they have. The amount for students would be weighted depending upon poverty and special needs. About two-thirds of school funding would be based on that formula, with the other money spent according to Federal requirements.

Klein: More Equitable

"It is a formula that will bring the equity and transparency that has been missing for far too long," said Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein at a briefing Jan. 24.

Ms. Weingarten says she agrees with weighted formulas for student funding, but that the system should be neutral on Teachers' salaries. Otherwise, she and other education advocates say, there will be an incentive to get rid of senior, more-expensive Teachers.

The city says the system will be "grandfathered" in, meaning that current Teachers will continue to be funded regardless of their salary, but that all new Teachers will fall under the new formula, which will use the average citywide Teacher salary in the budgeting process.

Regardless, if the state money isn't earmarked for lowering class size, the city says schools will be faced with a decision in the future.

Making Schools Choose

"Do we hire more senior Teachers or do we want to have smaller class sizes?" said Robert Gordon, DOE's Managing Director of Resource Allocation. "That's a choice the school can make."

City officials also stuck by their promise to make it more difficult to get tenure.

"Good teaching is amenable to financial rewards," said Mr. Klein in his testimony before the Council. "And, despite our best attempts, not all poor-performing adults are remediable."

Mr. Klein also said that he would insist "that a Principal's recommendation [for tenure] be reviewed by appropriate personnel outside the school, notably the Community Superintendent."

Ms. Weingarten questioned why the issue of tenure was not raised by the city in November when the union settled its contract. And she said the use of test scores in the tenure process could discourage Teachers from going to low-performing schools.

"If you use test scores to evaluate tenure, what incentive will there be to teach in the schools with the hardest challenges?" Ms. Weingarten said prior to testifying.

The state's allocation of money won't affect issues like tenure, but it will determine how much money per student each school receives. If the Governor earmarks a significant amount of the money for lower class sizes, the money could flow in directions not desired by the DOE.

"An enormous amount depends on what happens with the CFE and the state money," said Mr. Gordon. "An enormous amount."