APPR Legislation:
Since the Governor’s budget address on Monday, our Legislative Liaison, Tony Laurino, and our CAS Lobbyist, Bob Ungar, have been working on two issues important to our members statewide. They are reporting that after years of lobbying for a fair education evaluation system we may be on the threshold of being heard. APPR legislation has been introduced in both the Assembly and Senate to disengage state test scores from teacher evaluations.
Assembly Education Chair Michael Benedetto and Senate Education Chair Shelly Mayer have introduced same as bills S1262 and A783 which will eliminate the mandate that school districts use state test scores to evaluate teachers. The bill will return the decision to school districts and collective bargaining.
Kristin Curran, Bob’s Legislative Aide, has just sent us a copy of the Assembly’s teacher evaluation bill that is on the Assembly calendar for Tuesday, January 22, 2019.
In summary, this Bill is “AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to state assessments and teacher evaluations; and to amend chapter 56 of the laws of 2014, amending the education law relating to providing that standardized test scores shall not be included on a student’s permanent record, in relation to making certain provisions permanent.”
CAS Principal Tenure:
The Governor vetoed our bill to grant administrators the same tenure rights as teachers when moving from one district to another. We will engage our attorneys to make the necessary technical changes noted by the Governor’s veto. These are simply technical and do not change the substance of the bill. When the changes are complete, Assemblyman Peter Abbate will sponsor the bill and we will discuss the changes with Assemblyman Benedetto and Senator Mayer.
Toward this end, your CAS/PAC donations have been extremely helpful in fueling these bills in both the Assembly and Senate.
If you would like to make a donation to our CAS/PAC please click on this link.
