From time to time the legislature passes a bill with a sunset provision, unless the law is reauthorized by a specific date the law reverts to the law it replaced, the mayoral control section of the New York City school governance law sunsets on June 30h, 2024. In 2022 in the waning days of the session the legislators, led by John Liu, the chair of the NYC Education Subcommittee made a number of changes to the mayoral control law (Read link below), the major change, increasing the size to an unwieldy 22 members, however the majority of the members remain appointees of the mayor (Read the law he ..read more

 In 1866, the Surrogate of New York County wrote in a decision on a legal malpractice claim against a deceased lawyer’s estate: “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.” At the October Delegate Meeting UFT President Mulgrew, in his monthly president’s report, summarized the national, state and local issues. The state legislature convenes in January, the governor’s state of the state message the first week, the  preliminary executive budget at the end of the month, in February the one-house budgets and in March the haggling over the final budge ..read more

….any powers that are not specifically given to the federal government, nor withheld from the states, are reserved to those respective states, or to the people at large.[10th Amendment] Education is not mentioned in the Constitution, and therefore is a power “reserved” for the states and segregated schools were commonplace under laws passed across the nation. In 1896 the Supreme Court sustained a Louisiana law requiring segregated facilities on public transportation, We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff’s argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the ..read more

For the last half century unions have been under attack and the numbers of non-government workers in unions has steadily declined, today only 6% of non-government workers belong to unions. In the 1973 movie Sleeper UFT president Shanker is parodied as being responsible for a nuclear war (Watch video clip here) Surprisingly public support for unions has increased. Nick Kristoff in a NY Times editorial praises the roles of unions and the increasing public support,   Labor unions are … a powerful force for equality, elevating underpaid workers who otherwise are often treated as doo ..read more

Twenty thousand migrant children entered the NYC school system in the 22-23 school year and children continue to arrive. While numbers far exceed previous years the city has welcomed migrant children for decades. Listen to three educators who have devoted their careers to teaching migrant children You are invited to participate in a Zoom conference.   Education Alumni Affiliate Group of The Alumni Association of CCNY Virtual Conference: Teaching Migrant Children Wednesday, September 27 | 6pm EST Virtual Event (Zoom) Free   Three experts: Tatyana Kleyn, Principal Investigator, CUN ..read more

The Writers Guild has been on strike for 143 days, Actors are on strike as well as the United Auto Workers. Any time you have a labor dispute; it’s not just between the workers and the management. The public’s involved, too, because the public feels the impact of the strike. If the public feels it’s the union’s fault, then they can be mad at the union. If they feel its management’s fault, they’re going to be mad at the management. So both sides are very eager to change public perceptions to make sure that they get the public on their side. (Peter Coy, NY Times, 9/21/23)  According to poll ..read more

George Altomare, a founder of the union passed and by founder we mean it was George who after years of bickering negotiated the merger of factions, the Teacher Guild and the High School Teacher Association, to create the United Federation of Teachers. (Read here) George served as High School Vice President for many years and for decades every convention ended with George and his guitar playing Solidarity Forever as the audience joined in. They say our day is over; they say our time is through, They say you need no union if your collar isn’t blue, Well that is just another lie the boss is telli ..read more

On the Tuesday after Labor Day teachers in New York City return to school. For some, a few weeks vacation after teaching summer school, others, taking college courses required for certification or working in a camp, or getting reacquainted with their own family. If you’re an elementary school teacher you may have spent a few weeks learning how to teach a required new phonics-based reading program. Why Johnny Can’t Read (1955) was on the bestseller list for 37 weeks and the so-called Reading Wars have lobbed grenades for decades. Read an account of the battle here. The selection of a reading pr ..read more

I was chatting with an Adams staffer at an event and asked, “What’s at the top of your agenda?”  “This week, the possibility of a bus strike, and, of course mayoral control.” Mayoral control may determine whether a second term is in the cards for the mayor; if mayoral control is not extended the vultures will begin to circle. The mayoral control law sunsets on 6/30/24 and if no successor law is passed reverts to the previous governance system, a seven-member board, one appointed by each boro president and two by the mayor. The previous board was paid and staffed; the selectees had impress ..read more

 Every August City and State, an online news site who delivers a summary of news and politics every morning including links to more detailed articles, sponsors an Education Summit, an education leader from the city and/or the state and a number of panels to discuss the upcoming education issues with hundreds in the audience: school and district leaders, venders, activists, organizational leaders, with time to “catch up” and smooze.  This year NYS Commissioner of Education Betty Rosa was the keynote followed by three panels including the UFT, John Liu, the chair of the NYS Education C ..read more