ALBANY - A bill introduced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo would do nothing to end the seniority-based teacher-layoff law, the legislature's top Republican said Wednesday.
Cuomo's measure would only accelerate the state's current teacher evaluation process, but would not address the state's "last in, first out" (referred to as LIFO) rules that come into play when a school district is considering layoffs, said Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre).
Cuomo had announced his bill less than 15 minutes after the Senate passed a bill Tuesday to repeal LIFO.
"In my opinion, [Cuomo's] bill does absolutely nothing to repeal LIFO," Skelos said. Asked about Cuomo's announcing his bill shortly after the Senate vote, he said: "I thought the timing was interesting."
The Senate passed the repeal bill for New York City schools at the urging of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The bill says seniority can't be the sole basis for determining layoffs and adds merit as a criterion. Bloomberg has pushed for flexibility at a time when Cuomo has called for $1.5 billion in school aid cuts, sparking some districts to ponder layoffs.
However, the Senate action has accelerated discussions statewide of whether other school districts would want the same power and how the legislature could define merit.
Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) have expressed little interest in repealing the "last in, first out" policy. Instead, Cuomo introduced a bill that would speed up changes in teacher evaluation, adding merit and other factors. But that process is still under development, and Cuomo's bill does not touch education law governing layoffs.
"LIFO is still the law, even if Cuomo's bill is adopted," said Assemb. Jonathan Bing (D-Manhattan), who is sponsoring the repeal bill in the Assembly. He added that he still supports the governor's measure.
"The bottom line is we need an alternative to LIFO which is an objective evaluation system, and once that is developed we can replace LIFO," countered Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto.
He further echoed other Democrats' criticism that the repeal bill cripples unions' collective bargaining rights. "We do not agree, however, as our Republican colleagues advocate," Vlasto said, "that we should now disregard collective bargaining in this instance. New York is not Wisconsin."