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State legislature approves Cuomo's teacher evaluation plan

Thomas Favre-Bulle
/
via Flickr

Cuomo’s proposal to make teacher evaluations public will become law, now that the Senate and Assembly passed the measure on the final day of the legislative session.

Senate Republicans, after a closed door meeting, agreed to take up Gov. Cuomo’s bill to make all evaluations public, without names attached.

Parents would then be able to obtain the specific evaluations of their child’s teacher. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says it’s a reasonable compromise between teachers’ privacy and parents' right to know.

“It’s a good balance,” Skelos said before the vote.  

Some GOP Senators were concerned that the bill would inadvertently disclose identities of teachers in small rural schools, Senator Skelos says those concerns were addressed, but the bill might have to be amended later.

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, an ally of the Senate GOP, opposed the measure.

Skelos admits that the mayor is “disappointed”, but predicted that the two will collaborate on other issues in the future.

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau Chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 public radio stations in New York State. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.