Why has the United Federation of Teachers placed itself squarely between New York taxpayers and $700 million in federal school aid?
Because it hates charter schools -- and it doesn't care about taxpayers, anyway.
Here's the deal:
By Jan. 19, New York must be in compliance with a variety of US Department of Education mandates, chief of which is lifting, if not eliminating, the state cap on the number of charter schools -- public schools generally run free of bureaucratic red tape and union work rules.
And failure to comply probably costs New York some $700 million in so-called "Race To The Top" DOE grants meant to encourage educational innovation.
The UFT's power in Albany, and that of its parent, New York State United Teachers, is prodigious. But the unions do understand the importance of appearances.
And the unions certainly don't want to look like the bad guys if New York misses out on the federal cash.
Instead, as charter-school advocate Tom Carroll noted on these pages yesterday, the unions are pushing "poison pill" amendments to legislation meant to lift the cap. That way, they can better the odds of getting the federal money while still undermining the charter schools.
UFT boss Michael Mulgrew & Co. would make it easier to "starve" charters of funds, force them to unionize and set a percentage for the special-education and English-as-a-second-language students they must accept, among other steps.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/uft_charter_chicanery_cIzRDP4mU4WoW4n8Qn6RGO#ixzz0bkGYTrL8