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Friday, July 2, 2010

Civil Service rules leave their mark on the Dept of Education | GothamSchools

Civil Service rules leave their mark on the Dept of Education | GothamSchools


Civil Service rules leave their mark on the Dept of Education

Chancellor Joel Klein often trumpets the importance of giving principals the power to hire the teachers they want. But Klein’s own ability to select his staff could soon be compromised.
A court case decided in 2007, known as the Long Beach decision, requires New York City (and municipalities throughout the state) to fill certain positions by hiring off of lists of people who’ve passed Civil Service exams. Most of these jobs are administrative or clerical — they include secretaries and associate supervisors of school security — but some are also held by high level managers, chiefs of staff, and some of the department’s press team.
Currently, many of these jobs are held by people classified as provisional employees, meaning they never took the exams because the exams didn’t exist or were given too infrequently. Over the next several years, all city agencies will have to significantly cut down on the number of provisional workers, either by laying them off or


New database puts education spending at your fingertips

Source: Checkbook NYCSource: Checkbook NYC
The Department of Education has spent more money this calendar year than any other city agency, racking up enough expenses to account for about a quarter of total city dollars.
That’s one nugget from of a host of financial information now available through a database Comptroller John Liu’s office launched yesterday that gives real-time updates to city expenses.
The database, called “Checkbook NYC,” currently reports around $40 billion in spending across city agencies since January 1. During that time, the Department of Education spent more than $10 billion.