Cuomo: Carrots and Sticks for Schools
January 17th, 2012
Two weeks after he signaled his intention to focus on education, Gov. Andrew Cuomo today filled in some of the details and inserted himself squarely in the dispute over teacher evaluation.
In his budget address Cuomo confirmed that, as announced previously, the state would up its aid to districts by 4.1 percent or $805 million next year for a total of about $20 billion.
Unlike last budget year — when the governor cut spending across the board regardless of a district’s needs — the increase would be weighted toward higher needs areas. These parts of the state will receive 76 percent of the hike and 69 percent of all school aid, according to Cuomo’s Budget Briefing Book.This means New York City stands to gets almost $6.4 billion next year, an increase of 2.6 percent over the approximately $6.2 billion it is getting this year.
Districts also would be able to compete for some $200 million in special state grants, under a New York version of the federal Race to the Top program.
The Road to the Money
But Cuomo put a big condition on all the additional money. To get it, districts will have to come up with a new evaluation system for teachers.
Details after the jump.
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