Of the nearly 600 school districts in NYS, only 27 have not submitted teacher-evaluation plans to the state Education Department.
Among them: East Ramapo; Yonkers; Harrison; and the Greenburgh-North Castle special act district.
Also on the list is a pretty big school system known as New York City.
Districts that don’t have plans approved by Jan. 17 are supposed to lose whatever increase in state aid they are due to get this year.
Yonkers has not been able to settle on a plan with the city’s teachers union and could lose $17 million in state and federal dollars.
Harrison has decided not to rush the process and will submit a plan when it is ready.
The state has approved 442 plans and has provided feedback to about 180 districts whose plans have not yet been approved.
State Education Commissioner John King (pictured) said this:
We’re providing constant feedback to school districts. And hundreds of districts and local unions have worked hard and gotten the job done. But there are still districts that have more work to do. We’ve given more than 180 districts feedback and told them how to correct the problems in their plans. Now they have to fix those problems and resubmit.This is not just about the increase in aid. It’s about helping students. APPR plans focus on effective teaching. The plans will help principals and teachers improve their practice and help students graduate ready for college and careers. But the clock is ticking. The Governor and Legislature set a deadline of January 17. There are still over two dozen districts that have not submitted APPR plans. The longer they wait, the more difficult it will be to complete our review by the deadline. We’ll move as fast as we can, but we will not sacrifice the quality of the review.
Districts that have not yet submitted plans may well lose some aid, as it takes the state 4-6 weeks to approve a plan.
Yonkers and East Ramapo are in especially precarious situations because both urban districts have cut large numbers of jobs in recent years and can’t afford to cut much more.
East Ramapo already has an $8 million deficit that the state has asked it to close. The district can hardly afford to lose its projected increase of $1.3 million in state aid for this year.
