Kudos to Bloomberg for not backing down from this fight:

Mayor Bloomberg urged state legislators yesterday to repeal the "last in, first out" law, which mandates that teachers be laid off based on seniority instead of merit -- saying the policy sends "exactly the wrong message" to students who are judged on classroom performance.

"State law includes a 'last in, first out' provision, which would force us to lay off some of our very best teachers, while keeping some of our worst. Those layoffs would be felt heavily in the city's poorest neighborhoods, where schools tend to have the newest teachers," Bloomberg testified before the Legislature's Budget Committee in Albany.

"And they'd send exactly the wrong message to our children. We tell them, 'Work hard, and you can rise as high as your talents can take you.' But in their classrooms, they'd see that that's not really true," the mayor added.

"To lose the best and keep some who aren't carrying their weight is just a travesty."

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