DFER's Joe Williams with an Op Ed in the Albany Times Union on LIFO:

With Republican governors across the nation looking for new ways to demean and disparage public school teachers, it was refreshing to see Gov. Andrew Cuomo take a different tack. He proposed legislation to expedite an agreed-upon evaluation system that could be used as early as next school year to elevate the quality and professionalism of New York's teaching work force.

While Cuomo's bill will have a positive impact on the state's education system years down the road, it doesn't address a major threat to teacher quality this year: seniority-based layoffs.

It is time for Cuomo to lead on the issue by eliminating the state law that requires layoffs to be based on seniority rather than effectiveness.

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