It's also one of the factors leading Gov. Cuomo to push hard on this – it's great to see the unions getting slammed (well deserved) on all sides:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday blamed the Assembly for the failure of a new statewide teacher-evaluation process, saying lawmakers needed to overhaul the way teachers and principals are assessed.

Mr. Cuomo, who called himself a lobbyist for students in his State of the State address last week, accused the Assembly of protecting the needs of teachers unions over schoolchildren.

He called on the state Department of Education, local school districts and unions to "expedite" negotiations over the new method to rate teachers and principals.

"We have a system that protects the massive education bureaucracy rather than focusing on investing in our classrooms," Mr. Cuomo said in a statement released Tuesday.

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• NY POLITICS
• JANUARY 11, 2012
• http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204124204577153203213954554.html

New Urgency On Teacher Evaluations

By LISA FLEISHER