New York union joins mayor on merit pay
At press time, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT, Local 2 of the American Federation of Teachers) announced it had agreed to a “merit pay” deal with the New York City schools administration. Under the deal, teachers in high-poverty schools would be eligible for merit pay if the schools’ test scores improved according to certain benchmarks.
The trade-off for the teachers was that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed to support a “25 at 55” pension proposal. Under the pension plan, a teacher with 25 years’ seniority could retire with full pension at age 55. Details of both will be reported in the next Substance.
