Against all conventional wisdom that having a quality teacher at the front of the classroom is a crucial ingredient in the education process, the New York State Legislature appears to have reached an agreement with the state teachers union which makes it illegal to evaluate teachers based on whether or not students are learning.
This is obviously a huge blow to public education and the now seemingly-futile attempts to save it.
(When we are all standing at public education's funeral someday in the near future, remember to do a cough-chant of "murderer" when Dick Ianuzzi or anyone else from NYSUT tries to eulogize. Or even better, let's get half the crowd to chant "murderer" and half the crowd to chant "bullshit." Note: Yes, I'm going nuclear. How could you not? My kids are in these schools that the union/legislature is choking!)
UPDATE: The Daily News editorial board is not particularly impressed by new Gov. Paterson's commitment to kids either. Eyes are on the governor to see whether he will continue to side with the teachers unions or with public education.
UPDATE II: So how bad is this legislation? It is so bad that even the NY Times recognized it as a stink bomb!