The state Education Department on Tuesday formally rejected what it considered Buffalo's final attempt to reach an agreement on evaluations of teachers and principals that would meet state standards.

This means the district lost its last chance to convince state officials that it met the requirements to have $5.6 million in school-improvement funds reinstated.

In a letter released Tuesday evening, State Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. identified four out of 26 categories in which Buffalo's submission was "insufficient." Three of them related to the evaluation plan for teachers, and the other for principals.

"The department has carefully reviewed this submission and determined ... that it does not constitute sufficient evidence of compliance with the 2011-2012 [school-improvement grant] requirements related to teacher and leader evaluation and support," King wrote.

Interim Superintendent Amber M. Dixon said Tuesday night that the district quickly responded to the state's rejection with yet another proposal.

"The state Education Department pointed out three areas for revision in the last submitted version of the [memorandum of understanding] between the district and the Buffalo Teachers Federation. We immediately made changes and presented them to the BTF. We expect to be in contact with both the state and the BTF in the morning."

She did not give any details about the latest proposal.

Dixon was scheduled to appear at a hearing in Albany on Thursday to challenge the state's suspension of the grant funds. The state then has 10 days to issue a ruling. After that, the district has 30 days to appeal to the federal government.

The district Friday submitted its final revision of the evaluation plans for teachers and principals. Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore signed the agreement contingent on approval by the union's council of delegates Tuesday night.

The main point of contention between the union and state requirements, as conveyed by district officials, has been whether -- or how -- student absenteeism may be factored into the locally determined state portion of a teacher's evaluation, which is worth 20 out of 100 points for many teachers.

Three weeks ago, the council of delegates voted overwhelmingly in support of retaining a provision that did not count students with excessive absences against a teacher's evaluation -- something that state officials said would not be acceptable.

Late last week, Dixon and Rumore hashed out an agreement they thought would satisfy both the teachers and the state. In buildings where student attendance problems were more severe than the district average, targets for students' educational growth were lowered.

At the time, Dixon acknowledged that it was a risk.

"We're taking sort of a chance on the state growth section," she said last week. "We can only hope the state agrees it's rigorous enough to meet their approval."

In an email to teachers Monday that explained the proposed agreement, Rumore acknowledged that it was uncertain whether the commissioner would approve.

"If he rejects it, we will be taking legal action against him and the Department of Education," Rumore wrote.

The state's rejection became known less than two hours before about 150 delegates were scheduled to vote at the Hearthstone Manor in Depew. Teachers in every school in the district cast ballots on the proposed agreement earlier in the day; the delegates' vote was to be the final deciding factor by the union.

Ellen Klock, librarian for Olmsted Schools 64 and 56, said teachers were angry over the state's rejection.

"We've made three offers, and every one of them has been rejected. The ball's in their court now -- there's really nothing else we can do," Klock said. "We're angry that we've been mistreated for so long -- eight years without a contract -- and it's like we're being blamed for the whole situation."

Jodi Hammond, who teaches fifth grade at School 30, agreed. "I think the state just keeps putting up roadblocks. They're making us jump through hoops, and we're jumping. And then they're saying no again. It's frustrating."

Rumore said going to court may be the BTF's next move.

"We did our best. We worked something out with the district right before the deadline, and the state has chosen to turn it down," Rumore said. "We're having our lawyers check right now to find out if they have the right to withhold this money. We think the decision the commissioner is making is arbitrary and capricious. Chances are we will [go to court]."

Some teachers said they did not receive copies of the proposed agreement in their personal email accounts until Saturday. Others said that the document was complicated or that Rumore did not allow them enough time to have their questions answered.

The council of delegates, at its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, was presented with a version of the district's proposal and a BTF counterproposal. Rumore was not able to answer a delegate's question about whether suspensions would be counted as absences, some teachers said. "A lot of delegates and a lot of teachers were very unhappy about how Phil Rumore handled the whole process," said Marc Bruno, a union representative at Riverside High School.

Rumore said, "The state is the one calling the shots on this thing. We didn't have enough time" to review the proposed agreement.

David Clingersmith, an alternative high school teacher at Academy School 131, defended the BTF's position regarding absenteeism. "I've got 20 kids in a class, 15 kids in a class, and maybe I'll get two or three to show up in a day. You can't teach an empty seat," he said.

Buffalo was one of 10 districts across the state whose school-improvement grants were suspended in early January by King.

This year, Buffalo was awarded $9.3 million in improvement grants for Riverside, South Park, Burgard and Bennett high schools, International School 45 and Martin Luther King Jr. Multicultural Institute.

State officials recently said that the grant funding through Dec. 31, 2011, would not be in jeopardy, regardless of whether the state approved the district's teacher-evaluation plan. What has been lost, though, is the approximately $5.6 million of those funds from Jan. 1 through the end of the school year.

About two months ago, Dixon cut all after-school programs funded by the grants and eliminated more than a dozen permanent substitute teacher's positions in those schools.

News Staff Reporter Mark Sommer contributed to this report.

mpasciak@buffnews.com