By LISA FLEISHER
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.
The governor's criticism, his sharpest to date on the evaluation issue, came a day after federal education officials warned that New York was in danger of losing some of its $700 million in Race to the Top funding.
The competitive grant program, President Barack Obama's signature education effort, was designed to encourage local school officials to embrace reform efforts including incorporating student test scores into teacher evaluations.
New York, which was among 11 states and the District of Columbia that won funding under Race to the Top, had promised to revamp teacher evaluations by the 2012-13 school year. Among the changes were that 20% of a teacher's evaluation would be based on student performance on state standardized tests.
But the measures laid out in the 2010 state law passed by the Legislature and signed by former Gov. David Paterson required union approval. That has been slow to happen, and the New York State United Teachers sued over regulations that stemmed from the law.
Dick Iannuzzi, president of the New York State United Teachers, said the state Department of Education, not the law, was to blame. He criticized the Department of Education for continuing to fight the union in court and for delays in developing a student data tracking system, a failing that was also singled out by federal officials.
Mr. Iannuzzi said the law "has been widely lauded for its focus on strengthening teacher effectiveness to enhance student learning."
But critics have said New York's law left too many details up to negotiations with unions. New York fell "far short" of other states in leaving out exactly how student test scores would be used and how evaluations would be framed, said Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, which pushes for stronger evaluations. "What we've seen in New York is a lot of districts haven't been able to negotiate an agreement, and it's left them with their hands up in the air," she said.
Asked whether the law should be fixed, Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver replied, "The Assembly Majority has always been a leader in this effort and is committed to making sure deserving applicants receive these funds."
A spokesman for state Education Commissioner John King declined to comment in response to Mr. Cuomo's comments.
Write to Lisa Fleisher at lisa.fleisher@wsj.com
