CITY COUNCIL GRANTS FULL ELI FUNDING FOR THE COMING YEAR

Click HERE to read more.

In an effort to help address the current severe recession, Mayor Bloomberg and city labor officials on Tuesday reached a tentative agreement to modify New York City health benefits, as of October 1, 2009, for current and retired city employees, including those from CSA. The agreement is expected to save the City $400 million over the next two fiscal years. For the first time, the HIP-HMO program will require co-payments for emergency, ambulatory and inpatient treatment. Union leaders limited these new requirements almost exclusively to co-payments. They also insisted that the city defer a number of scheduled layoffs for a period of 90 days. In addition, the unions received one-time payment of $200 for each active and retired member, effective October 2009.

To read more about the announcement in the NY Times, click HERE.

President Obama’s $115 billion economic stimulus package for K-12 and higher education is not a miracle cure for economically ailing higher education institutions or U.S. school districts, but it will definitely relieve some of the pain.

In terms of K-12, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will channel $930 million for aid to NYC public schools for the coming year. With the school system facing a $1.4 billion dollar deficit for fiscal year 2009-2010, this infusion of stimulus money will reduce the city’s deficit to about half a billion dollars. So while the cuts will be less severe than officials once thought, schools will still feel considerable pain.

If the NYC Department of Education (DOE) uses this cash as the federal government intends, NYC’s public schools will receive a similar infusion of stimulus money for schools in 2010-2011. The feds will be keeping close track of how the money is used, requiring school districts to file detailed quarterly reports on how every penny has been spent. (Note: In NYC, school district refers to the NYC DOE, rather than individual community school districts under the DOE’s umbrella.)

The 2009-2010 infusion to NYC will, for the most part, fall into these general buckets: 

 -  Title I – $334 million per year for each of the next two years;
 -  IDEA/Special Education – $157 million per year for each of the next two years;
 -  Stabilization Funds – $362 million per year for each of the next two years to restore the deficit reduction
    assessment in school aid the state originally proposed to take from school districts. Furthermore, this
    fund infusion includes at least an additional $71 million annually for preschool/early childhood special
    education thus eliminating a shift of costs from the state to the districts.

In certain specific cases, some additional funding is available for Head Start and Early Head Start, Enhancing Technology under Title II D, Education for Homeless Children and Youth, Teacher Incentive Fund, Impact Aid Construction, and the National School Lunch Program Equipment Assistance Fund. But by and large, ARRA funding will simply make school districts more whole than they would otherwise have been during these challenging economic times.

However, a limited amount of funding will be set aside for “innovation” through a $5 billion fund known as Race to the Top. This fund comes under the direct control of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who will make grants available to selected applicants from all states. Race to the Top has nothing to do with individual school aid. It will award competitive grants for innovative programs, most of them involving data assessment, professional development, and technology development.

Applicants for these grants may include school districts, partnerships between a nonprofit organization and one or more school districts, or a nonprofit and a consortium of schools that can demonstrate that they are closing the education gap. At press time, no hard and fast deadline had been set for grant applications, but applications were being submitted at a furious pace and are quite likely to be decided upon by fall. Visit www.recovery.ny.gov to read more about how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is working in New York State.

This story was written by Chiara Coletti for the current issue of the CSA News.

A MESSAGE ABOUT H1N1 FLU PRECAUTIONS

Dear Colleagues,

As the school year winds down, please continue to follow the health precautions and attendance procedures outlined in Chancellor’s Memo #2 of the May 12 issue of Principal’s Weekly that relate to H1N1 flu. Although the closing of schools seems to have abated for the time being, it remains very important that you continue to report absentee figures for all students to your district superintendent and your ISC health director.

As I’ve said, you’ve all shown an admirable degree of common sense and calm during the difficult weeks since H1N1 emerged in our schools and tragically claimed the life of one of our members, Mitchell Weiner, an AP at IS 238 in Queens. We hope you will continue to keep CSA informed about any extraordinary health problems in your school. If you have concerns, please call your CSA field representative immediately.

Sincerely,
Ernest

To review Memo # 2 of the May 12 Principal’s Weekly, please click HERE and scroll down to the 3rd page.

Click HERE for a complete list of CSA Field Representatives.     

LIMITATIONS ON EARNINGS FOR RETIREES WORKING AS CONSULTANTS

The DoE Division of Human Resources has recently announced limitations on earnings for retirees working as consultants for the DoE.

For a brief explanation of these limitations, click HERE.
For the complete DoE memorandum, click HERE.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Don Julian or Gary Goldstein at 718-625-3434.

TRS BENEFIT SETTLEMENT

A settlement has been reached in a class action suit that challenged the calculation of a specific portion of the TRS retirement benefit for Tier I/II members. A mailing to all who are affected by the “20 Year Pension Class Settlement” will begin shortly. Individuals who were not determined to be members of the class will not receive the mailing. For all questions and additional information, a Class Settlement Website is available at www.20yearpensionsettlement.net, or you can call the Class Settlement Hotline at (800) 295 - 4716 weekdays between 11:00a.m. and 8:00p.m. TRS has indicated that the website and hotline are operational.

SPECIAL HEALTH CARE ALERT

April 27, 2009

Dear Colleagues, Over the weekend, you probably learned through the media that several cases of swine flu have been confirmed in a non public high school in Queens. The Mayor's office has been working closely with the Department of Health and Mental Health to provide guidance for New Yorkers and particularly for the school community. Below, you will find a link containing a Question and Answer form, which you should feel free to give to your students to bring home to families. You will also find guidelines to School Health staff on protocols to be followed. According to the health commissioner, the symptoms in the NYC cases have been minor. It is very important to be aware of this situation, but it is just as important to be calm. As more information becomes available, we will pass it on to you. Please call your network team or your CFN/ISC if you need support or have additional questions. Thanks in advance for paying attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
Ernest Logan

Please click HERE for information provided by the city.

2007-2008 PERFORMANCE DIFFERENTIALS ANNOUNCED FOR NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Department of Education has released the list of schools eligible for the 2007-2008 CSA & UFT performance bonuses. Remember the 07-08 CSA performance differentials pay up to a maximum of $25,000 for principals and $12,500 for assistant principals. Eligibility for High School, Middle, K-8 and Elementary schools are based on the top 20% of Progress Report scores. Eligibility for District 75 schools are based on criteria determined by the Chancellor in consultation with the CSA.

Principals who did not qualify for the CSA performance differential, but whose schools qualified for a reward under the school-wide performance pay program will receive a bonus of $7,000 if their schools met 100% of their performance targets. Assistant Principals at these schools will receive half that amount.

• High Schools:
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the CSA bonus by clicking HERE.
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the school-wide performance pay by clicking HERE.
  
  
• Elementary, K-8 & Middle Schools:
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the CSA bonus by clicking HERE.
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the school-wide performance pay by clicking HERE.
  Click HERE to access the bonus criteria for the 07-08 ES/K-8/MS recipients on the DOE web.
  
  
• District 75 Schools:
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the CSA bonus by clicking HERE

PRE-RETIREMENT HEALTH BENEFITS WORKSHOPS

Pre-retirement workshops have been scheduled for those members considering retirement this spring. These workshops discuss what you need to know about your city-provided health benefits and Welfare Fund benefits as a retiree, and review the process to be followed in converting from in-service to retiree-status. Click HERE for a list of dates.

SUPPORT THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT

“As school leaders, we stand behind the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) because we support our students and their families. If more American working families had access to the kinds of benefits we enjoy as members of CSA, the impact on children would be enormously beneficial. Fewer children would come to school undernourished, in ill health, and wondering if they will have roofs over their heads tomorrow. CSA asks you to support EFCA because the passage of this law would afford millions of additional working people the right to form unions without fear of retribution. It would raise them out of poverty and improve the quality of their families’ lives. It would also improve the quality of life in classrooms across the United States."

“If Congress passes this bill, President Obama will definitely sign it into law. With more struggling American families losing their jobs, homes and benefits every day, we must stand solidly behind them. Please contact your elected officials in Washington right away.”

Ernest Logan

**GET INVOLVED TODAY**

Click HERE for Key Facts about the EFCA.
Click HERE for a sample letter to legislators.
Click HERE to find your local Senator's information.
Click HERE to watch a video clip on the importance of the EFCA.

CSA First Vice President Randi Herman testified before the City Council Education Committee and General Welfare Committee on examining ACS' plans to transition kindergarten-aged children from ACS centers to public school classrooms. Click HERE to read the full testimony.

• High Schools:
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the CSA bonus by clicking HERE.
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the school-wide performance pay by clicking HERE.
  
  
• Elementary, K-8 & Middle Schools:
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the CSA bonus by clicking HERE.
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the school-wide performance pay by clicking HERE.
  Click HERE to access the bonus criteria for the 07-08 ES/K-8/MS recipients on the DOE web.
  
  
• District 75 Schools:
  You can download the list of schools eligible for the CSA bonus by clicking HERE.

We have received calls and e-mails concerning the number of annual leave days that Principals and 12-month Assistant Principals have this summer.

• Principals have 15 days for the 2008-2009 school year that must be used by August 31, 2009.
• 12-month Assistant Principals have 15 days that must be used between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010.
• District 75 Assistant Principals follow guidelines for Principals.

Please note that there are 3 full weeks (elementary and middle school only) between the end of summer school and the beginning of the new school year. Supervisors must report to work unless they are using annual leave days during those three weeks. Assistant Principals may wish to save some annual leave days to be used during the 2009-2010 school year to cover religious observance days or personal business.

Click HERE for more information.