President’s Report
Moment of silence for former Chapter Leader Joe Seidel from Automotive and Townsend Harris.
Federal
Been talking about federal tax credit/voucher program for past few months. Coming to us very shortly. Guidelines/regulations supposed to be out over the next few days or next week. This was in the Big Beautiful Bill. Wherever they’ve done tax credits or vouchers, it’s been an abysmal failure just based on education results, not to mention separation of church and state. They were smart in how they packaged this one. They keep saying the same thing – it’s not a voucher program, it’s a tax credit program. At this moment, there’s no cap on it. How will federal government afford that? $1,700 tax credit you can donate to schools. It’s a way to pull people from public schools. What happens is that slowly, over the years, the tax credit gets raised. More of a burden on states to fund public schools because no federal funding will go to state. Everything will become a tax credit for vouchers. Met with AFT 2 weeks ago. Completely up to state governor, not legislature, if they want to opt in. Our governor has said that she’s very interested in anything that will help the middle class get tax breaks. Had a brief conversation. We are gearing up for that fight. All of the state federations in the AFT – AFT sending letter to all democratic governors not to do this. They’ve carefully put together a package where they have lots of talking points about. Will let public schools use this. Majority of parents we serve in public schools aren’t looking for tax credits. Looking to pay basic grocery bills. This is a giveaway to more affluent families. Will start over summer when regulations come up. Will try to have it out by the midterm elections.
AI – Lots of opinions on AI. Some want it banned completely. The AFLCIO took a position that we need guardrails on AI. Datacenters – I don’t know how you would stop them. Massive projects and infrastructure deals that are going to move forward. People want a complete moratorium or local community has to approve it. But AFLCIO has all of the construction unions. Will move data centers to impoverished areas. In terms of us with AI, we continue down the path that we have to have more guardrails for children’s and our own privacy. We finally have gotten to the point where we are training teachers to use AI to write IEPs, use AI for things beyond the lesson plan. Unrealistic to block students from using AI. This is the stuff where as new technology emerges, we’ll train people to get what we need out of AI platform. Not simple. AI companies go to where the money is. Administrators and school boards control the money. Administrators want to come up with a system that will do observations. That’s been their thing all across the country. Thousands of teachers are not observed every year in NYC. They want AI to do it for them. We’re not going to let that happen. What helps our children best? That’s what we want.
State
State budget is finally done. Still don’t have school budgets. Thanks DA for advocacy. Made a significant step forward in fixing Tier 6. Would not be sitting here talking about age 58. Other unions made choices based on what they need. Every year we knocked off the age saved people $9,000 per year in pension contributions. If you knock off 5 years, that’s $45,000. We also wanted to remove the penalties. If you were going to retire 16 years from now at 58 in Tier 6, before this legislation passed, you would’ve lost 25% of your pension, which is ridiculous, because you already paid for it. That’s why Tier 6 is so bad. Aggressively negative. But we are not done. We have to get to 55. Have to get the contributions. Those are all very important things. Have to move forward.
We wanted to fix the foundation aid formula. People got on bus to Albany and lobbied. We were able to get homelessness and other things included in budget to help fund NYC schools. Community schools got a lot of money. State has moved forward. Over $20 million to community schools. Teacher centers also got funded.
Supposedly all the grades are getting a new math curriculum next year except 9th grade. We know it won’t be helpful. Teacher centers are very important.
City
Class Size – We have a class size working group that meets on a weekly basis with the chancellor’s office and CSA. Schools submitting plans are highly successful. Budget in place so that everyone hired for class size is a separate line item. That’s a big deal because of school budgets. Teachers hired for class size must be a separate line item. We got to 60%. Law is 4 years old but requires work from the DOE. Two major things that they didn’t do over the last 4 years – the capital space plan, what construction we need to do. It’s a lot less than we thought but we have no plan. No construction started. If you’re going to build more classrooms for more classes, you need more staff. DOE doesn’t recruit themselves. Didn’t design a plan. When they said we need an extension, we told them we need a complete commitment on a capital construction plan and a recruitment strategy for NYC. After the budget was done, we came to a place with the DOE and chancellor – and they had an analysis for every district and every school. Three categories – 1) they needed a small construction project (simpler), 2) large construction (extension, annex, new building, etc.), 3) program correctly. Said they can fix a few hundred schools just by helping programming. Just starting the construction projects now. NY Post says we shook them down for $20 million going in our members’ pockets. Didn’t shake them down. Held them accountable. They said the only way to get this done is to give a bunch of exemptions. We said no. We want it done correctly. Reorganization will be part of our school system for decades. There are schools this year that if they did their capital plans, would’ve had their space done by now and they would’ve gotten to 80%. Schools being used for space exemptions may be eligible for the differential, as well as schools with funded positions who were unable to hire teachers due to recruitment problems. If you’re a teacher in a classroom with a hard-to-staff differential, you MAY be eligible for the differential. Won’t know until November 15. An exemption class helps move them toward 80% even though it’s not in compliance. Those are classes eligible for differential. Differential for this year, larger differential for next year.
I believe there’s a meeting tomorrow with chancellor and principals. Once that meeting is over, we expect everyone to get their budgets. I’d appreciate it if they say it’s unacceptable. There were years where budgets were not done until July and August but schools received preliminary budgets. Not done this year. No budget, no line, how can we hire anyone? They put us in a bad position. Not the way you want to start. Budgets out with less than two weeks left of school.
Lots of emails about the chancellor. We believe in due process. We know that the procurement process at the DOE is beyond broken. It’s a disgrace. Does not serve the school system. The chancellor has been very supportive of us. But due process is due process. In this political environment, who knows what’s really going on? I have to think about the working relationship he has with our union. Right now, I’d say he has a very good working relationship with us. But we don’t need any more distractions.
One big thing on agenda that has not been accomplished yet. Respect. Next two weeks are about budgets. SBOs coming in by the hundreds. Thanks CLs. The SBO process is off the chart. Next year’s calendar is insane because of all of the holidays. Need to continue pressure on the RESPECT check. Had a hearing today at City Hall. Shout out to Priscilla Castro, paraprofessional CL. Gave testimony in favor of RESPECT check. There is movement. Costing process almost finished but pressure has to remain. We’re all happy about the Knicks, the World Cup. They’re building little bleachers everywhere. Huge ship armada coming in. Pushed back Fleet Week. All happening inside of NYC. Need to keep pressure on for the RESPECT check.
TRS and para executive committee elections are done. Thanks Tom Brown and para execs. Get to work.
Early voting starts Saturday. Lots of contested elections. All will be settled in next few weeks. Everything turns to midterm elections. Thankfully we get a little bit of a break. Retirees are very interested in politics. One of the biggest strengths of our union.
Certain things we need to get done in June. In case of endorsements, we bring executive board in. No nefarious stuff going on.
Midterms in November are clearly very important for us. Much at stake for public education. Also need to begin the process of negotiating a contract. We will have the largest negotiation committee in our history, hands down. More than what’s in this room by far. Almost 700 people will be on the negotiating committee. Notice will go out next week. June 24 virtual welcome. Lay out the process. All about educating ourselves, educating new people on negotiation committee. It’s not a joke. We will be sitting across the table from the City. Our strategy is that we want our members doing the work talking to them. Shame them because they have no idea what you do. That’s how we have in last two rounds of bargaining – every contract has had changes in them, not a single giveback. No givebacks. Only positive changes. You have to come up with your plan. Have to represent. When we get paras done, City can’t use that against us in negotiations. Enough with having workers paying for other workers’ raises. It becomes about educating everyone. Each one will come up with their own list of demands, Come to consensus. That’ll be fun with 700 people. Even in committees, these are very important things. Educating and training people. Massive time commitment. Had a couple of instances in the past. Guide for committee comes from membership. Nobody can hijack the committee with an agenda. We know what the number one issue is before surveys are sent out – money. First and foremost. We’d like to figure out a way for more vacation days. City hates it. Might be a way it opens up. Maybe they look for something and we negotiate. There are certain titles in this union that have a basic, sound argument as to why they might need more. Each title in this union will come up with what their demands are, vote on it, then start the process with DOE. We probably will not set the pattern. Many unions are still waiting for contracts from the last round. We got in. Did the smart thing. Got our raises. Someone will set the pattern before us. Don’t like it but it is what it is. School opening late in September. People are upset about ending on a Monday. If I’m CL, first thing I’m asking principal is if we’re really having pd on June 28
Staff Director’s Report (missed some of this)
– 5k on Saturday
– RTC gen membership Tuesday
– Student debt webinar
– Game On June 18
– Hispanic affairs committee on 6/26
– 11 days left of school.
– NYSUT for get out the vote rally in Peekskill
– Celebrates people retiring this year
– Pride month parade on June 28. UFT is one of largest groups in that parade.
– Caribbean American month
– Puerto Rican Day parade this Sunday
Question Period
1. Fair student funding. Can we make effort to getting it funded per class instead of per student? Do it per class in suburbs.
MM: anything designed by Klein or Bloomberg is bad for schools. Designed after retail stores. We don’t have right to negotiate funding. Not covered by collective bargaining. Got around this with class size law. Over a billion dollars in outside contracts. We pay for all this.
Adams and de Blasio didn’t work. Lots of people hired and we don’t know who they are.
2. All day PD during virtual days. Had people asked to come in to work to sit in front of computer all day being interrupted by everything happening in school just to sit in front of the computer and go home. Can we push DOE to allow for these teachers to engage in virtual PD remotely?
MM: Yes.
3. Policy for dual certified teachers. Can the principal make you teach under a different license every year, giving you a split schedule?
MM: You may be dual certified but you’re licensed under one. You may be split schedule, but you must have four classes under that license. Tell them you have to teacher under license.
4. I received 3020a charges and have been removed from my classrooms, I’ve been retaliated against because of my chapter leader activism. My attorney said I’m not alone. Has 5 cases in last few weeks from teachers and CLs. Trumped up charges. Nothing egregious. This is my 27th year. I’ve chosen to stay when I had opportunities to leave. My membership is living in fear. I’m BEGGING union for support. Begging to keep my job. If you hold a principal accountable in the DOE, you’ll be retaliated against. I’ve had three reassignments in the past week. Reassigned to my home. What is the union going to do? It’s not for lack of advocacy. How will you help me, Mr. Mulgrew?
MM: I was happy to see you and call on you. Won’t go into specifics about your situation but there have been many discussions already. We fully expect to protect you first and foremost as an educator and chapter leader. We have a lot of information from inside your building because we’ve visited. Want people in the union to understand the situation. We’ve had principals removed. I never want to sugarcoat that the union has a magic wand. There’s no two chapter leaders that are the same. If you choose to be a CL, you’re putting your butt on the line. There’s an obligation on our behalf to say you’ve gone above and beyond. I’m sorry for what you’re going through but you’re not going to go through this alone.
Motions directed to the agenda
1: Motion to add a resolution to this month’s agenda. RESOLUTION TO FIGHT AGAINST PRIVATE SCHOOL VOUCHERS
Vote – Yes: 748 No: 123 (online) Yes: 250 No: 19 (in person) 88%. Placed on this month’s agenda.
2: Motion to add a resolution to next month’s agenda. Copays. Copays are a hidden premium and a tax for being sick. UFT has pledged for premium free healthcare but you can’t call it free when you have to pay every time you go to the doctor. Retirees have gone from $0 to thousands per year with copays. Wants negotiators through the MLC to recognize copays as hidden premiums. Must make rolling back copays a priority at bargaining table.
Question: Why is resolution not moving this towards our healthcare committee rather than doing this here?
MM: Told retirees that if this comes to floor, I have to call it out of order. Ruled out of order because it needs to go through healthcare committee, which was overwhelmingly supported by everyone. All financial and technical matters need to go through healthcare committee. Everyone here is against copays. If healthcare committee can actually come up with something, they recommend it to the Delegate Assembly. If we tell City we’re not paying copays anymore, they’ll say “fine” and take it out of our raises. We’re not going to do something that hurts us later on, If we can lessen copays, we want to do it, but that would have to go through the healthcare committee. They directed us throughout the NYCE PPO, as the resolution you all passed told them to do. We can say yes to this. The City’s position will simply be that if we don’t want to pay for these, we have to pay now. Arbitrator will rule for them. Healthcare costs are a constant problem. This union has dealt with many complicated issues. Don’t want to divide. Don’t want in-service using part of their raises due to copays. We’re uniquely different than other unions. Our retirees get more than other retirees in NYC. We don’t want things that will divide us. We won’t let healthcare divide us. It is clearly out of order. We will vote on if Chair is correct.
Question: Thought we can bring this to the DA.
MM: Anything on healthcare has to go to the healthcare committee. Healthcare committee comes back with recommendation, then DA votes upon it. If this reso said we want this issue to be sent to the healthcare committee and come back with a recommendation, this would not be out of order.
Question: Check Roberts Rules. This is debatable.
MM: It’s my first time running a meeting.
Question: Was healthcare committee elected or chosen by leadership?
MM: Resolution itself brought by retiree group said what makeup had to be – all representative caucuses within the union.
Vote – Do you support the ruling of the chair (that this reso is out of order because it tries to supercede what DA has voted on this year about anything substantive regarding healthcare has to go through the healthcare committee first): Yes: 606 No: 229 (online) Yes: 189 No: 79 (in person) 72%. THIS RESOLUTION IS OUT OF ORDER.
Resolutions
AGENDA ITEM #1 – RESOLUTION TO EXTEND THE HYBRID DA RULES
RESOLVED, that the rules of order adopted in June 2021 be continued for the 2026-27 school year and that in June 2027 UFT delegates will revisit the question of the nature of the Delegate Assemblies for the following year, if not sooner; and be it
RESOLVED, that the UFT will continue to look for the best methods to safeguard Delegate Assembly participation.
Question: Can we have video of these meetings to see who’s talking? It’s boring listening from home.
MM apologizes for boringness
Vote – Yes: 888 No: 28 (online) Yes: 218 No: 35 (in person). 95%. PASSES
AGENDA ITEM #2 – ENDORSEMENT OF CANDIDATES FOR CITY OFFICES: CONTINGENCY RESOLUTION
RESOLVED, the United Federation of Teachers’ Delegate Assembly authorizes the Executive Board to consider, make or modify endorsements during the summer in order to have a timely impact on any such campaigns.
Objection: Exec Board may endorse people without DA support who do not help the UFT and our students.
MM: This provision is only for unforeseen circumstances, like someone being arrested. If we have to call a special DA for September before endorsing, we can do that.
Vote – Yes: 558 No: 143 (online) Yes: 177 No: 63 (in person). 78%. PASSES
Have a nice summer. Thanks to people retiring.
Meeting ends.
New Action - UFT 