New Action – UFT

Summer has finally arrived. After a ridiculously long school year filled with ups and downs for UFT members, we finally made it. This is a brief, incomplete review of the highs and lows we experienced this past year.

Highs

1. The Fix Tier 6 Campaign (age)

Synopsis: The retirement age to receive an unreduced pension was lowered from 30/63 to 30/58. This shaves five years off retirement for Tier 6 members who started in their late 20s or younger. This will help thousands of UFT members as they get to retire earlier without taking a financial shellacking. To a lesser extent, the age change also helps educators who began their teaching careers at 29-32 years old. Under 30/63, a 29 year old just starting out in the profession would have had to work until 63 to avoid a penalty to their pension contributions. Now they can retire at 59, assuming they didn’t take extended time off at any point. Someone who starts out at 32 could hypothetically retire at 62 (instead of 63) without incurring a hit to their pension. Educators positively impacted by this save their time and their money. Don’t let anybody minimize this. 30/58 is a big win, regardless of how we got there or what other unions have.

2. The Class Size Law

Synopsis: 60% of all NYC schools had to be in compliance with the class size law this past school year. Teachers and students throughout the city are benefitting from more manageable classroom settings, as well as increased engagement through individualized and small group attention.

Beyond the obvious educational advantages that come with the class size mandate is something just as important – job security. Student enrollment is freefalling and shows no signs of stopping, as studies reveal that NYC schools are at risk of losing 150,000 students over the next ten years. Schools are already feeling the pressure. The Citizens Budget Commission announced that, “The number of school-age children enrolled in NYC public schools has fallen by 163,046 between school years 2014-15 and 2023-24.” Reducing class sizes keeps educators out of the jackpot. Without the class size law, we’d likely face mass-excessing throughout the city and possibly even job losses.

3. Foundation Aid Formula

Synopsis: There was a change in the Foundation Aid formula, which will increase the amount of funding for ELLs, homeless, and foster students. As a result, NYC schools are expected to receive nearly $900 million in additional funding. The update to the funding formula was long overdue and certainly helps NYC schools, “where more than 150,000 students experienced homelessness last year and one in every six students is learning English as a new language.” The Foundation Aid formula hadn’t been updated since 2007.

4. Hold Harmless

Synopsis: Hold harmless is an essential school funding policy that began during Covid. Hold harmless ensures that schools maintain their budgets despite shrinking student enrollment. Michael Elsen-Rooney of Chalkbeat explains, “Schools get their budgets in the spring for the coming academic year based on their projected enrollment. Then in the middle of the school year, money is either added or taken away from that initial allocation based on the number of students who actually showed up.” Since 2020, schools have been keeping the money initially allotted to them despite enrollment dropoffs. According to Chancellor Samuels, that trend will continue next school year.

Lows

1. The Fix Tier 6 Campaign (pension contributions)

Synopsis: Pension contribution rates for Tier 6 NYCTRS and NYSTRS members remain unchanged while other Tier 6 workers received slightly reduced pension contributions.

The new pension contribution rates for other Tier 6 members are as follows:

$45,000 and under: 3% (same)

$45,001-$55,000: 3% (down from 3.5%)

$55,001-$75,000: 3% (down from 4.5%)

$75,001-$100,000: 4% (down from 5.75%)

$100,001-$125,000: 5.25% (down from 6%)

$125,001 and up: 5.75% (down from 6%)

The money saved doesn’t amount to much (although members making between $55,001-$100,000 benefit decently), but it doesn’t bode well that we weren’t included in the contribution decrease. Tier 6 contribution rates are astronomical. Tier 6 educators conservatively contribute $150,000 more towards pension contributions over the course of our careers than early Tier 4 members. And in many cases, that figure is modest. Imagine how much that comes out to if Tier 6 members had the chance to invest that money over the course of their careers. To be clear, this is not a knock on Tier 4 members. They deserve what they have. But it needs to be equalized. When you factor in investment opportunities, the difference could reach high six digits/low seven digits per member by the time we retire. More than half of active educators are in Tier 6.

2. The Class Size Law

Synopsis: You may be noticing a pattern. A little good, a little bad. Although the class size law has helped us immensely, it has been extended two years. 80 percent of classes throughout the city were supposed to be in compliance with the mandate next year, followed by 100 percent in 2027-28. Instead, only 70 percent of classes will have to be in compliance next year, followed by 80 percent in 2027-28, 90 percent in 2028-29, and 100 percent by 2029-2030, not counting exemptions. The delay means hundreds of millions less in funding for NYC schools and thousands fewer new teacher hires than originally promised for the upcoming school year.

3. The Federal Tax-Credit Scholarship

Synopsis: Governor Hochul has expressed her support for the federal tax-credit scholarship, a school voucher program that will rob tax money from public schools and public works in order to fund private schools. This is a blatant, anti-public school initiative that could have serious consequences. In January, Chalkbeat published an alarming piece about the school choice tax credit program. Chalkbeat reporter Lily Altavena explains, “families can donate up to $1,700 to scholarship-granting organizations and receive an equivalent tax credit back.” Allowing families to receive tax credit to financially benefit private schools reduces the amount of tax dollars that go into our communities. In fact, in 2022, Kentucky’s Supreme Court “ruled that Kentucky’s tax credit scholarship program is unconstitutional.” As Peter Greene explains, “In a tax credit scholarship program, corporations or individuals contribute money to a ‘scholarship’ fund that will pay part of some student’s tuition at a private school. The state then counts that contribution towards taxes.” In other words, tax dollars are reallocated to private schools instead of going to public schools, projects, and programs that would otherwise support our communities. You can learn more and take action to stop this attack on public schools here.

4. Abusive Administrators

Synopsis: Self-explanatory. Although we do not have data to provide us with exact numbers, the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. If social media is any indication, educators throughout NYC are facing retaliatory, unfair, and unreasonable administrators. Granted, social media is more conducive to people who tend to vent rather than regale us with stories about glorious, flawlessly run schools with competent and compassionate leadership, so it may not be the most accurate measure, but it’s hard to ignore when tales of abusive admin continue to run rampant. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of checks and balances. Under state law, untenured employees are considered “at will” and can be discontinued at the drop of a hat, which has been weaponized by school administrators. Principals have entirely too much power, running their schools like fiefdoms rather than academic institutions where educators are valued and treated as professionals.

It’s been a mixed bag of a year. These are just some of the broad strokes. Anyone that says everything is great isn’t telling the whole story. On the flip side, those who claim all hope is lost and that the sky is falling are being equally disingenuous. The upcoming school year will be very telling as to the future of our union. In addition to everything mentioned above, our contract expires in November 2027 and we’re still waiting on the paraprofessional RESPECT check. We must continue to work together and support each other so we can collectively improve our lot, both within our schools and in the broader union landscape. Ascension or descension. The choice is ours.