Important Issues That NYC Mayoral Aspirants are Lukewarm to

Chalk one up to Bill DeBlasio to being tone deaf on issue of teacher evaluations:
"Public Advocate blasts mayor over teacher evaluation impasse." But DeBlasio just does not get it that evaluations are open to bias and involve far too many factors beyond teachers' control. So, strike one against Public Advocate DeBlasio for his advocating teacher evaluations.

On progressive issues, generally, Stringer says some of the right things, such as paid sick leave. But watch how Quinn stands out as wrong on a crucial labor quality of life issue; and wrong on education:
"Stringer delivers a big progressive speech; rivals and fellow Dems enjoy it, mostly."
"When Scott Stringer said the city needs to pass the paid-sick-leave legislation 'now,' Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Comptroller John Liu applauded, but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn didn't." --Capital New York

The four likely mayoral candidates were at the New-York Historical Society on Central Park West last night for Stringer's State of the Borough speech. The speech hinted at the economic theme of Stringer's mayoral campaign: reducing income inequality and making things easier for the middle class.

Stringer called for a readjustment to the tax code that would lower rates for families making less than $300,000 a year and raise them for earners of more than $1 million a year. He talked about facilitating loans to small businesses, and called for a $250 million fund to pay for the conversion 110,000 foreclosed housing units into low-cost housing. and called for a new loan program to help small businesses secure financing.

Interesting, the pols' different responses; Quinn seemed most uncomfortable:

Reporters kept duck-walking over to them to take pictures and watch their reactions. De Blasio sat with his giant legs crossed. Liu slouched. Quinn sat holding a folded piece of paper.

When Stringer complained about overcrowding in city schools, they applauded. When Stringer critiqued the mayor directly, de Blasio and Liu applauded and Quinn did too, but very lightly. Right after Stringer said "nothing is more important than educating our children," Quinn left.

NYC Pols gathered on January 31 on City Hall steps to protest city education policies, Quinn was absent, Capital New York reported: "Almost all of the 2013 candidates protest Bloomberg's education policy":

For a few moments this afternoon, four of the five leading 2013 mayoral candidates were gathered together on the steps of City Hall.

They were there to protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg's practice of shutting down failing schools and, according to critics, opening up smaller charter schools in those facilities which cater to more selective student bodies that are, collectively, easier to teach. The result, according to charter-school critics, is a false impression of progress.

At the event were former city comptroller Bill Thompson, who was the 2009 Democratic nominee, current comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Council Speaker Christine Quinn was invited, but did not attend, though she released a supportive statement that was distributed at the event.

Great John Liu DOE Audits: School Space Estimates --w/ UPDATE; Use of ATRs

New York City Comptroller John Liu has made some important audits in the past few weeks, as regard to the New York City Department of Education's measurement of the use of school space (lest we use the word, "assessment") and the city's use of teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR).

First was the audit of the use of ATRs.
See Phylissa Cramer's "Comptroller’s audit criticizes city’s handling of ATR pool" at Gotham Schools.
Quick summary, from lede of the story:

The Department of Education could potentially be doing more to help teachers whose positions have been eliminated find new jobs.

That’s one conclusion of an audit conducted by Comptroller John Liu of the DOE’s efforts to help members of the Absent Teacher Reserve, the pool of teachers whose jobs were lost to budget cuts, enrollment changes, or school closures. The audit concluded that the vast majority of ATRs — 95 percent — are working full-time in teaching jobs, but that the department doesn’t maintain data sufficient to conclude whether its efforts to help the teachers find permanent positions are paying off.

Then, there was his audit of the New York City Department of Education "Blue Book" estimates of the use of school space. As the Daily News explains, "The book is used to help determine what neighborhoods need more school buildings as well as space-sharing arrangements."
Gotham News reported:

To evaluate the city’s success at ensuring accurate Blue Book data [calculations of school space use], Liu’s office analyzed entries for 23 schools and found that space assessments for 10 percent of all rooms were incorrect in a way that affected the school’s overall capacity.

The quick summary (from Gotham Schools) of his findings:

The newest audit examines the city’s “Blue Book,” which contains space estimates for each school building. The DOE and the School Construction Authority use the Blue Book to guide how many students can be placed in a school, and how many schools can fit into a building. Critics, including members of the City Council, say Blue Book numbers don’t always reflect reality — for example, suggesting that an additional class could fit into an art room — and that decisions based on them can leave schools crunched for space.

This story has some relevance to teachers, since it relates to how much space the city allots to schools and the measure of capacity utilization. Under utilization is one of several measures by which the city justifies closing or scaling back some schools' operation or student enrollment.
See the full Phyllisa Cramer story at Gotham News.

See the full Rachel Monahan story at the New York Daily News.

UPDATE:
Mr. Data Mayor (Bloomberg) really is the fraud when it comes to numbers and managing resources in the New York City schools. He just can't anything right.
New from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) website is: UFT survey finds nearly 7,000 oversize classes as NYC school year opens: An estimated 250,000 students spending all or part of each day in overcrowded classrooms"

The number of classroom teachers has fallen as class sizes have risen. Based on the system’s records, this fall there were 73,784 classroom teachers, compared with 76,127 in 2010; 77,784 in 2009 and 80,649 in 2008.
. . . .
Because arbitrators’ rulings are enforceable in court, the system generally lowers class sizes as hearing dates approach. However, because the hearings are scheduled over a number of weeks, some large classes remain so for weeks; the contract also permits certain exceptions, meaning that some classes remain oversize the entire semester.