Sorry, but taxpayer-funded schools exist for the students' not for the already-powerful teacher unions.
But even from a teachers' perspective, what is wrong with teacher evaluation or firing bad teachers? If you are a good teacher, why wouldn't you want to have competent colleagues and recognition/ reward for your abilities and effort? No a teacher in Brownsville will not have the same students as a teacher in Park Slope, but surely their is a way to control for student differences in the evaluations.
According to the Daily News, "the city already lost more than $400 million in state and federal funds when it couldn’t reach a deal with the United Federation of Teachers on how teacher performance should be measured ahead of Cuomo’s Jan. 17 deadline." How much more will the teachers unions' obstinance cost the taxpayers and students of New York?
In this economy most private sector employees would be more than happy to receive what New York teachers get- lifetime 70% pensions after what 20 or 25 years on the job, lifetime Cadillac Health coverage, virtually-guaranteed job security, months of vacation, etc. Do we really need to throw in zero performance evaluation or risk of being fired no matter how incompetent or ineffective the teacher becomes?
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