Talk of the Town

 Collection of articles
of interest to educators

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Aid Cuts Have Texas Schools Scrambling (It's happening all over the country!)

Tax Cap Letter

New York's Pensions Working (Times Union)

Teacher Tenure Targeted by GOP Governors (NY Times)

Students Know Good Teaching When They Get It Survey Finds (NY Times)

Teacher Evaluations May Get a Video Assist (NY Times)

What is the Taylor Law?
 The Taylor Law (Civil Service Law Article 14) is a comprehensive labor relations statute covering all public employees in New York State.  It became effective in 1967 and does the following:

  • grants public employees the right to organize and be represented by a union of their choice or to refrain from joining;

  • requires public employers to negotiate with such unions concerning terms and conditions of employment of employees;

  • established impasse procedures for the resolution of disputes in negotiations

  • defines and prohibits improper practices by unions and public employers

  • prohibits strikes

What is PERB?

PERB (Public Employment Relations Board) is the agency established by the Taylor Law to administer that law.

What is the Triborough Act?

The Triborough Amendment to Civil Service Law 209-a (1)(e) requires employers to continue all the terms of an expired agreement until a new agreement is negotiated.  Before the enactment of the law, public employers were free to unilaterally diminish benefits as contracts expired.  Employees' organizations can violate Section 210(1) of the Taylor Law by striking or instigating, encouraging or condoning a strike.

What exactly does the term "tenure" mean?

Tenure is an employment status a teacher or teaching assistant may earn by successfully completing a period of probationary employment and then, upon a superintendent's recommendation, being granted this status by a school board. A teacher or teaching assistant who has received tenure has earned the right to keep his or her job, in other words, to be free from discipline or dismissal, except for just cause to be proven by school officials in a due process hearing under Section 3020-a of the Education Law. (School Law 25th Edition) Tenure does not guarantee a job for life. Recently it has been the focal point of anti-tax groups' ire; however, it can only be modified by an act of the state Legislature. The law was successfully reviewed in 1994, resulting in a streamlining of the renewal process.