A group of New York City parents has sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Commissioner of Education John King for withholding $250 million in state aid from the city’s public schools this academic year.
The penalty was triggered by the failure of the city’s education department and the teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers, to reach an agreement on new evaluations by a Jan. 17 deadline imposed by the state.
There are 11 adult plaintiffs in Aristy-Farer v. State of New York, and several are also suing on behalf of their children who are students in the city’s public schools. They claim in the suit filed this month that the lost money will deprive about 1 million students of vital resources, as well as their right under the state constitution to a sound basic education.
If the UFT and the city don’t reach a deal by Sept. 1, the city could lose as much as $530 million in total funding from the state for the 2013-14 academic year.
Last month, the state reported that 95 percent of districts, or 656 out of 691 districts, had their proposed evaluation deals approved by the department.
