New Educator To-Do List
Here are some items to take care of right away and others that will help you prioritize and stay on track.
Rights & benefits
If your title is eligible for Teacher’s Choice funds, you should have received the funds in your Nov. 28 paycheck. To use your funds, you must save your receipts for educational purchases you made or make between Aug. 1 and Jan. 9, 2026. These receipts must accompany a Department of Education statement of purpose/accountability form that you return to your administrator by Jan. 16, 2026. If you receive the funds in your paycheck and do not submit an accountability form with receipts by the January deadline, the DOE will take back the money by subtracting it from the June 30, 2026 paycheck.
The Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) has introduced a Roth option in addition to its Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA) program beginning in 2026. Unlike a TDA account, a Roth option offers no upfront tax break; instead, withdrawals in retirement are generally tax-free. TRS members will now have the choice of investing their savings in the Roth option, the traditional TDA option or some combination of the two. You can log in to the secure section of the TRS website to learn more and to open a Roth account, but you cannot start contributing to it until January 2026.
Observation & evaluation
If you are a teacher who has not yet been granted tenure, you can expect to receive one formal observation and three informal observations this school year. (If you received a rating of Ineffective or Unsatisfactory for the 2024-25 school year, you will receive one formal and four informal observations.) Half of the required minimum number of observations must be conducted by Jan. 30. See key dates and deadlines of the evaluation process for this school year »
Feedback (in the form of in-person conversations, writing, email or other forms of communication) for any teacher observation that will be used for evaluative purposes must be provided within 10 school days. You should expect to receive a teacher observation report within 30 days of the observation. See the evaluation section of the UFT website to learn more. If you have any questions or concerns about observations, contact your UFT chapter leader.
Miscellaneous
If you work in a high school, the spring term begins on Tuesday, Jan. 27. High school teachers should receive their tentative schedule 10 days before — and their final program two days before — the start of the term. Teachers should be assigned to no more than three consecutive teaching assignments and no more than four consecutive working assignments (including professional activities). See more about teacher programs. If you have any questions or concerns about your spring term schedule, contact your UFT chapter leader.
Curious if you’re being paid what you deserve? Check out the UFT Salary Checkup in the UFT Member Hub. This new online resource helps teachers, paraprofessionals and members in several other school-based titles confirm that their paychecks are accurate. Launched in April, the tool will guide you through a series of questions about your experience, years of service and education to determine whether the DOE is paying you at the correct rate. If there’s a discrepancy between what you should be earning and what appears on your paycheck, the tool directs you to contact the UFT for help resolving the issue with the DOE and, if necessary, filing a salary grievance.
UFT professional committees are an excellent way to meet fellow educators who share the same personal or academic interests for social gatherings, conferences, workshops and other activities. Join a committee on the UFT Member Hub (you'll need to log in) to get event notices.
Staying connected with the union
Sign up for a UFT website account to receive alerts about union campaigns and the latest information about your rights and benefits. Sign up for UFT text messages to be the first to be notified about remote school days in nasty weather and receive other important alerts.