WHEREAS, New York state law establishes receivership for schools that have been or will be categorized as “persistently struggling” and “struggling,” and based on the state’s accountability system, there will likely always be schools in receivership;

WHEREAS, 144 public schools serving mostly low-income students from Buffalo to Albany, Utica to New York City and Yonkers to Rochester have be placed in receivership; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has changed its misguided education policy, giving states the flexibility to design accountability systems that truly support struggling schools; and

WHEREAS, New York State Education Department regulations need to be revised to reflect this change in federal policy; and

WHEREAS, receivership undermines collective bargaining by granting the receiver broad power over staffing, budget, curriculum and programs, discipline, testing, class size, teaching conditions, length of the school day and year for each individual school in receivership; and

WHEREAS, the UFT is on record in strong opposition to any law that usurps union members’ collective-bargaining rights; and

WHEREAS, the state receivership law requires “struggling” schools to improve in two years but provides insufficient additional resources or funding to those schools; and

WHEREAS, receivership does not address the great inequality in funding for urban schools, but rather doubles down on affected districts by labeling them as failures and giving them one or two years to "improve" without additional resources in most cases; and

WHEREAS, the UFT is on record as opposed to the underlying premise of the state receivership law that removing local control of public schools benefits children; and

WHEREAS, State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia invoked the state’s new receivership law in November 2015 to give Buffalo Superintendent Kriner Cash special powers to bypass the union contact after the union and the school district failed to negotiate a special agreement regarding these five schools in 30 days; and

WHEREAS, under the receivership plan, Cash is being given the extraordinary authority to unilaterally lengthen the school day and year, have any or all the staff reapply for their positions, supersede the school board and make other significant changes without regard to the collective-bargaining agreement between the district and the Buffalo Teachers Federation; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT strongly opposes receivership; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT denounces State Education Commissioner Elia’s decision to abrogate the collective-bargaining agreement in Buffalo and to deprive teachers in these five schools of their rights and voice; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT supports Buffalo teachers and parents in addressing the root causes of chronic underperformance in these schools, including class size, teaching and learning conditions, and the need for wraparound services to help low-income students and their families; and further be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT will vigorously challenge attacks on due process, collective bargaining and other fair labor practices that are a consequence of receivership; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT will commit to the authentic and substantive improvement of all New York City public schools, particularly schools serving students with the greatest needs; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT will work to educate members about receivership as well as determine and advance actions to respond to the demands of receivership at the school, city and state levels.