SPECIAL EDUCATION LEGAL UPDATE
Legislative Bills
In the last few weeks a well known actuarial was quoted that fiscal notes he allocated to legislative bills were low in order to get the bills passed. This has caused quite a stir in Albany. Assembly Speaker Silver has put all bills in the assembly involving fiscal notes on hold. As of this date he is looking to have these bills recalculated. With only four weeks left to this session it does not appear much will happen by the end of June..
ITHP – Increased Take Home Pay
This was part of a NYC contract in the ‘60’s for educators to forego a raise in salary and increase their pension upon retirement. It required the educator to remain in the NYC system for at least 20 years.]
In the late ‘90’s it came to the attention of ESSAA that educators who relocated to areas outside NYC could not obtain the pension money that was rightfully theirs. ESSAA lobbied. We were successful in passing a bill to right this wrong. A timeline in the Bill cut off the rights of some of our members. As of this date Assemblyman Peter Abbate and State Senator Carl Marcellino have taken our cause and we are hopeful that a new bill they are sponsoring will grant additional pension money to all who deserve it. This Bill has a fiscal note from TRS.
Negotiations with Finality
We are well aware that the Taylor Law prohibits us from striking. However, over the years some teacher units have gone on strike when negotiations have been intolerable. Other units have had work slow downs to bring the Board back to the table to settle a contract.
This has not been the case with administrators. Some of our units have gone for two, three or four years without a contract. This bill will correct that inequity and give administrators the right to settle contracts through binding arbitration.
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