Looking ahead to the 2023
legislative session, NYSUT
is focused with optimism
and purpose.
The union is hoping to
expand on victories from the 2022
legislative session and continue the
fight to improve working and learning
environments for students and
educators, said NYSUT President
Andy Pallotta.
One of the union’s major pushes
this year is fixing Tier 6.
“We scored our first victories
toward achieving tier equity last year,
when vesting for Tier 6 was cut from
10 years to five,” Pallotta said. “Now
we have to continue our fight to stem
the ongoing teacher shortage and
get more young people to enter the
profession.”
Union members in Tiers 5 and 6
have significantly diminished benefits
and must work longer before they
can retire. “As unionists,
we know that something
that affects one of our
members affects all of
our members,”
Pallotta said.
Safe Schools for All
The
union’s
legislative
agenda
also
includes recommendations from
the NYSUT Safe Schools for All Task
Force. In addition to expanding the
community schools model, the union will seek:
- Access to more mental health
professionals for students. This includes
counselors, social workers,
psychologists and other mental
health practitioners and will ensure
students have access to critical
services and assistance without
delay.
- Union representation on school
safety committees. This will ensure
educators have input in safety conversations
and expand representation
on district- and building-level
teams to include at least one staff
person familiar with the needs of
students with disabilities.
- Passage of the School Workplace
Violence Protection Act. This bill,
vetoed by former Gov. Cuomo,
would include schools under
the 2006 Workplace Violence
Prevention Act, which requires
public employers across the state
to adopt a comprehensive approach
for preventing violence
against public employees. A
NYSUT statewide survey in 2016
found that 16 percent of members
have been threatened on the job
and one in 10 has been physically
assaulted.
“Public school employees
deserve the same protection
against violence at work that
other employees in New York
receive,” Pallotta said.
Higher education
While this past year’s budget was
a welcome change from austerity
budgets of the past for SUNY and
CUNY, these systems have been
neglected for far too long. One good
budget cannot simply erase the years
of harm caused by cuts and flat budgets.
The union must build on gains
made in 2022 and continue to invest
in and strengthen the state’s public
higher education systems.
NYSUT will seek:
- An additional $350 million each for
SUNY and CUNY for hiring mental
health counselors, faculty retention
and hiring, operating aid and other
necessary expenditures.
- $440 million in base aid for SUNY
community colleges and $230
million in base aid to CUNY
community colleges.
Additionally, NYSUT will urge
the Legislature to take action on the
following priorities:
- reform APPR to restore local control
over teacher evaluations;
- eliminate the receivership process
for school districts;
- build on the success of the New
York City class size bill and expand
statewide;
- continue the fight against the
expansion of charter schools and
enact reforms to hold them accountable;
- and ensure that year three of fully funding
Foundation Aid actually occurs.
We will continue to focus on
improving working conditions for
our members at public schools P–16,
along with making schools the best
environment they can be for students
to learn, Pallotta said.
“We look forward to working with
our partners at the state level to help
us support public schools as the
center of every community.”