Thomas Carroll parses Cerf’s contract hints

Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability president Thomas Carroll thinks Christopher Cerf’s suggestion on the Brian Lehrer Show yesterday that Mayor Bloomberg has given up on building individual merit pay for teachers into the next teachers union contract was a carefully placed leak. In the community section, he asks what this decision could mean for the future of other potential policy changes.

Carroll writes:

This move ends any speculation about whether the Mayor intended to fight the UFT to open up the contract to allow greater education reforms in the City. Bloomberg, despite his vast wealth and Type A personality, apparently has no stomach for a fight with the UFT on the eve of his attempt to secure a third term, after earlier repealing the city’s term-limit law. Bloomberg’s apparent cave on teacher performance pay may signal a desire to get a contract agreement at any cost, which would mean other key reforms may be dead as well.