WNY districts may miss out on funding

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Time is running out for two local school districts. Money and jobs are on the line if the state doesn’t approve their teacher evaluation plans by Thursday, January 17th.

Here’s where they stand so far:

Buffalo School Superintendent Dr. Pamela Brown said the district and teachers union agreed on a plan Tuesday night. Now the state education department is reviewing it. If the state doesn’t approve their plan, the district could lose $33 million in state aid and jobs could be cut.

The Hamburg School District submitted their plan but the teachers union said negotiations with the district is at an impasse.  If the plan isn’t approved by the state Hamburg schools could lose out on $450,000 in state aid.

The North Collins School District was also at risk of missing the deadline, but they were approved on Tuesday.

“We have informally been working with the state for a few months now since October going back and forth. We had open dialog and we’ve been working very collaboratively with our teachers union and my two principles and myself building this from the ground up. It was time consuming in that we didn’t make any moves or decisions unless all parties were involved with the process,” said Benjamin Halsey, North Collins Superintendent.

Halsey said after the state approved their plan shortly after they it was resubmitted. Buffalo School officials said they hope their plan is approved by Wednesday afternoon.

A spokeswoman for the State Education Department said they have plenty of people on staff to review the resubmission as they come in. They said documents will be looked at quickly, but they will not sacrifice quality for speed.