Agreement may end standoff in New York City over teacher evaluations

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders say they have reached an agreement to help New York City and its teachers’ union settle on an evaluation system and save the city from losing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. The New York Times says the agreement seeks to resolve a standoff between Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration and the United Federation of Teachers about how to assess the performance of public school teachers, as required by a 2010 state law. That standoff cost the city at least $250 million in state aid when it missed a Jan. 17 deadline to finalize details of its evaluation system.