Friday, March 26, 2004.

UFT President Randi Weingarten and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, speaking to the RA, gave Gov. George Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg a quick lesson in algebra or, if you will, Math A.

Silver called upon the mayor and governor to remember a successful education equation: "Reform plus resources equals results." The speaker chastised the officials for "shortchanging our state's children and schools."

He said Pataki and Bloomberg have failed to acknowledge an equity-in-education ruling from New York's highest court by supporting funding to provide all schools in the state with adequate funding - choosing instead to stonewall the court's efforts.

"The longer the governor delays, the longer your school goes without, and the longer your children suffer," the Manhattan Democrat said, pointing out that the two leaders had been able in recent days to set aside their differences long enough to broker a deal to build a stadium for the Jets in Manhattan.

"Children must come before football stadiums," Silver intoned.

"Change is coming," the speaker said. He said the union is in good hands with the "The Magnificent Seven" of NYSUT officers: Tom Hobart, Alan Lubin, Antonia Cortese, Ivan Tiger and Walter Dunn, Legislative Director Debra Nelson and UFT President Randi Weingarten. With the help of many, Silver said, "we will have a hand in constructing an education equation."