This is what “equity” looks like: people cannot pass a teaching exam on merit, so they are handed one or two million in taxpayer-funded ‘compensation.’ The people footing the bill, of course, are expected to love this idea. It’s New York City, so maybe they do.
Failing the New York State teachers’ exam really paid off — especially for a Queens man who learned this month he’s getting a $2 million windfall over it.Roughly 5,200 black and Hispanic ex-Big Apple teachers and once-aspiring educators are expected to collect more than $1.8 billion in judgments after the city stopped fighting a nearly three-decade federal discrimination lawsuit that found a certification exam was biased.It’s the largest legal payout in city history.As of Friday, 225 people who failed the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test used for teacher licensing from 1994 to 2014 had already been notified they’re getting settlements of at least $1 million, according to an analysis of Manhattan federal court records.Court rulings found the exam violated civil-rights laws, allowing far more white candidates to pass.. . . . Herman Grim, 64, of Queens, on July 5 was awarded the biggest judgment to date — a jaw-dropping $2,055,383. . . . . Grim said he’s in disbelief but the money can’t come fast enough because he’s racked up serious debt on his Queens home and credit cards.He couldn’t recite examples of why the test was biased.But Grim recalled hiring private tutors and studying for it during the early 1990s, before failing many times.“I can’t tell you how many times I took them. A lot! A lot!” he said.
The lawsuit, originally filed by four teachers in 1996, claimed that the exam was “culturally biased” in favor of White applicants. According to the plaintiffs, more than 90% of White applicants passed the multiple-choice and essay test while Black applicants only passed 53% of the time. Hispanic applicants only received passing scores 50% of the time. A trial in 2003 originally ruled in favor of the city, but in 2012, a Manhattan federal judge found that the licensing exam violated the applicants’ civil rights because it did not assess “general knowledge, teaching skills, or competency in content areas” nor did it predict “competent job performance.”A federally appointed special master was later appointed following the ruling while the city continued to appeal the decision. However, by 2018, former Mayor Bill de Blasio began starting the settlement process by setting aside the $1.8 billion for payouts.Lead lawyer Joshua Sohn blasted the city as it continued, “to use the test to deny a generation of Black and Latino teachers a fair opportunity to be considered for teaching positions and deprived a generation of students of receiving the benefit of having a more diverse teacher population.”. . . . More than $750 million in judgments have already been doled out to 2,959 of the 5,200 plaintiffs with some individual settlements as low as several hundred dollars. Some payments also accounted for other compensations including back pay.
“Back pay”? For what? Jobs they were not qualified for and never held? I have no words.
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