NYC’s Payout to Those Who Failed Basic Educators’ Test Is Obscene

New York City has begun announcing payouts in one of the city’s largest-ever legal settlements. From the New York Post:

The Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST) was used from 1994 to 2014 to determine whether teachers in the city had sufficient baseline knowledge in core academic subjects like math and grammar. But white test-takers passed the exam at far higher rates than black and Latino teachers. As a result, the city will now pay out almost $2 billion in back pay and other benefits to those who did not receive teaching licenses because they failed the exam. Some of the plaintiffs will even be receiving pensions as compensation for classes they never taught.

About the Author

Alexander Hughes

Alexander Hughes, a student at Harvard University, is a former National Review summer intern.

Featured Tags

New York City has begun announcing payouts in one of the city’s largest-ever legal settlements. From the New York Post:

The Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST) was used from 1994 to 2014 to determine whether teachers in the city had sufficient baseline knowledge in core academic subjects like math and grammar. But white test-takers passed the exam at far higher rates than black and Latino teachers. As a result, the city will now pay out almost $2 billion in back pay and other benefits to those who did not receive teaching licenses because they failed the exam. Some of the plaintiffs will even be receiving pensions as compensation for classes they never taught.