By unanimous vote, the UFT board approved a plan to put hundreds of teachers in New York City's Absent Teacher Reserve back to work. The ATR program, estimated to cost DOE (and thus taxpayers) about $155 million from 2007 through 2009, acts as a holding pool for teachers who've been 'excessed' out of work, typically due to school closings and restructuring. These teachers often have long experience in the classroom -- and the comparatively higher salaries that reflect their education and expertise. Principals, in control of their own increasingly strapped budgets, often see the merit of hiring younger, less-experienced and less-pricey teaching talent when new spots open. This plan rewards principals who hire seasoned teachers from the ATR, for up to eight years, if the teacher becomes a permanent member of the school's faculty.

Here's how it works: Schools that hire from the ATR will pay the teachers they hire the base salary for a starting teacher in New York City's schools. The DOE will pay the difference between that teacher's actual, prior salary and the new-teacher figure, and they'll award schools that hire ATR teachers a tidy 'lump sum' as well, equal to half of the annual salary for a new teacher. Teachers can also hire in on a 'provisional' or year-to-year basis, with a slightly different cash incentive. Schools gain experienced teaching talent and extra funds; teachers go back to work; the money spent on paying idle teachers in the ATR will dwindle (although it's not clear how much or how quickly, as there are about 300 fewer open teaching spots than there are teachers in the ATR).

In a time of threatened and actual education cuts, this agreement is more than welcome and far too long overdue.