By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent a good portion of his 12 years in office battling the United Federation of Teachers, the local teachers union.

There’s a chance Bloomberg will still be a thorn in the UFT’s side even after he leaves office at the end of December.

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GothamSchools.org reports that Bloomberg’s Department of Education is crafting long-term plans that will allow charter schools to share building space with traditional government-run schools. Such space-sharing practices are known as “co-locations.”

Co-locations are an important tool for charter schools, which often can’t find or afford appropriate space to set up shop.

Some of the DOE’s co-location plans won’t take effect until 2015, long after Bloomberg has moved on.

But the UFT hates charters schools, which typically hire non-union teachers, and it bitterly opposes the co-locations.

The powerful teachers union planned to officially file a lawsuit against the DOE on Thursday, asking a judge to stop the city from carrying out any of its long-range plans, including those that benefit charter schools, GothamSchools.org reports.

The space-sharing plans are an attempt “to bind the next mayoral administration to the same failed education agenda as Bloomberg’s,” claims the UFT.

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Bloomberg only has five months left in office, but it appears he’ll keep fighting the UFT until the last possible moment for sensible policies that benefit the city’s students.

And for that, he deserves major kudos from New York’s families and taxpayers.