In a shocking turn of events, more than 5,200 former Black and Hispanic educators in New York City are set to receive an unprecedented $1.8 billion in judgments after the city decided to abandon a nearly three-decade-long federal discrimination lawsuit.

The lawsuit challenged the fairness of the New York State teachers’ exam, which had proven to be heavily biased against minority candidates.

This payout marks the largest legal settlement in the city’s history.

According to an analysis of Manhattan federal court records, approximately 225 individuals who failed the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test for teacher licensing from 1994 to 2014 have already been notified of their settlements, with amounts exceeding $1 million each.

The exam was found to have violated civil rights laws, allowing a disproportionate number of white candidates to pass.

Herman Grim, a 64-year-old resident of Queens, stands out as the recipient of the largest judgment to date, securing a staggering $2,055,383.

This sum includes back pay, lost interest, and additional compensation.

Other top beneficiaries include Andrea Durant of Center Moriches, Long Island, who will receive $1,976,787, and the estate of the late Kathy Faye Bailey, awarded $1,875,119.

The judgments are calculated based on what these teachers and candidates would have earned had they passed the exam and continued working within the city’s public school system.

The lawsuit has potential to generate numerous future million-dollar awards, which will place a significant burden on taxpayers.

Under an agreement reached in November 2021 during the final weeks of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, the city consented to allocate over $1.8 billion in funds to settle the claims by 2028.

However, this is expected to be just a fraction of the total cost to taxpayers, as they will also be responsible for covering pension checks and health insurance for the affected individuals.

As of now, more than $750 million has been awarded to 2,959 of the plaintiffs, with some receiving judgments as low as a few hundred dollars.

The remaining claims are currently being evaluated by a court-appointed special master, whose fees have already exceeded $8 million, further adding to the city’s financial burden.

Additionally, the city must cover the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ fees, which amounted to over $43 million last year.

Critics are voicing their astonishment at this massive settlement, questioning how the city could spend such vast sums per student with little return.

Ken Girardin, a fellow and labor specialist at the conservative government watchdog group Empire Center for Public Policy, expressed concerns over the decision’s implications on the city’s budget.

Herman Grim, one of the beneficiaries of the settlement, expressed disbelief at the windfall, acknowledging his mounting debts but insisting that he does not seek to become a millionaire.

Despite being unable to cite specific examples of bias in the exam, Grim mentioned undergoing private tutoring during the early 1990s, attempting the test numerous times before finally passing last year.

Arthur Goldstein, a recently retired veteran teacher, criticized the former test as an unreliable indicator of a candidate’s potential in the classroom.

“All this money for nothing – nothing!” he fumed. “I’ve been teaching in … overcrowded classrooms in miserable conditions when we could’ve had more teachers working. Instead, we just have the city paying [money] for no reason at all. It’s ridiculous.”

The class-action suit, initiated in 1996 by Elsa Gulino and three other teachers against the former Board of Education, charged both the state and city with discrimination.

The case encountered numerous twists and turns, eventually finding its way to the third Manhattan federal judge who, in 2012, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, deeming the test a violation of the Civil Rights Act due to its disparate impact on minority candidates.

While the city claimed it had no control over the testing process and was merely following state-mandated licensing requirements, Joshua Sohn, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, asserted that the city was well aware of the exam’s discriminatory nature but chose to continue using it, thus perpetuating the lack of diversity in the teacher population.

The contentious lawsuit revealed that over 90% of white test-takers passed the exam, while black and Latino applicants experienced passing rates as low as 53% and 50%, respectively. Such failures resulted in demotions and job losses for many full-time teachers and blocked aspiring educators from finding employment within the city’s school system.

As the legal battle comes to an end, the landmark settlement provides a crucial step towards addressing the long-standing issues of discrimination in the city’s education system.

However, it also leaves taxpayers with the monumental task of funding these settlements and their long-term financial implications.

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New York Post