After months of protests by teachers and parents, Albany leaders would not endorse all of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's education proposals but they conceded to some significant changes, particularly on the teacher evaluation system, as pressure mounted to meet the April 1 deadline for an on-time budget.

The governor's office said districts would see an increase of $1.3 billion this year and funding would not be linked explicitly to a new teacher evaluation system, as Cuomo originally wanted. In return, the current teacher evaluation system will change, with many details being left to state education officials. Still, if districts do not enact new evaluation plans by November they could lose their state funding.

Here are some education budget highlights culled from conversations with Cuomo administration officials and the agreed-upon bill on the Assembly's web site.

Teacher Evaluations: Teachers who receive an ineffective ratings based on their students' test scores will not be able to receive an effective or highly effective rating overall. Likewise, a teacher who is rated ineffective based on classroom observations also cannot get a good rating overall.

Officials in the governor's office said these changes were necessary because teachers whose students do poorly on state tests should not be able to get higly rated, as they do now. They noted that 95 percent of teachers got effective or highly effective ratings even though just about one third of students statewide were proficient on the fourth through eighth grade tests last year.

Currently, growth on student test scores counts for 40 percent of the teacher's rating and classroom observations count for 60 percent. Under the budget agreement, the state education commissioner has until the end of June to determine how much weight to assign to annual state tests for grades three through eight, and to the high school Regents exams.

School districts would be allowed to add a second, optional measure for assessing student growth, something many New York City schools already do. 

Teachers' classroom lessons will  continue to be be observed by their principals or other administrators in their building, or even a trained peer evaluator. But they must also get an independent evaluation. This extra component was blasted by the New York State Council of School Superintendents and the New York State School Boards Association as an "unfunded mandate," because of the burden imposed on small districts in particular.

Ernest Logan, president of the New York City principals' union, also accused the state of ignoring the advice of educators by "hastily tinkering with an evaluation system through a political lens" for the fourth time in five years.

New York State United Teachers said its members rejected the evaluation system deal.

"It is an unworkable, convoluted plan that undermines local control, disrespects principals and school administrators, guts collective bargaining and further feeds the testing beast," according to the union's press statement.

Tenure: Tenure will now be awarded after four years instead of three, and only to teachers who receive a rating of highly effective or effective in three of those years. But they cannot get tenure if they get an ineffective rating in the fourth year. Also worth noting, tenured teachers are not immune to the evaluation system. If they are rated ineffective three years in a row, school leaders can begin termination proceedings for tenured teachers. 

Removal of Teachers: Teachers who received two ineffective ratings in a row can be brought up on disciplinary charges in an expedited process, that will occur within 90 days instead of the statewide average of 125.  A  teacher who gets three ineffective ratings must face the dismissal hearing. Teachers accused of physical or sexual abuse will be suspended without pay and go through an expedited hearing process, which is already the procedure in New York City.

Failing Schools:  Cuomo had wanted a state takeover of persistently failing schools. Albany leaders settled on a compromise system. Schools that have been failing for 10 years or longer will have one year to show improvements before the state puts an outside party in charge. There are about 20 of these schools in New York City. There are also 151 schools around the state that have been struggling for several years. They will be given two years to show improvements.

During that time, Chancellor Carmen Fariña and other local superintendents will have the ability to restructure and turn around the school. They can abolish positions and require teachers to reapply for their jobs, though they must take back at least half of the staffers in good standing and union rules must be followed.

Bonuses: Top performing teachers will be eligible for $20,000 bonuses.