About 85 percent of the state’s 227,000 classroom teachers and tens of thousands of other educators will return to school next week with labor contracts in place, New York State United Teachers announced today.

NYSUT, a 585,000-member union, said school boards and teachers’ unions in more than 60 districts reached new agreements in late May and June. Dozens of local unions affiliated with NYSUT are expected to ratify new contracts in the first 30 to 45 days of the school year, union President Richard Iannuzzi said.

However, 438 bargaining units representing some 75,000 kindergarten through grade 12 teachers and other educators are expected to begin the year under the terms of expired labor agreements, Iannuzzi said. Nearly 300 of the contracts expired June 30, but 97 ended in June 2006 and 43 in June 2005 or earlier. Major issues include salary, health insurance and use of time during the school day to improve student achievement.

“While negotiations can be difficult and, in some cases, contentious, we are generally enjoying a period of labor peace,” he said. “School boards and teachers’ unions see the benefits of cooperation and discussion in working their way to agreements that ultimately serve children and local schools.”

Nearly 90 percent of graduating high-school seniors took the SAT this year, evidence that more students than ever plan to continue their education, according to information released by the state Education Department today. The percentage of test-takers in New York is second only to Maine, which now pays for the SAT. New York has the highest percentage in the nation of students taking Advanced Placement tests and scoring a 3 or better on a scale of 1 to 5.

There were marked increases in the numbers of minority groups that took the SAT —15 percent higher or Hispanics and 10 percent more for black students. The same was true for the AP exams, and for minorities scoring a 3 or better on them.

But not all the news is good. Scores on the SAT’s critical reading (formerly called verbal) and math sections declined several points each. That mirrored the experience on the national level.

“More students than ever before from all backgrounds plan to go to college, and that is especially true among African-American and Hispanic students. This is a good thing,” state Education Commissioner Richard Mills said in a statement. “AP scores improved, but the average SAT score fell. With the new resources provided for the next school year, schools can help students be better prepared.”

The majority of students who go to college attend institutions in New York, Mills said.

   This may come as something of a shock, but it’s been 20 years since the New York started its “shock incarceration’’ program, designed to steer petty criminals and drug addicts away from lives of crime with a combination of rigorous exercise and quasi-military discipline.    The prison system will mark the occasion on Wednesday, Sept. 5, with ceremonies and speeches at the  Monterey Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility, which is near Elmira in southwest Schuyler County. Several graduates of the shock program will speak during the program, which will start with current inmates doing a military-style “pass in review’’ for visitors.       The state Department of Corrections says the program has saved the state more than $1 billion in the last two decades by shortening prison stays and reducing the number of inmates who return to prison after they’re released. The state shock program has been rated among the best of its kind in the country, according to a prison spokesman.

In the latest Troopergate development, GOP leaders are upset that Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s suspended communications director, Darren Dopp, will be put back on the payroll. Investigations continue into the actions of Dopp and others over the release of information meant to damage Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County.

State Inspector General Kristine Hamann has agreed to speak about her investigation of Troopergate at the Senate Investigation Committee’s next meeting, Sept. 6.

Spitzer is fighting a federal government ruling he said would hinder the state’s efforts to provide health insurance to every child.

Former President Bill Clinton made the rounds in Rochester, Buffalo and Albany yesterday to raise money for his wife’s presidential bid. The fundraisers for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton were closed to the media.

U.S. Rep. John R. Kuhl Jr., R-Hammondsport, Steuben County, ordered his staff to lock the doors to his three district offices to keep out anti-war protesters.

In Plattsburgh, a city councilor is creating controversy with his campaign signs—in which he uses the Spanish slang word for testicles to convey that he has guts.

 State Inspector General Kristine Hamann is set to become the first top Spitzer administration official to answer questions in public about “Troopergate,’’ the scandal involving misuse of the State Police to try to harm Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

    Hamann agreed late yesterday to appear before the Senate Investigations Committee a week from Thursday to answer questions about whether laws need to be changed to strengthen her office.

   Hamann is sure to be questioned about her decision to suspend a probe into “Troopergate’’ after it became obvious that her boss, governor’s secretary Richard Baum, may have been involved.

   She said she concurred with the findings of a parallel investigation into the matter by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, but never issued a separate report or issued any other findings.

Compared to other states, New York’s credit is run-of-the-mill, according to a report put out today by Standard and Poors rating agency.

And that’s actually good news. For years, before the Wall Street boom gave a big boost to state finances, New York was near the bottom of the list of states in terms of creditworthiness.

The list put out today by Standard and Poor’s ranks New York as “AAStable,’’ the same as 23 other states. Twenty-one had higher ratings and only six worse. Those with the highest rating, AAA, include Missouri, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.Among the lowest rated: California and Louisiana. The ratings are used by investors to help them decide how sure they are of getting back the money they loan to states. Lower ratings mean higher interest rates, since they’re riskier investments. States virtually never default, however, since they can always raise taxes to pay their bills.

    The state Tax Department today started sending out information to taxpayers in nine counties in the western and central parts of the state on how they can apply for a property-tax rebate.    The mailings to 199,300 homeowners in Cayuga, Livingston, Onondaga, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, and Yates Counties will continue through Friday.     Mailing to the state’s nine westernmost counties – Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming – began August 20 and runs through tomorrow.      The mailings are moving east, and will be completed by the end of September. Checks will be mailed out before the end of the year.    Unlike other STAR benefits, taxpayers have to apply for this one, which totals $1.3 billion, because it is based on income. All homeowners with annual incomes of under $250,000 will get some benefit.    Homeowners 65 or older who receive the enhanced STAR exemption do not need to apply. These homeowners get their STAR rebate checks automatically.   Why, may you ask, were the taxes collected in the first place if they’re just going to be refunded? The short answer: People hate property taxes more than income taxes, so the collection-and-refund scheme is politically expedient.  For more information about the program,  visit the Tax Department’s website at www.nystax.gov or call the STAR hotline at 1-877-678-2769. .

Gov. Eliot Spitzer is preparing to put Darren Dopp, his suspended communications director and one of the architects of what has become the “Spitzergate” scandal, back on the public payroll.

Assembly Republicans want equal funding for their staffing, just as Senate Democrats, who are also in the minority, want equal treatment.

“Smart” electric meters that could help customers save money by doing chores like laundry and dishes in off-peak hours are in the works.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York are defending their use of earmarks—also known as pork.

A hedge fund that handles $100 million in New York pension funds paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in referral fees to a company with ties for disgraced former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s top consultant.

Laws to allow time off for breast-cancer screening and blood donations and require signs to point out defibrillator locations are among the new mandates that will affect schools this year.

 Jewelry with high levels of lead is available in 12 counties across the state, a wildlife pathologist and environmantalists said today.

  The jewelry could be dangerous, and the state needs to take action to eliminate the threat, they said.

    The environmentalists and pathologist plan to spell out their findings and demand state action at a press conference next Tuesday. Their action follows recent recalls of toys made in China that contained lead paint.

   Is the state holding some of your money that disappeared when a bank account was abandoned or you’re an heir and don’t know it?

  That’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

   Tomorrow, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who collects such unclaimed funds, plans to present a check for more than $13,000 at the State Fair in Syracuse to an Onondaga County woman.

   Overall, the state has $8 billion in unclaimed funds. To find out it you’re owed any, go to www.osc.state.ny.us/ouf/index.htm or by call  1-800 221-9311.

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