Monday, November 19th 2007, 4:00 AM
City teachers are quitting in record numbers, according to data their union released Sunday.
Teacher pay has increased by more than 30% since 2001, giving 83,000 city teachers salaries closer to their suburban peers. Still, the union says the number of certified teachers who left classrooms jumped 81% in the same period - to 4,606 in 2006, up from 2,544 in 2001.
This does not include teachers eligible for retirement.
"People are saying, 'I give up,'" teachers union President Randi Weingarten said.
She couldn't say whether these teachers quit the profession or moved to another district. But she blamed the exodus on large class sizes, poor teacher support and an administration at the Education Department that "doesn't listen to good teachers."
Deputy Schools Chancellor Chris Cerf rejected Weingarten's numbers, saying "at first glance, they appear to be erroneous."
He called her decision to release the data on a Sunday - when it would be difficult for the city to verify it - "a stunt."
Cerf could not provide numbers for the years covered in the UFT analysis. He said more recent data shows resignations were down 1% in 2007 from 2006, with retirements down 3%.
The union's release appeared timed as a response to Chancellor Joel Klein's announcement last week that he was arming the city with $1 million for lawyers to help boot ineffective tenured teachers.
