Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents, spoke out for the first time Thursday night about the city's inability to come an agreement on teacher evaluations and the resulting loss of of hundreds of millions of dollars in education aid.

The city and the teachers union blew the January 17 deadline to strike an evaluation deal, and Governor Andrew Cuomo is now considering a state-imposed system if a deal isn't struck before further funds are lost.

Tisch said that while she is very disappointed about the loss of money, she would rather not see the state have to step in.

"If the city does not get to yes, they will give the state education department the authority to impose an evaluation system," Tisch said. "We will use that authority to impose an evaluation system, but our preference, and I would like to underline, our preference, is that the city get to yes without the imposition of a system."

The new deadline for a deal to avoid state intervention is September 1.