The deadline for the teachers union and the state Department of Education to reach a crucial agreement on teacher evaluations is Thursday, creating something of a tense atmosphere in Albany. NY1’s Zack Fink filed the following report.

Tired of unimplemented teacher evaluations that were passed nearly two years ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo opted to get directly involved by using the power of his office.

"SED and the union after two years have to do it by Thursday or we'll do it, which is an incentive. Second, if the local districts don't do it by the end of the year, they lose the 4 percent," said Cuomo.

The 4 percent is an increase in school aid that local districts would miss out on without the new evaluations. For New York City, that would mean the loss of roughly $300 million.

"Unfortunately, the relationship between the teachers union and the administration has gotten very toxic, and it’s made it very difficult for the two parties to sit down and constructively negotiate," said Larry Schwartz, secretary to the governor.

Since the 2010 law was passed, establishing a new system of evaluations, it has been tied up in litigation. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the law needs to be changed.

"Remember, everyone supported the 2010 law. I was not here. I did not support the 2010 law. So I have no prior authorship of the law at all. The mayor is saying he can't work out the appeals process. I don't think the mayor is saying the whole evaluation process doesn't work," said Cuomo.

But Bloomberg administration officials say there are in fact a number of structural problems with the law itself which must be fixed by statute, and that is "separate and apart from the appeals process."

"I think the evaluation system in the 2010 law is clear. It's a matter of how it’s implemented, how people of good faith come to an agreement on what's in it and what's not in it," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Speaker Silver asked the governor to get involved with the negotiations between the United Federation of Teachers and the city of New York. The parties have until Thursday to reach one or the governor will impose his own system of evaluations.

He declined to detail what they would look like.