<p>August 28, 2003 -- Three thousand city public school teachers have just been booted because they flunked competency exams or failed to meet other criteria to earn their state license, Department of Education officials said yesterday.</p>
<p>The bombshell was disclosed as scores of teachers who failed the tests - some a dozen or more times - cried racism at a rally in City Hall Park, charging the exams are culturally biased against blacks and Hispanics.</p>