Education Update - July 2002

30 • JULY 2002MetroBEATEDUCATION UPDATESchool Reform: PuttingOur Kids FirstBY MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERGFor years, New YorkCity’s public school systemhas been floundering. And the heart of the problemis the lack of clear direction and accountabilityat the top. The current structure for runningthe school system promotes diffused, confusedand overlapping layers of authority. It createsclouds of uncertainty just where clarity ofpurpose is desperately needed.Mayors Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani and I have allagreed that this structure for running the schoolsdoes not work, and we have fought to change it.The Mayor should have sole control over theappointment of the Schools Chancellor, and theChancellor should report directly to the Mayor.That establishes democratic accountability—and if democracy can be trusted to safeguard oursocial services, police forces and other essentialservices, why wouldn’t it work to protect ourmost precious resource, our children?Now, thanks to the leadership of Gov. Pataki,State Senate Majority Leader Bruno, andAssembly Speaker Silver we stand on the vergeNew York TeachersBring yourteaching degreeto CaliforniaCalifornia is looking for talented teachers to lead ourclassrooms in grades K-12. Our school districts especiallyneed teachers in the subject areas of special education,math, science, bilingual/ESL and reading.In California, you’ll have more choices for school locations,teaching environments, climate, entertainment and places tolive than in any other state. And you’ll be welcomed withopen arms and minds eager to learn. CalTeach is yourone-stop information, recruitment and referral source forteaching jobs in California. For more information or to viewour online job database, visit www.calteach.com.1-866-CalTeach(1-866-225-8322)of a new era in running our school system. Thedetails of a new blueprint for running our publicschools are still being decided. But, I promiseyou this: the end result will be a system for runningthe schools that puts kids, and parents, first.We’re going to build on what works in ourschools. And a common denominator among allof our city’s most successful schools is strongparental involvement. We’re going to make surethat our schools are safe and orderly. We’regoing to make first-rate education the reasonwhy the city’s 80,000 schoolteachers come towork. And we’re going to overhaul the currentcrazy-quilt system of building, maintaining andmanaging school buildings.“The buck stops here.” That’s the sign thatPres. Truman used to keep on his desk. It was areminder to everyone about who had the ultimateresponsibility for success or failure in runningthe country. For too long it’s been too easyto pass the buck for our failing schools. Not anymore;from now on, the education buck will stophere, at the Mayor’s desk.#A New Era for City SchoolsBy ASSEMBLYMAN STEVEN SANDERSThe new school governancelaw, which SpeakerSilver and I spearheaded innegotiations with theMayor and his top aides, will dramaticallyrestructure the way the school system operates,and I believe it will prove to be a huge victoryfor the children and the future for our schoolsystem.As Chairman of the Education Committee,I worked intensively to negotiate the deal withthe Bloomberg administration to make the newlaw possible. We won a tremendous–—and veryimportant victory—by requiring in law that theMayor, who will now have central but not totalcontrol of the schools by way of appointingthe Chancellor and naming a majority of membersto a newly configured Board of Education(BOE) will be legally bound to sustain, if notincrease, the City’s appropriation for the Boardof Education from one year to the next.Also, I applaud the Mayor for dropping hisinsistence that he be granted absolute control ofthe schools and that there no longer be any formof central board. What we have achieved, in asense, is the best of both worlds: accountabilityplus continued public debate with parentalinput. It was never acceptable to the Assemblymajority that the Mayor—any Mayor—shouldbe given absolute autonomy over education policywith no vigorous public debate. This legislationensures that decisions will be made openlyand in a manner that includes the public andthe voices of parents and the community.Under provisions of the legislation, the Mayorwill have sole power to appoint the SchoolsChancellor, who will head a 13-member BOE,as well as sole power to appoint seven othermembers of the board. The remaining boardmembers, appointed by the borough presidents,must be parents of children currently in publicschool in New York City.This is unprecedented. Never before werethere any qualifications at all for any membersof the BOE, but now at least five —all of theappointees of the borough presidents—must beparents, ensuring that the parents’ voice will berepresented in each and every policy decisionmade by the Board.District superintendents will be appointedby the Chancellor. The board will no longerhave a role in day-to-day management decisionsbut will approve the school system’s budget,capital spending plan and citywide educationalpolicies and standards. The Mayor will alsohave sole control of the School ConstructionChoicesContinued from page 13total UPDRS score. Improvements were notedin quality of life and activities of daily living.Half the patients also demonstrated a reductionof dyskinesia [involuntary movement].”As one for whom the very act of walking hasbecome an extreme trial akin to traversing aAuthority.The plan will eliminate the city’s 32 communityschool boards on June 30, 2003, and theLegislature will hold public hearings in eachborough in the fall to get the input of parentsand communities to ensure their involvementand participation in the development of a newgovernance system at the community level.That process is expected to lead to further legislationcreating some form of local or boroughwideentities that will effectively replace theschool boards. The school governance planalso stipulates that the City may not reduce itscontribution to the education budget from oneyear to the next, except if City revenues decline,which has happened only once in the past 25years. Even then, if the revenue to NYC fromall sources combined drops— excluding Stateand federal aid—any year-to-year budget reductionof City funding for the Board of Educationwould have to be proportional to that drop. So aone percent drop in City revenue could be followedby no more than a one percent cut in Cityfunding for public schools.No Mayor will ever again be able to balancethe City’s books on the backs of our schoolchildrenor respond to a dramatic rise in Stateaid to education by actually cutting the City’scontribution. The Assembly Majority has longbeen dedicated to ensuring that every child inour state receives a quality education, and werecognize that achieving this goal requiresresources as well as partnerships with educators,parents and other community members.We have been successful in our efforts to createa new structure for New York City school governancethat incorporates these principles.Finally, because history has shown that it isessential that we have a chance to review resultsof sweeping governance changes, the new law“sunsets” after seven years, when we’ll have theoption to renew it or make adjustments. We’llsee what will have worked with Mayoralaccountability and what may need to beimproved.With the governance debate over and a newcontract in place between the City and theteachers, it’s time to put the focus back on theclassroom. All in all, I am confident that whatwe’ve achieved will—over time—make a differencethere, where it really counts.#Assemblyman Sanders is Chairman of theEducation Committee. You can contact him atsanders@assembly.state.ny.us or by mail to 201East 16th Street, New York, NY 10003.balance-beam, I read the news release withgreat hope and optimism. I discussed Titan’sspheramine with Dr. Masterman and believethe therapy procedure offers me the best hopeof living a high quality life. I’m bolstered inthis belief by the confidence of the drug companySchering AG, which is pleased withspheramine’s intial trial results and looks forwardto further testing in the near future.#