NY Post: Weprin & Montgomery Sponsoring Bill vs. Mayoral Control in NYS Legislature

ASSEMBLYMAN WEPRIN (QUEENS) AND SENATOR MONTGOMERY (BROOKLYN) SPONSORING BILL AGAINST MAYORAL CONTROL OF NYC EDUCATION
UFT OPEN TO CURBS ON MAYORAL CONTROL
Carl Campanile in the New York Post reported today that Assemblyman David Weprin and Senator Velmonette Montgomery are sponsoring a legislation in the New York State legislature to end mayoral control.

The article cites changes that New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has pursued:

Bloomberg has used the sweeping power to implement accountability and innovations — often over fierce opposition from entrenched interests.

These include tightening “social promotion” from grades 3 to 8, adopting a new school grading system, extending the school day for struggling students, and dramatically expanding choice and opportunity through charter schools and other alternative schools.

The Post's article left out endless tests, a mania for test-driven teaching, quantification of everything imaginable under the sun. It published some quotes of Weprin's criticisms:

But lawmakers pushing the bill to kill mayoral control counter that Bloomberg and his chancellors have run the schools like autocrats.

“The school system needs to be restructured. There is less community and parental input under mayoral control. There’s got to be a way to give parents more say in their children’s education. They don’t have that now,” said Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens), who is sponsoring the measure.

Some details of the proposed act:

The proposal would strip the mayor of appointing the majority — eight of 13 appointees — to the Panel on Education Policy, which replaced the Board of Education.

Under a reconstituted board, the mayor would have only four appointees. Each of the five borough presidents would have an appointee and the City Council would have four appointees.

And the board, not the mayor, would have the authority to hire the schools chancellor.

The mayoral-control law is not up for renewal until June 30, 2015. But the bill advanced by Weprin and state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D-Brooklyn) is an early bid to sway public opinion for what could be a bloody political battle.

Weprin added that the United Federation of Teachers "is 'very sympathetic to changes' and 'happy that there’s a discussion on mayoral control.'"