Photo Courtesy of Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photography Office
“The crisis surrounding mayoral control of public schools is entirely his own making,” Councilman Ulrich said of Mayor de Blasio.
By Michael V. Cusenza
As of late Wednesday afternoon, with a midnight deadline looming, no deal had been made to secure mayoral control of city schools. And at least one area elected official knows who to blame.
“New Yorkers have every reason to be concerned about the future of mayoral control, especially when Mayor de Blasio has lost the confidence of our leaders in Albany,” City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) said in a statement released on Monday. “The crisis surrounding mayoral control of public schools is entirely his own making given his fractured relationship with Governor Cuomo and members of both parties in the State Assembly and Senate. It’s shameful that Mayor de Blasio now wants to blame Republicans and members of the IDC for a political problem he created. While I certainly hope mayoral control is extended for the sake of our children, I also hope that New Yorkers will remember how we got into this mess in the first place.”
De Blasio and Senate Republicans have been quarrelling over mayoral control terms for months. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan has reportedly offered one-, two-, and even five-year extensions of control, but the deals come with demands, including tuition tax credits for private and parochial schools in the five boroughs and lifting the charter school cap.
De Blasio has said that State lawmakers should hand over the reins to City schools sans negotiations. The Assembly, led by a Democratic majority, has already passed a bill granting the mayor a two-year extension.
With the State Legislature set to adjourn on Wednesday, a return to the pre-2002 Board of Education days hovers over City Hall; and proponents of mayoral control have said that’s not an era the City school system – and parents and teachers – need to revisit.
Our kids should be above politics. Their futures can’t be treated as pawns in a political game. And the largest school system in the nation shouldn’t be used as legislative leverage. That’s why Albany must immediately reauthorize mayoral control. The question is whether it’s the right thing or wrong thing to do, and there is no doubt that extending mayoral control is to everyone’s benefit,” City Comptroller Scott Stringer said earlier this month.
On Friday, the Mayor’s Press Office issued a release featuring links to decidedly negative news stories “showing rampant corruption, disarray in NYC Schools without accountability of mayoral control,” straight from the Board of Ed era.
“Before Albany granted New York City control over our own schools, accountability was so limited that patronage, chaos and corruption were allowed to run rampant. The lack of oversight allowed:
• jobs to be sold
• for people to hold jobs they didn’t show up to for years on end
• money to be stolen directly from schools
• school board members openly admitting they would never send their children to schools in the districts they represented
• the hiring of drug dealers and gang members, including as school safety officers.”
