Time to Reform Mayoral Control
On May 12, a Quinnipiac poll was released showing that two to one, New York City voters believe that the mayor should share control over our public schools with other elected officials. On Tuesday, Public Advocate Letitia James issued a report, calling for improvements to ensure sufficient checks and balances and more parent input in school governance. We agree.
We belong to NYC Kids PAC, an organization of experienced parent leaders and advocates that recently released an education report card for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Despite numerous pledges made during his campaign to be more transparent , more accountable, and to empower parents, we found that the mayor has not fulfilled many of his promises in these areas. Our findings provide convincing evidence that the current system of mayoral control needs to be reformed.
The grades the Mayor received were decidedly mixed, ranging from “A” and “A-“ on cell phones, school closings, and arts education; to a “B” on testing; and a “D” on co-locations, parent engagement and special education. He received an “F” on class size, transparency and accountability, and diversity.
Mayoral control has also led to little actual progress in student learning. Class Size Matters analyzed the change in student test scores on the NAEPs, the most reliable of all standardized exams, given by the federal government to a random sample of students in the ten largest school districts. When gains in student test scores since mayoral control are disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and economic status, it is apparent that New York City schools come out second to last in improved performance.
While it is often argued that under the previous system there was waste and corruption, in February the Department of Education proposed a $650 million contract be given to Computer Consultant Services, a company that had been involved in a kick-back scheme just a few years ago. A special investigator had found that the company defrauded the DOE of millions of dollars by inflating its billing. Only after the Panel for Educational Policy approved this new contract and the media raised a ruckus did City Hall cancel it.
The city’s education budget is no more transparent than under Bloomberg, according to the Independent Budget Office. Freedom of Information requests are responded to no more quickly, and the DOE still refuses to provide accurate figures on how many kids are housed in trailers, including thousands of high school students and hundreds of students with disabilities who attend classes in these substandard structures. A task force appointed by the DOE made recommendations in December to improve the accuracy of the school utilization formula used to assess overcrowding, but these proposals have still not been released.
In January, the DOE claimed in court that School Leadership Teams, composed of half Time to Reform Mayoral Control: