Class Size Matters Testimony on Mayoral Control before the NY Senate Standing Committee on Education
PDF of this testimony here.
March 15, 2019
Thank you for holding these hearings today. My name is Leonie Haimson and I am the Executive Director of Class Size Matters, a citywide advocacy organization dedicated to providing information on the benefits of smaller classes. I am also the co-chair of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and on the board of the Network for Public Education.
I have opposed Mayoral control and have done so since its inception in 2003. Unlike others who have switched their positions depending on who is Mayor, I have been consistent in my views. Mayoral control as it exists in NYC is inherently undemocratic and provides no real checks and balances to autocratic rule. Unlike any other city agency, the City Council cannot make law when it comes to the Department of Education, except for legislation on reporting.
As a result, education policies and decision-making lack sufficient input from parents and community members and often result in damaging policies and unwise spending priorities. Our entire system of democratic rule, from the federal government on down, relies on a separation of powers. Can you imagine if the Governor decided to dismiss the State Legislature on the grounds that it was an inefficient governance system?
It is simply unacceptable and inherently racist that the only places where Mayoral control currently exists enroll mostly students of color. Suburban voters and voters upstate would never accept a system, and every poll that of NYC voters, as shown in our accompanying fact sheet, has shown that the majority of New Yorkers are in favor of the Mayor sharing power over our schools with another elected body. [1]
And we’re not alone in this. In Chicago, where Mayoral control was first instituted more than twenty years ago, the legislature passed a bill to return to elected school boards.[2] The top two candidates for Chicago Mayor who will be in a run -off in April both support a return to an elected school board as well.[3] Other districts where there is growing opposition to mayoral control include Boston and Washington DC. [4]
What is the record of Mayoral control here in New York City? Since Mayoral control was introduced in NYC, nearly 200 public schools have been closed, and our schools have been forced to share space with more than 150 charter schools. Overcrowding has worsened, especially at the elementary school level, and more than 550,000 students are crammed into overutilized schools.
We have analyzed the trend in achievement according to the NAEPs, the most reliable national assessments. When NAEP test scores are disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and economic status, New York City made less progress than any other school district other than Cleveland between 2003 and 2013. [5] Since then, under Mayor de Blasio, our NAEP scores have been flat or declining. [6] Though our graduation rates have increased, this has occurred in nearly every other school district in the nation CONTINUE READING: Class Size Matters Testimony on Mayoral Control before the NY Senate Standing Committee on Education | Class Size Matters Class Size Matters Testimony on Mayoral Control before the NY Senate Standing Committee on Education | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes