If the Democrats would have shown some spine and called the Republican bluff on school governance, the system would have reverted to the 1996 law which took hiring out of the hands of local school boards to ease the corruption associated with the old system. That governance system gave the borough presidents a check on the mayor's power with a representative from each on the Board of Education while the mayor only had two BOE members. Mayors had to work with people. It was far from ideal but better than what we have now.
Mayoral control started in 2002. The mayor has a majority of the votes on the Board of Education now called Panel for Educational Policy which is a rubber stamp body. The major justification for what is essentially mayoral dictatorship is that high school graduation rates have gone up since the mayor took over. This cannot be disputed however the method for increasing graduation rates has been to basically scare teachers in many schools into passing kids who don't deserve to pass while also creating easy credit recovery programs for students who fail classes. There is no evidence that I have seen to show that pupils are getting to college more prepared than they were back in 2002.
Is a suspect graduation rate worth all of the negatives that have come with mayoral control? What I see is higher class sizes, depleted school budgets, overemphasis on testing, the destruction of so many neighborhood schools, Absent Teacher Reserves shuffled throughout their boroughs, out of control patronage hiring, no bid contracts, a constantly reshuffled bureaucracy, lawyers, lawyers and more lawyers, scripted curriculum, one crazy teacher evaluation system after another and more.
Maybe I am just a jaded teacher.
Has anyone seen any improvement in the schools under mayoral control?
Democracy is no longer fashionable. Authoritarianism is more efficient.
ReplyDeleteAbigail Shure
Actually, while it's not an improvement, since de Blasio mustered the temerity to fail to approve a Moskowitz Academy or two, Cuomo pushed a law. Now if Moskowitz doesn't get space the city has to cover her rent. So mayoral control is only pure and unfettered as long as you support Moskowitz. If you don't, it gets doled out in dribs and drabs with little goodies for Eva's BFFs attached.
ReplyDeleteAnd if I recall correctly, our leadership did and said absolutely nothing to block this law.
After reading several stories this morning all I can say and all I can think of in my mind is just one word. Really, one word keeps popping in my mind all the time this morning and probably to be honest, all the time and that word is.......
ReplyDeletecorrupt
Dont worry, grad rates are at an all time high. And suspensions are down 40%. All is well.
ReplyDeleteJJ You should join Unity Caucus if you aren't already a member. We could use people who think like you at the AFT convention in Minneapolis. We are the beacon of hope for education.
ReplyDeleteThe worst, as I have seen it, was the change to school based budgeting. This was an ingenious idea by Klein to transform senior teachers from a secure, valued school asset, into an insecure financial burden. And the UFT was complicit in this sea change.
ReplyDeleteSTOOPID!
We at Unity call you ingrateful. Uncle Joel shook up the system a little to force you to actually work. Instead of thanking us for you having a job, all you do is complain.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started teacher I asked people whether this was a good thing and all people would tell me is "it's better than the Board of Ed." When I asked what this meant, no one would give me a straight answer. So is it better or worse? I've been teaching these past ten years, seen Bloomberg and now De Blasio and see just a lot of bad stuff. Real bad stuff. Lot of principals with almost no teaching experience and a lot of the same cronyism that happened under Bloomberg. I don't like mayoral control, but what is the alternative? I am open to suggestions.
ReplyDeleteHow about the people voting for the Board of Education as they do in the majority of school distinct in the state and country.
ReplyDeleteHow about the people voting for the Board of Education as they do in the majority of school distinct in the state and country.
ReplyDelete