Good day. It’s Tuesday. Today we will look at whether Mayor Eric Adams should retain control of the public school system in New York City.
Mayor Eric Adams’ control over the New York City school system is up for renewal in June. The state Legislature, which will decide whether to extend the mayor’s primacy over the nation’s largest public school system, appears open to revisiting a school governance model that was instituted in New York 20 years ago and has since taken hold. . Since then, it has been the subject of considerable debate whether mayoral control has improved the system.
I asked Troy Closson, who covers education for the Metro department, about the future of mayoral control.
The mayor’s control of schools carries a political risk for Adams, as it did for his predecessors: He can use his role to put education high on the city’s agenda, but he probably won’t be able to improve school outcomes. the exams, right?
No, but let’s take a broader view.
One of the reasons this moment feels different is that Adams is the third mayor to have had control of the mayor’s office.
There are parents and educators who feel it is time to take stock. They are well aware that some cities have moved away from the control of mayors. Chicago is in the process of doing that right now.
That has some families in New York saying what they might not have said a couple of years ago: that maybe it’s possible to have a different model here.
Mayor Adams is pushing hard to maintain control. He has also talked about how this is the first time a black mayor and chancellor have been in control and that he thinks it’s important to keep that in mind.
Does criticism of the Adams administration affect what parents say?
On the part of the parents, definitely.
Decision makers in Albany will likely look at the full 20 years New York has had this system and evaluate where it has worked and what needs to be improved.
How close are Adams and David Banks, the school’s chancellor?
The mayor and chancellor have long been family friends, so coming into this role, Banks was in a different position than other recent chancellors.
Recalling Adams’ first two years in office, the mayor said dyslexia should be a priority, along with improving reading for black and Latino children, and that’s what the chancellor has focused on.
That speaks to the power of the mayor to have full say over the selection of the chancellor.
Banks was a New York educator before mayoral control and has argued that after seeing problems with the previous system, mayoral control is the best model.
He has also tried to frame current frustrations with mayoral control as having to do with other administrations. School closures when Michael Bloomberg was mayor came up in conversations with frustrated parents and teachers, but there is also deep anger over Adams’ cuts to education.
Where is the mayor’s control over the state Legislature?
There hasn’t been a surge of lawmakers who seem interested in taking control away from the mayor’s office and moving to an entirely different system, but many lawmakers seem willing to have conversations about whether adjustments are needed.
In 2022, when Adams received the two-year extension of mayoral control that is now running out, it was tied to a new class size law. The city has been somewhat resistant to the idea of mandatory reductions, which I think has frustrated some legislators.
It’s also worth noting that when Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio were on City Hall, the teachers union never fully weighed in on the debate over mayoral control. Michael Mulgrew, the union’s leader, was in Albany last week and told lawmakers that he was not against the mayor’s control. But he pointed to places like Boston and Cleveland, where checks and balances exist. Basically, Mulgrew said that’s where he wants to go.
What does the union say?
Mulgrew maintains that the mayor should not select a majority of the Education Policy Panel, which votes on issues such as school funding and mergers.
He told lawmakers that limiting the mayor’s power would not have stopped initiatives such as universal pre-school or the chancellor’s plan to reform the way reading is taught, but it could have prevented the mayor from making unilateral cuts to education, as Adams did. It will be interesting to watch the union’s involvement. Mulgrew’s proposal would be a big loss for Adams.
How angry are the parents?
It is always difficult to gauge the mood of the entire system.
But a large group of parents felt that what most defined Adams’ first year in office were the setbacks and cuts in education. This has come up again and again in recent public hearings, where hundreds of parents have spoken out against the mayor’s control.
Furthermore, this is a difficult time for the system. Enrollment declined during the pandemic and the system faces difficult questions about budgets and space in school buildings. Therefore, when families look to the future, they want to have a say in what happens.
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kitchen windows
Dear Diary:
I often get up early to go to a 6:30 am gym class. I turn on the light in my kitchen, where the window faces the kitchen windows of the building next door.
As I pour coffee into my thermos, I see the man who lives right across from me in his kitchen. He’s also making coffee.
We turned off the lights, walked out the door, took the elevator down, and walked out onto the street at the same time. She has two terriers. We both say “hello.”
“It seems like you’re back in town these days,” he said one morning last fall.
Yes, I answered. We had spent most of the summer on Long Island but returned for the winter.
I mentioned I had new neighbors downstairs with two small children. (I can see that kitchen too).
Yes, he said, they are very pretty. The building has had a lot of turnover with new families, she added.
Ours too, I said.
We reached the corner, wished each other a good day, and I turned right toward the gym.
Fifteen years living opposite each other in the yard and we still haven’t exchanged names.
— Erica True
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Submit submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
