Politics in full swing as New York City children go back to school

While local schoolchildren were enjoying time away from classrooms this summer, New York’s parents, teachers, and politicians kept up heated debate about the city’s public school system.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s race for re-election to a third term in office remains the backdrop for much of this contention. In 2002, Bloomberg got rid of the city’s local school boards and put himself in charge of the public school system.

As Bloomberg’s schools chancellor, Joel Klein, CC ’67, has led the city’s department of education. His role replaced that of the 32 neighborhood school boards, which oversaw neighborhood middle and high schools and hired superintendents.

In the weeks leading up to June 30—the date that the state legislature had set for the expiration of mayoral control if it wasn’t renewed—Albany was ripe with conflict between Democrats and Republicans, and the law expired before a vote on the question could take place.

By default, the board of education from seven years ago, which was largely seen as a corrupt and ineffective governing body, was resurrected. But a number of the new appointees supported mayoral control of the schools, thereby indirectly maintaining Bloomberg’s control over the school system.

In August, Governor David Paterson, CC’77, signed a bill renewing mayoral control of the New York City public schools until 2015.

And while the dispute over mayoral control continues, so do many other seemingly irresolvable issues in the local schools.

Last year, New York state approved 100 additional charter schools statewide, and a significant number of them have been opening in West Harlem. Although these alternative public schools are new and offer experimental programs, many studies show higher test scores for students in charter schools compared to students in the neighborhood’s regular public schools.

Some parents say that charter schools represent an increase in school choice in areas with traditionally high dropout and low graduation rates. But others believe that the department of education should pour more money into failing traditional public schools instead of closing them and replacing them with charters.

The latest state standardized test scores highlight challenges faced in the public schools. Though some educators and parents worry that too much emphasis is placed on mastering skills needed to pass standardized tests, these scores have been an important tool for the Bloomberg administration to measure the success of mayoral control and to evaluate individual schools and teachers.

Meanwhile, the achievement gap between white and Asian students and black and Hispanic students remains a hot topic. While under Bloomberg’s control, the gap in passing rates has decreased but the gap in actual scores has not.

Tags: News, Jessica Hills