School Governance in NYC: Mayoral Control and Alternatives

I was chatting with an Adams staffer at an event and asked,

“What’s at the top of your agenda?” 

“This week, the possibility of a bus strike, and, of course mayoral control.”

Mayoral control may determine whether a second term is in the cards for the mayor; if mayoral control is not extended the vultures will begin to circle.

The mayoral control law sunsets on 6/30/24 and if no successor law is passed reverts to the previous governance system, a seven-member board, one appointed by each boro president and two by the mayor. The previous board was paid and staffed; the selectees had impressive resumes, ex., Dean of the School of Education at Brooklyn College, banking executive, etc.

In June, 2022, after hot and heavy negotiations the legislature reluctantly approved a two year extension with modest changes (See Chalkbeat description here and the key section,

THE BOARD OF  EDUCATION  SHALL  CONSIST  OF TWENTY-THREE MEMBERS: ONE MEMBER TO BE APPOINTED BY EACH BOROUGH PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK;  FIVE MEMBERS, ONE FROM EACH BOROUGH OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, TO BE ELECTED BY COMMUNITY DISTRICT EDUCATION COUNCIL PRESIDENTS; AND THIRTEEN MEMBERS TOBE APPOINTED BY THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

 The Board is unwieldy, 23 members and the desultory nature of the meetings depressing, the public gets a few minutes to speak, the non-mayoral appointees speak and the 13 mayoral appointees vote en bloc, with tweaks in the number of members and the composition of the Community Education Councils the law has been in place since 2002 and while on a few occasions the legislature came close to not passing extensions in the end mayoral control continued. 

The vast majority of the 14,000 school district across the nation are governed by elected school boards.

In the 1990s Boston moved to mayoral control and other cities followed suit. The Education Mayor (2007) finds,

… although mayoral control of schools may not be appropriate for every district, it can successfully emphasize accountability across the education system, providing more leverage for each school district to strengthen its educational infrastructure and improve student performance

Chicago, after 30 years is beginning the phase-out of mayoral control,

Starting in November 2024, Chicago voters will elect their first school board members in nearly 30 years, after state lawmakers passed a law backed by the city teachers’ union that phases out the mayor’s control over the city’s public schools. By 2027, voters will have elected all 21 members of the board

The Los Angeles elected seven-member school board represents geographic areas, is paid $125,000 per year each with at least five staff members each.

Nations Five Largest School Districts: (2016)

• *New York City Public Schools (1,081,000 students), Panel for Educational Policy – No compensation (appointed by mayor)

• * L.A. Unified (575,000 students) $125,000 (annual salary per board member)

• * Chicago Public Schools (330,000 students), no compensation (appointed by mayor)

• * Miami-Dade County Public Schools (327,000 students), $47,000 (annual salary)

• * Clark County School District, Nevada (323,000 students), $750 (monthly stipend)

New York is a young city, the formation of the city, “the Great Consolidation” (1898) was the culmination of years of political bickering, the “reformers” versus “machine politics,” (Boss Tweed et al) Read an excellent, and fascinating description of the in-fighting here, not much has changed.

The reform spirit resulted in the creation of a Board of Examiners, a quasi independent body, examinations were required for all pedagogical positions as well as supervisory positions, rank order lists promulgated and candidates were appointed to schools. The supervisory lists came under attack, in the early 70s Black and Hispanic candidates failed at a higher rate than white candidates and the Court declared the exams discriminatory (Read here), fifty years later the Courts are still enmeshed in the issue.

In the 90s the legislature abolished the Board of Examiners, the New York State Department of Education now requires tests and qualified candidates seek their own jobs.

For thirty years (1970-2002) Decentralization plodded along, a few highly effective, innovative districts and the poorest districts patronage pools for local electeds.

Bloomberg’s call for mayoral control was not opposed; Decentralization was seen as a failure. Over his twelve years Mayor Bloomberg closed 150 schools and created about 400 schools, mostly small middle and high schools and totally reorganized the system a number of times.  

Has mayoral control improved outcomes for students and increased professionalism for teachers?   In his final State of the City Address (Jan/13) Bloomberg was bitter and antagonistic towards the teachers union; his grandiose plans for molding the New York education were crumbling. His run for the presidency, 100 million dollars, never got off the ground, his recent $5 million contribution to Governor Hochul, pieces of silver in exchange for her attempting to eliminate the regional charter cap,

His final reorganization, Affinity Districts, actually was a progressive step, moving decision-making to the school level. Read an excellent analysis by Norm Fruchter here, and, the Affinity District, with 150 schools survives.

Some argue the closing of “dropout mill” high schools was essential and the creation of small personalized high schools is responsible for higher graduation rates others point to distressing high absentee rates and lackluster NAEP scores and the politization of education decision-making.

Bloomberg, de Blasio and Adams: have mayors created an effective system for all children clearly the answer is a resounding NO.

Alternatives to Mayoral Control:

• Allow mayoral control to sunset and revert to the seven-member board, one appointed by each of the five boro presidents and two by the mayor. To quote Madison:

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary

• Actual elections: one board member per boro and two at-large by Rank Choice Voting plus appointees: one by the City Council, one by the Comptroller and two by the Mayor, 

• A nine member board, five of whom must be public school parents, elected at-large by Ranked Choice Voting.

A caveat: in LA charter school supporters dumped millions into the elections and elected Board members, I fear dollars would drive the elections and I favor appointment by electeds.

Will Hochul fight to maintain mayoral control? How hard will she fight?  Will the legislature battle to replace mayoral control?

The first week in January Governor Hochul will make her State of the State speech and later in January release her preliminary budget; in 2022 she included an extension of mayoral control, while it did not make it into the budget the legislature reconfigured the Board (the Panel for Educational Priorities) mayoral control was extended for two years.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows.(and visa-versa)