Mayor Assumes Responsibility for New York City’s Public Schools

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the comprehensive reform of the governance of New York City’s public schools. Under the new law, the Mayor assumes responsibility for New York City’s public schools for the first time since 1969. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver joined Mayor Bloomberg as Governor George E. Pataki signed the historic bill at Patrick Henry Preparatory School (P.S. 171) in Harlem. The Assembly passed the bill on Monday night, and the Senate passed the legislation yesterday.

"Today we are making history," Mayor Bloomberg said. "This reform of school governance will fundamentally change the way in which we manage the education of our children. It will give the school system the one thing it fundamentally needs, accountability. We will no longer have to tolerate an incapable bureaucracy which does not respond to the needs of the students. We are replacing it with a governance structure that will give us the opportunity to fix our broken schools, provide our children with the tools they need to succeed in society, and finally give parents the ability to voice their opinions and concerns. I would like to thank Governor Pataki, Speaker Silver and Senator Bruno for working so hard to make this necessary legislation become reality."

"By providing the record resources our schools need, and the reforms necessary to improve our children's education, we will produce the real results that our parents and teachers want and deserve: A brighter future for our children through quality education," Governor Pataki said. "By enacting the most sweeping education reforms in a generation, we will improve accountability in every school, empower parents in every borough and provide every child with the opportunity to receive a good education."

"The Assembly Majority has long been dedicated to ensuring that every child in our state receives a quality education, and we recognize that achieving this goal requires resources as well as partnership with educators, parents and community members and other elected officials," said Speaker Silver. "We have been successful in our efforts to create a new structure for New York City school governance that incorporates these principles."

"This bill will bring accountability to the school system, give power to the Mayor and to the people of the City and improve the quality of education for more than 1 million school children," said Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno. "The Mayor, the Governor, our Majority Senators from New York City, the Speaker and others showed that an important measure that has been pursued for decades can become law if everyone is willing to compromise, negotiate and get something positive accomplished."

The new school governance law includes the following provisions:

• The board will consist of 13 members and will have the ability to set Citywide educational policy;
• The Mayor will appoint 8 members of the board, including the Chancellor, each of whom will serve at the pleasure of the Mayor;
• The Chancellor will report directly to the Mayor;
• The Chancellor will select the superintendents of the local school districts;
• The Borough Presidents will each appoint 1 member of the board, each of whom must be a parent of a child attending a New York City public school;
• The community school boards will be eliminated as June 30, 2003;
• The Mayor will appoint two members to serve alongside the Chair (the Chancellor) of the Board of Trustees of the School Construction Authority;
• The temporary president of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly will each appoint 10 members to a task force on community school district governance reform;
• The City will be required to maintain a level of appropriation for the schools each year, beginning in Fiscal Year 2004, determined by a formula based on the appropriation in the previous fiscal year;
• The U.S. Department of Justice will review the new system to ensure compliance with
Section V of the Voting Rights Act.