Albany To Cut Bloomberg's Power Over NYC Schools

If there is one true thing about Michael Bloomberg, it is that he loves power. The "media mogul billionaire" status wasn't enough, so he ran for Mayor. Then as Mayor he helped enact mayoral control in his first term so that parents no longer had a say in the educational system they sent their children into. Towards the end of his second term he maneuvered so that he could run for a third term despite voter-approved term limits. While he's busy getting his re-election campaign started, he has his chief educational minion, Joel Klein, up in Albany so that he can continue to control the city's school system. There's just one little problem, everyone else is sick of mayoral control, including the State Legislature that has ultimate control over the program.

From The NY Daily News:

ALBANY - Several state lawmakers warned Tuesday they intend to soften mayoral control over the schools - and urged Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein to get on board.

"If you come in here and continue to say to us that the system is perfect - leave it that way, you're going to be very unhappy," Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) told Klein at a Senate Education Committee hearing.

Lawmakers seemed most focused on getting more parental involvement on the chief policy-making board, which the mayor now controls, as well as more independent monitoring of the Department of Education.

"Mayoral control has been a disaster," Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan) told Klein.

It isn't just the Senate that thinks that way, the view is held by teachers and parents alike. Despite the half-truths and outright lies perpetrated by Klein and Bloomberg, our city's schools are suffering under mayoral control and the Mayor's opposition has been busy busting the myths that city advertises on the subways below ground and the press conferences held up above. Now that the Senate is done with the M.T.A. (for the time being) they are ready to address mayoral control and chances are, they'll be listening more to the parents than Chancellor Klein.