Just a few hours after the State Senate failed to pass a bill to reauthorize Mayoral Control of public schools, the city took steps to appoint a temporary Board of Education – reverting to a system from more than seven years ago.
The board, which is made up of two appointees of the mayor and one from each of the five borough presidents, met early on Wednesday morning July 1, and quickly voted to keep Joel I. Klein as Chancellor of the newly-constituted board.
“Our first priority is to do what’s right for our children and comply with the law even if I don’t agree with the law,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at a City Hall news conference with the borough presidents on Wednesday.
Bloomberg’s appointments to the new Board of Education were Deputy Mayors Patricia Harris and Ed Skyler while Queens Borough President Helen Marshall appointed Deputy Mayor for Education Dennis Walcott as her appointment. Walcott will serve as the President of the board.
Marshall said Walcott, a Queens native, was a perfect choice for her, and she stressed that the appointments of the board would allow the city to remain committed to providing the highest quality education for students.
“We guaranteed them that their education will not be interrupted, and to me that’s the most important thing,” Marshall said.
For weeks, Bloomberg and supporters have lobbied for the passage of the bill, which the governor and Assembly both supported. Mayoral Control expired at midnight on June 30 after the Senate failed to vote on it.
“The current paralysis in Albany is not only making New York State government a laughingstock from coast to coast, but also blocking much-needed legislation,” Bloomberg said.
Some Senate Democrats have called for changes to the mayor’s plan, so it is unclear whether it would come up for a vote Tuesday night.
However, Bloomberg said that if the senators were to vote on the Assembly bill, it would pass overwhelmingly. At the board’s meeting on Wednesday morning, it passed a resolution that it will send to the Senate urging them to pass the Assembly’s Mayoral Control bill quickly.
“We all remember the days when everything was a battle, nothing got done and no creative ideas were tried,” Bloomberg said.
Although Bloomberg called the contingency plan “band-aids and not solutions,” he said the city will continue to do what’s best for the students.
“Under this new leadership, it might be temporary, but it’s darn sure going to be good,” Marshall said.
