ALBANY – Mayoral control over city schools received final Senate approval Thursday – but not without one final dig at Mayor Bloomberg.
Before resurrecting major tenets of the mayoral control law for another six years, the Senate created its own committee with subpeona power to oversee the system.
Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) warned the committee will go into each borough and might hire auditors and investigators.
"We will do what has to be done in order to expose what’s happening at the Department of Education," Kruger said.
The panel was created even though the Senate Education Committee already has subpeona power and oversight of city schools.
The idea was hatched at the last minute and caught many lawmakers by surprise.
It’s seen as a way to get Democrats who oppose mayoral control to pass the bill while still taking a dig at the mayor.
The new committee will be made up of four Democrats and three Republicans. It will be able to subpeona data and force city school officials to testify at hearings.
Sen. William Perkins (D-Manhattan), a chief critic of mayoral control, said the committee will help counter the "dictatorial powers" Bloomberg enjoys under the current law.
"To the extent that this select committee has value, hopefully that value will be to curb the excessive use of the influence of the mayor and the policies that have shown themselves not to have been good for the children of the city of New York," Perkins said.
City officials said they were not aware the committee would be proposed until a few days ago.
"I don’t think anybody thinks that the Senate should be getting involved in the details of running the schools, and I trust they will not do that," Bloomberg said.
Senate Republicans supported the creation of the committee even as they admitted it will duplicate the functions of the existing Education Committee.
"It has more to do with their conference politics," Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Long Island) said.
Even several Senate Democrats questioned the need.
"It’s not like the Education Committee can’t hold hearings on mayoral control anytime it wants," one said.
The Senate finally passed the mayoral control bill by a 47-8 margin, but not before a sometimes ugly debate.
Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Queens) ripped bill co-sponsor Dan Squadron (D-Manhattan) for having a "vested interest with his wife working for the mayor."
The bill, which passed the Assembly in June, extends key parts of the 2002 law for six years while adding provisions for more oversight and parental involvement.
The 2002 law expired on June 30 while the Senate was in the midst of a month-long stalemate over a leadership battle.
The Senate also passed four minor amendments agreed to by Bloomberg.
The changes would create an school arts council, establish a $1.6 million parent activist training center run in each borough by CUNY, require each school to hold hearings on safety issues at least once a year, and gives more oversite to district superintendents.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has not committed to passing the amendments, saying only his members will consider them.
A number of Assembly Democrats say they don’t see need for the amendments.
Bloomberg, though, has promised to implement them administratively.
With Celeste Katz
