Is Mayor Adams truly in charge of NYC public schools?
The Legislature’s latest changes to the mayoral-control law leave Mayor Adams’ authority over the city Department of Education in a precarious position — and that was the intention.
Together with similar amendments made by the same lawmakers two years ago, it ensures that decisions made by Adams’ schools chancellor, David Banks, will frequently be obstructed by the Panel for Education Policy, which must authorize many crucial actions.
Professor David Bloomfield from CUNY Graduate Center referred to the plan as a “putrid kettle of fish cooked up by the Legislature.”
In 2022, lawmakers restricted Adams to selecting only 13 out of the 23 PEP members, in addition to stripping him of the power to replace his nominees at his discretion.
This year, they have reduced it to 13 out of 24, slightly over half — by adding a new independent voting member who will lead the panel.
The mayor is given the authority to select the chairman or chairwoman, but only from candidates nominated by the state Senate, Assembly, and Board of Regents (whose members are appointed by the Legislature and effectively by the Assembly speaker).
Essentially, this means that no one will be nominated to chair the PEP without approval from the city United Federation of Teachers, which essentially dictates the Legislature on these matters.
The chairperson will preside over the meetings, regardless of the opinions of other PEP members, which holds immense power in determining the agenda.
In the original mayoral-control law, the PEP (particularly its chair) was meant to support the mayor and chancellor; now, they will struggle to get their agenda approved, let alone voted on.
Unless City Hall ensures that every one of the mayor’s PEP selections is a steadfast loyalist (rather than a rational voice that may dissent occasionally), the panel will frequently go against the norm: UFT lobbying and coercion are anticipated to be constant.
Even without the new chair, the UFT successfully influenced the PEP to reject DOE decisions concerning granting available space to charter schools for expansion last year.
This marks the culmination of the UFT’s long-standing effort to undermine mayoral control, which has gained momentum with the ascension of progressives in the Legislature.
We’re on the verge of reverting to the era of the old Board of Education, where there was no one to hold accountable for failing schools — leading to a plethora of such institutions in the city.
However, the Legislature is now intermittently micro-managing the DOE, as evidenced by the new PEP-chair tactic and the “class size” law — which will downgrade the quality of the teacher workforce for the city’s most vulnerable students, among other negative impacts, while primarily benefiting the UFT.
UFT puppets like Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bx) and state Sen. John Liu (D-Queens) will persist until someone is held accountable for their actions.
Mayoral control was always about ensuring someone had the power and motivation to demand accountability from teachers, principals, and the sluggish education bureaucracy.
The Legislature has progressively transformed this into an unattainable dream.
Parents and voters exasperated with the state of schools find themselves obliged to commute up I-87 north to voice their concerns to Albany.
