The city’s teachers’ union called for a significant change in the operation of the New York school system on Monday, arguing that the mayor should appoint five members, rather than eight, to the 13-member Panel for Educational Policy, which could limit the mayor’s influence and control over education policy. þþThe recommendations by the union, the United Federation of Teachers, come as Albany lawmakers begin debating whether to renew the 2002 law that gave Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg control over the city’s schools, and how to change it if needed. þþThe union’s report echoes many of the concerns voiced by parents and other elected officials, calling for more involvement and oversight from people outside City Hall and Education Department headquarters. þþBut its proposed changes to the Panel for Educational Policy, which replaced the Board of Education and is largely viewed as a rubber stamp for the mayor, would curb the mayor’s power more than any other group has proposed so far.þþ“Frankly, none of us want either the status quo or to go back to a system that we railed against for years and years,” Randi Weingarten, the union president, said to reporters on Monday. “This is not shared decision making. This is a check and balance to make sure that policies are done wisely.”þþMs. Weingarten emphasized that the mayor and schools chancellor would retain tremendous power in the union’s proposed structure, having total control over the day-to-day operations while also forcing more debate for major policy changes. þþUnder the proposal, the city’s public advocate, comptroller and speaker of the City Council would become voting members of the board, or appoint someone in their place. Each of the five borough presidents would continue to name one appointee; the schools chancellor would become a nonvoting member of the board, which would change its name to the Central Education Policy Council. þþDavid Cantor, a spokesman for the Education Department, said in a statement that some of the union’s recommendations “would send us back to the days when making change was impossible.” He said: “The union’s proposal for a central, political board, with 13 members appointed by nine different elected officials but accountable to none, is an almost exact replica of the worst part of the old system.” þþBefore 2002, the mayor appointed two members to the Board of Education; the remaining five were appointed by the borough presidents.þþUnder the union’s proposal, Ms. Weingarten pointed out that the mayor would need the backing only of his own appointees and two other members to obtain a majority. She said that some of Mr. Bloomberg’s unpopular moves, such as changing bus routes in the middle of winter and abruptly changing promotion policy, would not have been approved had the board had more independent authority. þþIn presenting the proposal, Ms. Weingarten emphasized that a union committee spent nearly two years researching the law and talking to some 1,200 parents and educators. þþThe teachers’ union did not back a proposal made by the principals’ union, which would require that the chancellor have a background in education and could not receive a waiver from the state’s education commissioner, as both Chancellor Joel I. Klein and his predecessor had. Union officials said they expected that some members of their committee would also issue a dissenting report. þþ
Source: NY Times
