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This Week’s Attitude
Public School Reform Must End Neglect & Waste Despite Tuesday’s declaration of victory by a few politicians in their bid to thwart Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s massive overhaul of public education in New York City, it was a minor setback to the school governance reform. The settlement of the lawsuit filed by federal, state and city politicians merely compels the reinstatement the 32 community school districts that the mayor’s proposal reduced to ten "super" districts. In fact, each district will subsequently only maintain three staffers. The 32 districts formerly employed hundreds, which only compounded the Board of Education’s bloated bureaucracy. With the legal barrier out of the way, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein can continue with their bold strategy to improve New York City’s troubled educational system, which was spotlighted with the recent release of reading scores. The results of the state’s standardized English Language Arts tests may have revealed overall gains, but it also demonstrated the mediocre state of reading levels in city public schools. There were slight gains posted in fourth and eight grade reading achievement, particularly among students in previously poor performing schools, but after examining the numbers, how could anyone but a cockeyed optimist be happy with the overall re-sults? More than half of New York City’s pupils are reading at levels below their grade levels! There was a citywide single digit increase from the previous year, but that hardly calls for any fanfare. It does, however, make clear that something drastic has to be done or some of New York’s children may be in for a frightful future. Exactly one year ago today, the mayor announced a comprehensive plan for the reform of New York City’s public schools shortly after the governor signed the legislation that was overwhelmingly approved by almost 200 members of the state Senate and Assembly a few days earlier. Under the law, the mayor assumed complete responsibility for public education for the first time since decentralization was mandated in 1969. Bloomberg and Klein began their revamping by overhauling the Board of Education, a precise example of bureaucracy run amok and an agency with a budget ostensibly more attuned to waste than education. That plan included reducing the number of school districts from 32 to ten Instructional Divisions, which was challenged last February by State Senator Carl Kruger. His lawsuit charged the city with "overstepping its authority" by eliminating the 32 community school districts, and violating the Decentralization law. When Bloomberg and Klein whittled the 32 local school districts down to ten Instructional Divisions, the chancellor asserted it was to eliminate waste and duplication of some administrative functions. Whether the court settlement restores that waste or the 32 districts will make a difference remains to be seen. But regardless of where you stand, there’s no denying education in city schools needs a revolution. Fixing New York’s troubled schools is not going to be an easy task. Nor is it going to happen this year. Or next. Nevertheless, if acceptable results are not discernible by the end of Mayor Bloomberg’s term, it could doom his reelection bid. Last year when he assumed the mantle of school governance reform, the mayor paraphrased President Harry Truman, emphatically stating that the "education buck" stops with him. If Mayor Bloomberg’s only half as successful with improving New York City schools as he’s been with his personal business empire it could lead to a first-rate education for public school students who have too long been victims of benign neglect and bureaucratic waste.
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