The state Department of Education released a report on mayoral accountability on Tuesday.
The nearly 300-page report is calling for a shake-up in how New York City schools are currently run. Part of that change includes taking away some of the autonomy the mayor has on NYC’s schools, citing that the way schools are governed and student achievement aren’t intertwined.
The mayor of NYC has had extensive control on city schools since 2002. Some of those powers include appointing the chancellor of the DOE and most of the Board of Education members, known as PEP.
The report also lists community suggestions to be adopted in the future, like establishing a commission for all reforms, better plans for decision-making, and an intro to checks and balances in the current school governing system.
“A parent’s major concern might be that the mayor has the general interest of New Yorkers at heart… at the same time Staten Island is very different from South Brookly,n South Bronx, northern Bronx, it’s a big city,” said David Bloomfield, professor of education at Brooklyn College. “What the report asks for is some way to have more localized control without going back to the old system of community control.”
The mayor’s office says that graduation rates have skyrocketed and drop-out rates have been cut in half since mayoral accountability was enacted.