The State of the City (excerpt)
Date: Jan 30, 2002
Caption: In his first “State of the City” address, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for the end of the Board of Education and for the beginning of mayoral control of schools.
We must fix our school system. You and I represent all the neighborhoods of this city. Together we need to provide a school system that serves all our communities and all of the people of this city. Fundamental reform of our school system is essential if we are serious about educating our children. Currently the Board of Education does not work for teachers, parents, students or even for its members. It doesn’t work for anyone. . .
There are simply too many cooks over at 110 Livingston Street, each with their own competing recipe which produces a political stew rather than a sound education. We do not need more commissions, we do not need more studies. We have waited too long for change. It’s time to act. If anybody didn’t think that the time was now, just think what you saw in this Council with the number of people that stood up and said, enough.
I urge Speaker Silver, Majority Leader Bruno, their respective houses, the teachers, the business community and parents to work with Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and me to transform our educational system into a high-quality school system that we can be proud of. . . .
We must have mayoral accountability in education. Some people claim that mayoral control of the school system is just a power grab. I disagree. This is not about power. This is about accountability in education. . . . We do need to create more opportunities for parents to participate in our educational system, but local school boards are just not the way. As many of you know, participation in local school board elections is often less than 3 percent. That means more than 97 percent of the eligible voters are rejecting the current system of school governments by refusing to participate. The State Legislature has already agreed to delay community school board elections. Now we should seek to abolish these boards totally. . . .
We must remove disruptive kids from the classroom. We must strengthen teacher evaluation and training. We must improve teacher retention by focusing compensation on those educators just starting their careers. We must also give the principals the authority to match the responsibility they already have to run their schools so as to produce the results the parents want. Think about this: More than 40 percent of our public school teachers quit within the first six years. More than 15 percent of our teachers are not certified. And under current state rules, they will not be allowed to teach in September 2003. Even worse, we are not able to deploy our most experienced and talented teachers where they are most needed. The Board of Education is intrinsically incapable of meeting the educational needs of our children. It must go. . . .
When City Council members run for re-election in two short years, this time the voters will know where each individually stood on real reform. And the same is true for those of us with four-year terms. Rightly or wrongly, the public has clearly said, enough. They are saying, read our lips, eliminate the Board of Education and the local school boards. Then give us control over our schools through the mayor.
Categories: K-12 organizing
Tags: mayoral control, legislation
Item Details
Date: Jan 30, 2002
Creator: Michael Bloomberg
Source: Mayor’s Office of the City of New York
Copyright: Government document.
How to cite: “The State of the City (excerpt),” Michael Bloomberg, in New York City Civil Rights History Project, Accessed: [Month Day, Year], https://nyccivilrightshistory.org/gallery/state-of-the-city.
Questions to Consider
- What were Mayor Bloomberg’s criticisms of New York City school governance before mayoral control? Do you agree that mayoral control was the appropriate solution for these problems? What other possible solutions come to mind?
- Mayor Bloomberg made this speech in 2002. Today, more than 20 years later, what of his criticisms of NYC schools are still accurate?
References
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