Urgent! send a message to your legislators now – no backdoor deal on mayoral control!

April 15, 2024

Last week the State Education Department released an excellent report, summarizing the public testimony at the borough hearings and in writing on Mayoral control, and analyzing our NYC school governance system compared to others across the country. The report contained recommendations about how the system should be changed, by giving more voice to parents and other stakeholders, revamping the composition of the Panel for Educational Policy, and establishing a Commission to propose more fundamental changes.

Then this afternoon, there was a lot of chatter on Twitter and elsewhere that a deal was imminent to give Adams two more years of mayoral control in the budget, in exchange for some minor tweaks and concessions on class size. Yet soon after, Governor Hochul held a press conference and said no deal on Mayoral control has yet been finalized.

So it’s urgent: please send a message to your Legislators tonight; urge them to provide more checks and balances, transparency and parent voice in the running of our schools – because twenty years of Mayoral control has NOT worked for NYC students. If you’re not convinced, check out our point by point rebuttal of DOE talking points put out over the weekend; and an explanation of how the system has failed in terms of real accountability here.

But please send an email to your legislators tonight — before its too late.

And share this message with others who care.

thanks, Leonie