NYCLU Supports Bill that Clarifies Mayoral Control of NYC Schools

“Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein use mayoral control as a shield to protect the DOE from transparency and accountability,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “This important bill makes clear that the DOE is not above the law and brings it in line with other city agencies by putting in place checks in balances over its authority.”

Under mayoral control, Mayor Bloomberg and his DOE have demonstrated an alarmingly expansive interpretation of power and routinely proclaim themselves exempt from laws and regulations that limit their authority, require transparency and provide for oversight. This bill – A7731/S5384 – would amend the education law and the New York City charter to clarify, for example, that the DOE is subject to:

• Community input – when the NYPD, for instance, proposes a new regulation, it is subject to a 30-day public comment period. Chancellor’s Regulations, which impact more than 1 million students, are not subjected to public hearing or comment;
• City comptroller, public advocate and Independent Budget Office (IBO) oversight – the IBO is the publicly funded agency that provides nonpartisan information about the city’s budget to the public and elected officials. But the IBO currently has to fight for information necessary to analyze any part of the DOE’s $21 billion budget; and
• City Council authority over non-curricular matters – every agency in New York City is subject to City Council laws. But the DOE currently ignores laws passed by the City Council, such as the Dignity in All Schools Act, legislation that twice passed the City Council and seeks to protect students from bias-based harassment, bullying and discrimination.

The bill would not address the fundamental tenets of mayoral control and preserves the powers of the DOE and the Panel for Educational Policy with respect to setting curriculum, delegating powers and duties to principals and other pedagogical choices.

“The mayor runs the school system as an unaccountable extension of the executive branch,” said NYCLU Advocacy Director Udi Ofer. ““New legislation must require the DOE to operate like other city agencies, subject to the same transparency, accountability and public oversight. New York City’s children suffer terribly when our schools are governed with utter disdain for these core democratic values.”