By Joe Williams
As he won control of the city’s public schools nine years ago this week, Mayor Bloomberg boldly promised: “We will not have to tolerate an incapable bureaucracy which does not respond to the needs of the students.”
Sadly, New York City isn’t even close to achieving that bold vision: We learned this week that only one in three city high-school graduates is prepared for college-level work.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s promise is being put to the test like never before.
As the school year winds down, City Hall and the United Federation of Teachers have ratcheted up an intense game of chicken over the future direction of the city’s school system. What schools will look like come the fall is anyone’s guess.
The mayor rightly wants to protect the key elements of his reform agenda — holding schools and teachers accountable for success. He’s staked his mayoralty on improving schools, and without the power to follow through in these areas, it would be difficult for him to accomplish much more before his term ends.
But the UFT, in looking out for its members, is making demands that will handcuff Bloomberg and future mayors.
And union leaders don’t even pretend to be working on behalf of kids. UFT President Michael Mulgrew has gone so far as to say he’s willing to forfeit hundreds of million of dollars tied to new reforms if they’re not in the union’s best interest.
Consider what the two sides are battling over right now:
* Can the city can close down failing schools that the UFT has sued to keep open?
* Can charter schools continue to co-exist with other schools in public buildings? “Co-location” has been one of the best products of mayoral control because it has vastly expanded the number of good school options for New York families.
* Will the union manage to veto the city’s effort to evaluate teachers using test scores, as the state has mandated?
* Can the city proceed with various turnaround strategies for struggling schools so that it has more options than just closing the low-achievers?
* Can the city lay off teachers based on merit rather than on a “last in, first out” basis? The UFT is adamant about keeping that rule — even though it devalues the vital contribution teachers make in the classroom.
For the mayor to back down on even one of these issues in order to cut an easy deal would be a monumental disappointment — indeed, a waste of all
he’s accomplished over the past nine years.
All those countless hours spent fighting to raise the cap on the number of charter schools, win the Race to the Top, improve teacher evaluation and re-up on mayoral control — everything would go out the window.
Agree or disagree with the approach Bloomberg has taken (for the record, I think he could be even bolder), his reforms have put the pieces in place to bring real change to the city’s schools.
But now the mayor has to close the deal — moving from the small, incremental reforms championed on his watch to fighting like hell for meaningful, lasting reforms that will properly and efficiently guide the school system for the next quarter of a century or more.
Bloomberg’s entire reform legacy is on the line. We’re either going to cut through the political paralysis that essentially drove the city’s education system into the ground a decade ago, or we’ll look back at the last nine years as a valiant, yet failed, effort to save public education in New York City on Bloomberg’s watch.
It all comes down to leadership now. The mayor who brilliantly won control of the schools nine years ago has a chance to determine, before this month is over, what he wants his education legacy to look like.
Bloomberg has spoken often about the importance of having a great system of schools in the city, and the sheer courage it will take to get there. For the sake of school kids and this city’s future, let’s hope that’s the guy who shows up at the bargaining table.
Joe Williams is executive director of Democrats for Education Reform.