Why Proposed New Mayoral Control Is Superior

I am very happy to see that the Assembly’s proposal includes the principles of transparency and accountability by making it mandatory for the city comptroller and Independent Budget Office to literally oversee and report to the people how the DOE was spending taxpayer money.

[Education]

I support the New York State Assembly proposal that keeps mayoral control of New York City’s Public Schools but with a new set of provisions. One such provision will mandate that two of the 13-member Panel for Education Policy (PEP) are public school parents.

This is something that I’ve long been saying – mayoral control of schools fixed some of the problems but locked out parents from the process. I fully endorse and support this Assembly proposal. It is time that we have parents return and play an important role in the education of our children.

The Assembly’s proposal would also require that the PEP hold at least one public meeting per month and one in each borough every year. Another provision I favor is that the proposal would give more power to District Superintendents and set up a mechanism for the city comptroller and Independent Budget Office to audit the Department of Education.

I am very happy to see that the Assembly’s proposal includes the principles of transparency and accountability by making it mandatory for the city comptroller and Independent Budget Office to literally oversee and report to the people how the DOE was spending taxpayer money.

That way these audits will be able to root out waste and corruption before they become endemic. The proposal also would require public hearings before the city decides to close any school. The mayoral public schools control law will expire at the end of June.

Stewart is a New York City Councilmember representing Brooklyn

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