NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL GOVERNANCE AND MAYORAL CONTROL

As the current debate over school governance joins the universe of public education to the operation of city government, we are recommending a series of proposals which we believe will assure quality education for all of the city's children by embracing the principles of accountability, transparency and parental and community involvement in the development of policy and programs.

Accountability:

• The Department of Education should be treated as a mayoral agency, subject to the provisions of the New York City Charter, and in full compliance with the educational standards and mandates of the State Education Law and the Board of Regents.
• The Mayor should appoint a Chancellor to be the chief operating officer of the Department of Education and Chair of the Panel for Educational Policy.
• The Panel for Educational Policy, designated in the Education Law as the Board of Education, advises the Chancellor on matters affecting the welfare of the city school district and its pupils. Among its responsibilities are the following: "approve standards, policies, objectives and regulations proposed by the Chancellor directly related to educational achievement and student performance … approve contracts that would significantly impact the provision of educational services or programming … approve the Capital Plan proposed by the Chancellor after consultation with the Community District Education Councils." *
• The Panel for Educational Policy should have thirteen to fifteen voting members appointed by the Mayor, the Borough Presidents and the Public Advocate. Each of the voting members should serve a fixed term of two or more years. There should continue to be two non-voting representatives of Student Advisory Councils.
• The Comptroller of the City of New York should have full authority to conduct programmatic and fiscal audits and investigate all matters relating to the finances of the Department of Education.
• The 2009 law authorizing Mayoral Control of public education in New York City should sunset in 2015.

Transparency:

• The Independent Budget Office should evaluate Department of Education data on testing, graduation rates and student populations and prepare and issue regular reports to the public.
• The Department of Education must follow the rules and regulations of the Procurement Policy Board including, but not limited to, publicly advertising, contract opportunities and holding hearings on non-competitively bid contracts.
• All meetings of the Panel on Educational Policy and the Community Education Councils should be public and subject to the state and city public meeting laws. Agendas should be published on the Board's web site and meetings web cast.

Parent and Community Involvement:

• The ability of parents to be engaged in the local schools must be strengthened, possibly through reinvigorated school and district leadership teams made up of parents, teachers and school administrators.
• Community Education Councils should be consulted before any school --traditional or charter -- elementary, middle or high school is opened, closed, consolidated, restructured or renamed within the district. Community Education Councils should also be consulted on the appointment of Community Superintendents for each community school district. The Community Superintendent shall be responsible and accountable for all of the schools in that district.
• A Parent Advocacy Center, not affiliated with the DOE, should be established and funded, with personnel available throughout the city to assist parents in handling grievances and seeking services appropriate for their children's education.

*Excerpted from the By-Laws of the Panel for Educational Policy, Article I, Sec.1.2 on the Department of Education website.