A tug-of-war is going on between the mayor and the local communities over who has control of the public schools in New York City. The situation has become more tense in Albany this week.
Att the State Capitol, Mayor Eric Adams has expressed his desire for an extension of his control over the city’s schools, though there is strong opposition toward his move to expand his authority over education.
Michael Mulgrew, head of the state teachers’ union, has lobbied with state lawmakers to cut back the mayor’s power over New York City schools.
With Mayor Adams recently making significant budget cuts to the funds provided for public schools in the city, and the latest decision to switch to online instruction on what would typically have been a snow day for students, people have begun to question his ability to deal with matters of education, administration, and funding for NYC public schools.
As a result of this, he was grilled by state lawmakers in Albany, some of whom suggested that returning to more community-based systems would be more viable than giving all the jurisdiction to the NYC government- allocating more control to local school boards and the board of education.
This discussion in Albany also came after the mayor received backlash regarding the shortage of food for students in city public schools- which occurred as an effect of the budget cuts- as the New York City school system runs the largest daily food program in the country.
However, Mayor Adams does have a powerful ally to stand beside him on this issue, as Gov. Kathy Hochul is also in favor of extending mayoral control for another four years and has endorsed the mayor’s signature reading program.
Yet, while in NYC the Mayor’s power over the school system grows, in various other cities across the country such as Chicago, education departments are trying to move back toward a school board system, which people argue affords more power to the parents and people actually involved in the school’s local community.
