ALBANY - Gov. Cuomo is pressing Mayor de Blasio to resolve controversies over charter schools — including three lawsuits — before the state has to get involved, a source said.
"The governor is urging the mayor to settle charter school issues, meaning co-location and funding issues and the lawsuits so the state doesn't have to step in," the source said.
Rumor has it Cuomo's message came wrapped in a newspaper.
The DN goes on to point this out:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has said he doesn’t see a need to enact charter changes.
The question for de Blasio?
How much does Shelly Silver mean it when he says he sees no need to enact charter changes.
If Shelly's busy negotiating those changes behind closed doors with Cuomo, Skelos and Klein during budget talks, de Blasio got no leg to stand on in this fight.
And I suspect that is exactly what is happening.
If this goes down as you suspect, then it is high time to have the mayoral control law sunset. What good does mayoral control have when it now appears that unless you are a billionaire mayor with unlimited money to lobby you are in control in name only.
ReplyDeleteThey'll keep it for the next corporate-friendly mayor, but they'll declaw it for BdB. Next mayor, if charter and reform-friendly, will get the claws back.
DeleteActually, I read that situation differently. I see Silver holding the line. He has made it clear on different occasions that the legislature should not interfere with the mayor on charter co-location issues. I think Cuomo knows he is fighting a losing battle with the Assembly on this and would like to save face by having the mayor change his own plans. This way Cuomo can say he influenced the mayor in favor of charter schools. Cuomo has been retreating bit by bit because he can't get past the Assembly--which does not support charter co-locations. Remember, Silver and the Assembly put an end to all the LIFO madness a few years back.
ReplyDeleteSilver and the Assembly were only able to put the LIFO madness to rest because Sheriff Andy allowed them to do it, because Sheriff Andy had APPR coming, a system that allowed him to say teachers were going to be evaluated "objectively and scientifically," something that would make LIFO superfluous.
DeleteMayoral control was a law written with erasable ink. If you're uber-rich it'll stay. Otherwise, it can be completely erased.
ReplyDeleteShould be called plutocrat control of schools.
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