What Happened To Mayoral Control Of NYC Schools?

Funny how when a pro-school privatization mayor was in power in NYC, the corporatists were all in favor of mayoral control of NYC schools, but now that a mayor less aligned with the privatization movement is in power, the corporatists are doing everything they can to undercut it.

First the charter school criminals/entrepreneurs got Governor Cuomo, their favored donation target, to force NYC to either find space for every charter school in a NYC school building or pay rent for said charter school in private space.

So far, the city is on the hook for a few million dollars for two charters owned by charter school criminal Eva Moskowitz, but that tab will rise over the next few years as more and more charters spring up.

With charter school criminals looking to have the charter cap completely eliminated in the next legislative session, it is quite possible we will see charters grow cancerously all across the city and stamp out what is left of the public school system.

Now we have Regents Chancellor Tisch further undercutting mayoral control by issuing a threat to close 94 city schools by spring if they do not show improvement - even though de Blasio has only been in power for less than a year and his improvement plan just was announced this month.

That threat from Tisch is clearly meant to humiliate the mayor and undercut his power as steward of the city school system.

If the mayor no longer has the power to place or not place schools in his own city, no longer has the power to keep schools open if the state wants to close them, then mayoral control has been effectively destroyed by the state.

It will be interesting to see if de Blasio stands up to the state in this showdown.

He tried standing up to the charter school criminals last spring in the Eva/de Blasio Showdown, but found not one ally willing to back him in the fight as the charter school criminals spent $5 million in ads to vilify him on TV.

Even the UFT was MIA during that time.

Unless de Blasio is publicly backed by supporters of the public school system - including the unions - I'd say the chances of him standing up to the state are not very good.

After the beating he took over the Eva Showdown, he would be crazy to do otherwise.

So, UFT and AFT, where are you now that your beloved mayoral control is under attack?