Photo credit: Marla Maritzer

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. testifies before the New York State Assembly Education Committee regarding Mayoral control of City schools on February 6, 2009.  Pictured (l to r) are: New York City Council Member David Weprin; Thompson; and, New York City Council Member Robert Jackson.

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New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. testified today in support of mayoral control of the city’s public schools but sharply criticized the Mayor and School’s Chancellor for shutting out parents and allowing no-bid contracts to balloon.

“Let me be clear: mayoral control of the schools, when exercised wisely, is a means of bringing efficiency, transparency and accountability to decision-making, but it was never intended to be a green light for unchecked executive power,” Thompson said in testimony before the New York State Assembly’s Education Committee.

“The current administration has sought to avoid debate and public scrutiny, while fundamental decisions regarding education reform have been made with executives with no education background,” he said. “As we look ahead to the sunset of mayoral control we should reauthorize the law, but we must reform and strengthen it.”

In his testimony before the committee, chaired by Assembly Member Catherine Nolan, the Comptroller stressed that when he served as President of the Board of Education he worked to bring accountability to the education system, laying the groundwork for more centralized management and clearing the path toward mayoral control.

“In doing so we prioritized two things that are currently missing from the current administration’s approach – transparency and parental involvement,” Thompson said.

At the crux of the Comptroller’s concerns – you can read the full testimony at www.comptroller.nyc.gov - has been the dramatic drop in parental involvement in the City schools, an area that he said must be addressed before mayoral control can be restored.

The Department of Education has failed to ensure that School Leadership Teams have an effective role in influencing school policy, he testified. The Comptroller recommended that State Education Law require that all parents receive a brochure, translated into relevant languages when necessary, at the start of the academic year explaining School Leadership Teams.

State Law, he said, also should require that schools post online their Comprehensive Education Plans, school blueprints for establishing goals and identifying how they will achieve them. These plans should be made available in a school’s general office, and parents should be informed by letter where they can review the documents.

The Comptroller testified that Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) must be nurtured. Accordingly, the Department of Education should publish monthly tallies of schools with functioning PTAs.

“This failure to involve parents in the education policy process has reinforced a widespread perception that the department is arrogant and out of touch,” Thompson said. “The Department of Education has gone through three reorganizations in six years. As chief investment advisor to the New York City Pension Funds, I would identify a company that had gone through three fundamental reorganizations in six years as a high-risk investment.”

Thompson bolstered his argument by unveiling a laundry list of audits and reviews conducted by his office have uncovered myriad failures at the DOE. For instance, the DOE has:

• failed to monitor and track the provision of special education services effectively;

• failed to adopt effective controls to ensure that violent incidents at city high schools are reported to the State Department of Education;

• failed to provide both vision and hearing screenings in accordance with regulations due to lack of oversight;

• failed to exercise necessary controls over universal pre-K payments to non-public schools in Brooklyn and Staten Island; and,

• failed through its Office of Pupil Transportation to effectively record and follow up on school-bus-related complaints.

Additionally, the DOE has refused to adopt a set of formal procurement rules similar to those followed by every other City agency, one that is open and subject to public comment and accountability. Instead, the DOE has chosen a much less transparent route.

For example, the DOE has insisted it is not required to register contracts with the Comptroller’s Office and has continued to process millions of dollars in contracts outside of the competitive bidding process.

“As you consider extending mayoral control, I urge you to make the New York City DOE transparent and accountable once and for all,” he said.

“With greater authority and control also comes greater responsibility – responsibility to parents, responsibility to the taxpayers who help to fund out schools, and finally – and most importantly – responsibility to our kids, whose educational achievement and advancement are directly tied to the future economic growth and prosperity of our city,” Thompson said.

“That is an assignment we cannot, we must not, and – with the leadership and foresight of this committee and others – we will not fail.”

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