Dear Commons Community,

The Progressive Magazine had an article yesterday speculating on what New York City’s education system might look like if Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor.  Here is an excerpt in which my colleague David Bloomfield is quoted:

In New York City, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg established mayoral control in 2002, when he lobbied the state legislature to replace the city’s school boards with Panel for Education Policy (PEP), to which the mayor appoints one-third of members. David Bloomfield, a professor of education leadership, law, and policy at Brooklyn College and City University of New York, tells The Progressive that the previous system of thirty-two locally elected school boards had weakened over the decades following its establishment in 1970. 

“People found that it really wasn’t working for kids,” Bloomfield says. “There was corruption. There was a lack of accountability. The board members who had been appointed by the borough presidents could then run on their own without much control from anybody else.”

Bloomfield suggests that the next mayor could return power to local communities by turning the appointed seats, particularly the chancellor, into positions confirmed by city council. A report issued last year by New York State’s education department found that checks and balances similar to Bloomfield’s idea are a recommended way to reform mayoral control. The report also suggested a new commission to institute reforms and fewer mayoral appointments to PEP, among other proposals. 

The entire article is worth a read!

Tony

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