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[Hilary]

D&C story:

ALBANY - A measure that would give the mayor of Rochester control of the city schools was delivered today to Gov. David Paterson, who is expected to introduce the bill in the state Legislature.

The state Assembly-crafted draft legislation, obtained by Gannett’s Albany Bureau, would give Mayor Robert Duffy the control of the school district he has been publicly seeking.

The legislation calls for the terms of the current board members to expire June 30, 2011, and to be replaced by a new nine-member board effective July 1, 2011.

Five members would be appointed by the mayor and four by the common council. The members would serve staggered terms.

The legislation says the so-called “education commission” would be a policy board, and the “members cannot exercise any executive or administration functions.”

The schools superintendent would be appointed by the mayor subject to the approval of the common council and would serve without an employment contract, giving the mayor to ability remove the superintendent without council’s approval.

The legislation calls for a community schools advisory council in each council district, made of up of five voting members. The councils would be charged with reviewing educational programs, evaluating the superintendent and conducting public hearings on any proposed school closing or on the superintendent’s budget.

There would also be two citywide councils.

Moreover, the legislation would amend the city’s charter to require an independent budget office, headed by a director that is appointed by a five-member committee.

The current school board would be restricted in what it could do before the new board is appointed. For example, they could not renegotiate existing union contracts.

Even if Paterson introduces the legislation, it’s unclear whether it would pass the state Legislature. Paterson’s office had no immediate comment.

Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, Monroe County, said he hasn’t seen the bill, calling it “an almost secretive process.”

“Like everyone else, I have not seen a bill. I don’t know what it entails,” he said.

JSPECTOR@Gannett.com

There is a PDF file of the actual legislation here: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/assets/pdf/A2157495511.PDF

[lbryce]

Today's installment from the D&C:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100512/NEWS01/5120350/1003/Albany-receives-mayoral-control-measure

[Hilary]

Some highlights from the story:

The legislation would include

• A nine-member education commission that would advise the superintendent and approve policy and other initiatives; Duffy would appoint five members and city council would appoint four.
• Four five-person school advisory councils made up of parents that would review programs, hold public hearings and perform other functions; members would be district parents appointed by PTA officers in the four city council districts.
• Two four-person councils that would review English language learner and special education services.
• An independent budget office run by a director to be recommended by a special five-member panel that would report on financial matters.

...

Duffy stressed that the governor still could make changes, and said the city would release a draft information plan within two weeks of the bill being introduced.

....

The structure outlined in the legislation resembles the system that has governed New York City in recent years, but includes some notable departures.

For example, the education commission replacing the elected school board would serve fixed three-year terms; in New York City, they serve at the pleasure of the mayor.

"It's a good provision because it gives the board a certain amount of independence," said Joseph Viteritti, professor of public policy at Hunter College.

Creating an independent budget office is "right out of what we did in New York ... It's an excellent model for good government," said Viteritti, the editor of When Mayors Take Charge, a book about mayoral control of schools.

Overall, Viteritti said, the legislation "isn't a top-heavy kind of a plan that gives the mayor an inordinate amount of power." Unlike New York City, Washington, D.C., or Chicago, "it's not an overly aggressive plan to give the mayor power," he said.

Viteritti said the community school advisory councils made up of parents appear to be a response to the complaints in many mayoral-control cities that parents have been shut out.

"There need to be opportunities for citizen and parental input into the decision-making process," Viteritti said.

__________

I thought it was interesting that in the legislation itself (see the PDF link above) it says that the nine members of the commission all "must possess extensive business or education experience."

When did "business experience" become a qualification for educating our children?  And who decided that those are the only two qualities worthy of representation on this panel? What about people with experience in ... say ... psychology? parenting? life?

[Hilary]

Mary Ann Towler on the draft:

At long last, we can read legislation that could give the mayor control of the Rochester school district.

The Democrat and Chronicle's Joe Spector got his hands on the bill that Assembly Democrats have sent to Governor David Paterson. While it hasn't been made public, officially, the D&C put it online, and earlier today, we also managed to get a copy, which you can read at the right.

The governor could make changes to it - or, I suppose, sit on it, or lose it - but he's expected to present it, or something similar to it, sometime before the end of this session of the legislature in June.

Here's what the bill calls for:

The superintendent would be hired by and would report to the mayor, serving with no contract. City Council would have to approve the appointment, but the mayor could fire the superintendent for any reason, at any time, without Council's permission. The superintendent would appoint and have ultimate supervision of all district employees.

Rochester would still have a school board, known as an "Education Commission," but there would be nine members rather than the current seven, and voters wouldn't elect them. Instead, the mayor would appoint five members and City Council would appoint four, one from each Council district.

All nine would have to be city residents, but there's no requirement that any of them be parents of school-district students.

The legislation requires that each member "possess extensive business or education experience." It doesn't define "extensive" or "experience." And that word "or" is significant. It's possible that all nine could be from the business community, and some mayoral-control opponents are already worried that the business community could exert too much influence.

Board members would serve as advisors to the superintendent, and while they wouldn't appoint the superintendent or vote on the hiring of any employees (as the school board does now), they would have some power. They would approve the superintendent's "standards, policies, and objectives," the process the superintendent uses to recruit and choose principals, and equipment and instructional material purchases.

They would approve the creation of new schools and would approve the "protocol" the superintendent uses in closing schools. They apparently would not approve the closings themselves.

Board members would serve three-year terms, and they couldn't be removed without "good cause." New York's initial mayoral-control legislation did not include that safeguard, and the mayor fired two board members who were planning to vote against a measure he wanted.

Another major complaint about New York City's mayoral-control system has been lack of parent access. The Assembly's bill addresses that - providing, in fact, more avenues for parents than they currently have.

In addition to the school board, the bill creates four "community schools advisory councils," one in each City Council district. Each council would have five members, all of whom have to live in that district and be parents of city school students.

Officers of school parent groups in each district will appoint the members, and they'll serve for two years.

The councils will review and assess the district's educational programs, conduct public hearings on the superintendent's budget, evaluate the superintendent, and conduct public hearings on any proposed school closings in their district.

There would also be two additional, citywide councils: one to advise the superintendent on policies related to special education and one to give advice on the education of English-language learners.

The bill says a good bit about protecting the school district's money. It requires that state money and other funds intended for the school district be kept separate from other city funds. And it establishes an independent budget office that would provide information to the mayor, City Council, and the public on the budget, revenue, and proposed laws that would have fiscal implications.

The bill does not, however, establish an independent group that would track student achievement. If we get mayoral control, that kind of group ought to be created. The public will need to know whether this major change has led to better education for Rochester's children. And we'll need to trust that the evidence we're given hasn't been manipulated to make the mayor look good.

[SKuykendall]

My immediate thoughts on the parental-input piece is that it's still a little weak. 

The mayor appoints the main council.  The specifics are lacking when it comes to the question of how accountable this council is when it comes to parental concerns -- people can only be dismissed from it "for good cause."  Would a pattern of not being responsive count as good cause?  Say, responding to specific concerns with form letters?  Ignoring real issues, such as safety concerns or a lack of textbooks, when such issues have been brought to members by the parents?  (Would the meetings be open to parents as current school-board meetings are?  Would they attract the same amount of media and public attention -- parents can certainly get the current school board to focus by showing up at school board meetings.  If the new advisory board has powers that are more diluted, would parents who showed up to talk to the board at its meeting just be talking to an empty and uninterested room?)

And, as for the community schools advisory councils, I am sort of unclear as to how much power they would actually have.  If they pan the superintendent, does he or she get fired?  If public hearings about school closings uncover nothing but opposition to those school closings, will the school remain open?  (In which case, one of the main benefits of mayoral control -- the ability to close failing schools -- will be lost, as I cannot imagine that very many people would ever show up to actually support a proposed school closing; people who are non-plussed by a particular school simply opt for sending their kids elsewhere rather than going to meetings and demanding that those schools be closed.  For example, I can't imagine sending my child to any of the high schools currently located in the Franklin building, but I don't show up at school board meetings to support their closure.)

My immediate hunch is that there are too many councils -- that disseminating duties and responsibilities across four types of councils instead of concentrating them in one just creates further fragmentation and a lack of public focus.  But I will certainly be interested in seeing the details and hearing more about how all this will work.  My immediate hunch could certainly be wrong.

Santosha

[Hilary]

I had a similar reaction re. parental input. Four separate advisory parent councils (one for each city council district) how many layers below the mayor? Why would the superintendent, or the budget, be evaluated separately in four different council districts? It just seems like extra layers of bureaucracy to me, and all that much less likely that the mayor, or anyone, would actually be listening to them. (Let alone to the parent who takes an issue TO one of those local councils.)

I wonder if anyone who wrote that part of the legislation has looked at the district's history with parent councils.

And, more importantly, I wonder if that kind of structure exists anywhere -- either re. schools or anything else run by city government, and if it works.