Senate Holding Students Hostage Over Coup
By GLENN ZIMMERMAN
Updated 5:16 PM EST, Sun, Jun 28, 2009
The Senators warring over who should hold power in the chamber have been dubbed clowns by media, officials and the public alike, but the two-week battle has not been funny.
Soon New York City students could be feeling the ramifications.
The law giving the mayor control of city public schools is about to expire. The state Assembly passed a bill that gives parents a little more say but still keeps the mayor in chance. The Senate hasn't acted on it. The schools wouldn't fall a part if the deadline passes, but it does raise some serious questions about governance.
Without a vote by Tuesday at midnight, control would revert back to an elected school board, according to law. Right now that doesn't exist.
City and state leaders from the governor to the mayor came together this morning to urge the Senate to act -- and act quickly. New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein demanded the senate focus on the issues at hand.
If not, things could get ugly. Since there's no elected school board, there's no arbitrator over district issues. And different people have different opinions about how things should be run. While the disaster may not be overtly apparent to the public on a day-to-day basis, it would be an administrative nightmare.
A full-blown feud erupted outside of P.S. 57 in Harlem this morning as crowds chanted, "Let us in." One group was against mayoral control of the school system; the other group wanted the mayor to remain in charge.
Alongside the disagreeing parties were the parents, who only want things to work smoothly for their children.
"We cannot have a chaotic situation for our kids," said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.
Gov. David Paterson warned the situation could spiral into chaos. And yet, the power struggle in the state senate is putting the vote on hold.
"I never thought they would put 1.2 million New York City school children to the brink," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
School governance isn't the only pressing matter.
The budgets for both New York City and Nassau County could be in jeopardy if bonding authority and sales taxes ren't approved before the end of the month.
First Published: Jun 28, 2009 2:48 PM EST
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