Mayoral control of Rochester schools

HARRY DAVIS ON THE ISSUES

Mayoral control of Rochester schools

"Stop Mortimer Street Bus Barn/Create Amtrak Inter-Modal"
http://bit.ly/bgUGuy

What Is Harry Bronson Afraid Of?
http://www.harrydavis2010.com/node/268

Does Harry Bronson's Campaign Have A Death Wish?
http://www.harrydavis2010.com/node/310

Mayoral Control Only Shuffles The Chairs
http://www.harrydavis2010.com/node/329
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Mayor Duffy's proposed takeover of our schools is (was, after Cuomo & Albany & LG) the most important issue facing the city in early 2010. It is a labor issue and a voting rights issue. Therefore, I find it strange that my opponent for the 131st Assembly seat, Mr. Harry Bronson, has refused to publically state where he stands on this issue, an issue that potentially will strip the voting rights away from our city! How can Mr. Bronson not tell you the voter, what he will vote for if he goes to Albany? I will.

If people support mayoral control of the school system because they trust Bob Duffy to do well with it, then they should realize that no one really knows WHO would be implementing it when Bob Duffy leaves Rochester for Albany. They would just be buying a pig in a poke. Policies like that are only as good as the people implementing them, which leaves a great unknown.

Mayor Duffy’s nomination can be a positive thing for Rochester in 2010, as it gives a yardstick to measure the true value of his projects, both from a statewide perspective and from the perspective of knowing that he himself would not be implementing the programs. It begs the question, can we trust programs when we do not know WHO will implement them?

However, I agree with Howard Eagle on this one: I think that Duffy's move to Albany outs Mayor Duffy as a hypocrite. After having raised all of "this commotion and causing deep divisiveness (in many quarters) over the issue of mayoral control --- now he’s going to cut and run (surprise --- surprise)!"

Whatever happened to education being the “hill that [he’s] willing to die on,” and his great concern about the lives and futures of predominantly black and brown children within the Rochester City School District? Oh, I know, in all of his infinite wisdom and so-called compassion --- he has decided that he can better help the little, poor children by becoming Lieutenant Governor --- right."

I am opposed to mayoral control of Rochester city schools. What mayoral control in cities like New York and Washington D.C. has taught us is that allowing the mayors to run these school districts hurts, not helps, the system. In these cities, the student performance among minority groups is poor and the gap is widening. And as Dr. William Cala pointed out in his op-ed in the City Newspaper, spending by cities on these school districts has increased. As an example, he cites New York City, where mayoral control under Mayor Michael Bloomberg increase from $12.5 billion in 2002 to $21 billion in 2009.

If we are going to invest more money in education, it had better be working. Taxpayers, and more importantly, our students deserve the best. And in Rochester, they deserve better.

That is why mayoral control is not the answer.

In his op-ed in the Democrat and Chronicle, former Mayor Bill Johnson asked several important questions. One of those questions was:

"Since urban districts with concentrated poverty generally require more, and not less, resources, what guarantees can be extracted in advance from state government to insure a successful takeover?"

The truth is Albany can’t make guarantees. New York City is in a different position. They have more money they can invest in their city’s education while also receiving state funds. But for Rochester, we are dependent on state help. And during these tough fiscal times for the state and Governor David Paterson proposing cuts to education, that help from the state won’t happen.

To answer Mayor Johnson’s question, there are no guarantees. The state government can’t help. If anything, our education funding will be cut by Albany and we must do more with less.

One of the great crimes we have seen with mayoral control is its negative impact on minority students. In a city like Chicago, test scores for Black and Latino students are improving, but very slowly. And that improvement in many cases means moving out of single-digit percentiles into the teens. Going from eight percent proficient in a certain subject area (i.e. Math) to 12 percent might be considered an improvement, but it’s still a disappointment. Combine that with the test scores of white students that aren’t any better and mayoral control is an experiment that has failed.

Rochester should not make its students part of that experiment. It has been proven in other cities to be a failure. It only gives more powers to mayors who believe they need to take the reins from school boards and school administrators and run the schools themselves. The problem is, as history has taught us, they aren’t doing any better.

In New York City, the Board of Education was replaced by a panel set up by the mayor and those individuals, instead of serving on behalf of voters, serve at the pleasure of the mayor. That is not what we need. We need independent thinkers who oversee our education system. We do not need people who will be beholden to the mayor, whether that’s Mayor Robert Duffy or anyone else down the road.

We need a board of education that is accountable to taxpayers and responsible for achieving the best possible education for all of our students. And it must be free of mayoral influence.

I oppose mayoral control and will continue my opposition against running our city’s educational system through City Hall. The future of our students should not rest with one solitary individual, but rather a classroom of competent teachers working with our bright minds to raise test scores and to increase student performance.

What Is Harry Bronson Afraid Of?
http://www.harrydavis2010.com/node/268