Students at school (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)
Our more than 1,600 schools have been under “mayoral control” since 2003 when the New York State legislature gave New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg full control of the school system. The City Board of Education (which former Mayor Bloomberg unofficially renamed the Panel for Educational Policy) has the power to approve contracts, budgets, regulations, “standards, policies and objectives” related to educational achievement and student performance, but is made up of a majority of mayoral appointees, who are terminated or forced to resign if they vote against the mayor’s will.
While parents and advocates have succeeded in amending the law to insert some additional checks and balances, the ultimate decisions that affect 1 million children in the school system and their families still rest with one man: the mayor.
Last month, Governor Kathy Hochul released her Executive Budget, which includes a four-year extension of mayoral control, although it has no impact on the state budget. Parent leaders have objected to such a maneuver in the past, claiming that school governance deserves its own bill and a vote. Yet once again, we find ourselves having to argue our case against mayoral control of New York City when legislators are preoccupied with the real budget issues.
Here are the major reasons why we oppose mayoral control of city schools and believe that state leaders should enable rights-holders in New York City to create a new school governance system.
Despite what supporters of mayoral control claim, there is virtually no accountability. We know who is in charge but there is very little that rights-holders, such as parents, can do to hold mayors accountable and those who have the power, such as the Governor or members of the State Legislature and New York City Council are often unwilling to do so.
In addition, New Yorkers are not single-issue voters, not to mention that mayoral elections happen only once every four years. Both Mayors Bloomberg and de Blasio implemented policies that were failures in their first term, yet both of them were re-elected to their second term (and Bloomberg got a third term against the will of New York City voters).
While the City Council holds hearings on a variety of education issues and can require reporting on education-related matters, the Council does not have the power to require the Department of Education, let alone the Mayor, to take any action or change course. The best the City Council can do is create some level of transparency for an agency that is extremely opaque.
At the state level, the Legislature and the Governor have the power to hold the Mayor accountable by amending or enforcing the education law but neither seems willing to exercise this power. Despite more than a decade of parent leaders pleading with legislators to create more checks and balances, only very minor tweaks have been made. Instead of creating real accountability, the State Legislature and the Governor have used mayoral control as a political bargaining chip. And even in this political horse trading, they have failed to implement significant substantive changes to improve school governance in New York City.
Supporters of mayoral control have also claimed that the old school boards were corrupt. There are two problems with this claim. Under mayoral control, corruption became bigger and more importantly, one does not dismantle a whole system because of corruption. If we were to follow this logic, then neither house of the State Legislature should exist (or the Governor’s Office, for that matter).
None of this may matter if mayoral control was making a positive difference in the lives of our most marginalized students. Unfortunately, it has not.
The inequities that have existed since the founding of this nation are still painfully visible in our school system. Under two mayoralties and almost 20 years of mayoral control of city schools, our schools remain highly segregated -- New York City is one of the most segregated school systems in the nation -- and our Black, brown, immigrant, low-income students, and students with disabilities continue to be neglected by a system that was created to serve white and affluent students. Even during the pandemic, which illuminated the inequities for all to see, the de Blasio administration pressed forward with policies that did not serve historically marginalized students, who suffer deeply from covid’s disparate impact.
We simply cannot continue a system that does not well serve the majority of the students. Some legislators agree and have asked us what should replace mayoral control. We must first acknowledge that the nation’s largest school system with majority low-income students of color must not be “controlled” by one person regardless of who it is. Second, we must recognize that the best solutions in the world come from collaborations among diverse rights-holders. Perspectives of and ideas from parents and students, particularly those historically marginalized, are necessary in developing sound policies. Teachers, support staff, and administrators also bring critical perspectives and must be at the table.
We need to create an alternative school governance system through an inclusive, collaborative, and participatory process. For some years our organization -- Education Council Consortium -- has asked the State Legislature to create a task force to develop recommendations for alternatives. Indeed, a task force established in 2002 was exactly how the current system of Citywide and Community Education Councils was created.
It is past time we focus on and invest real resources in developing a new school governance system for New York City public schools. Those politicians who decry playing politics with the education of our children must do the right thing: start a process to develop a democratic system of governance that replaces mayoral control of city schools.
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NeQuan McLean is Co-chair of Education Council Consortium and President of Community Education Council 16. Shino Tanikawa is Co-chair of Education Council Consortium and the Public Advocate Appointee to the Citywide Council on High Schools. On Twitter @NequanMclean & @Estuaryqueen & @EducationCounc1.
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Health care in New York (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)
California Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed a $2.7 billion expansion to his state’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, in his state budget proposal. This transformative policy would extend to all immigrants, regardless of their status, covering an estimated 700,000 individuals. As California moves forward to expand immigrants’ access to health care, shouldn’t New York have immigrants’ backs, too?
The answer is yes. Here in the Empire State, community members and legislators have joined together to support a proposal known as Coverage for All (A880/S1572), which would create a state-funded Essential Plan for all New Yorkers earning up to 200% of the federal poverty level who are currently excluded because of their immigration status. The question is: will Governor Hochul show the same leadership as Governor Newsom, and support the expansion of health coverage and care to New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status?
In the United States, our broken health-care system treats health care as a privilege, instead of the right it should be. It has been commodified to the point where people die because they decided not to seek preventative care due to high prices or they go bankrupt when choosing to seek medical care.
Take the experience of Reyna Tellez, a Make the Road New York member and Queens resident who has struggled without health care in New York and recently shared her story with us: “In the past, I have paid about $200 for a single doctor's visit and about $300 for medications. Sometimes, I have had to take out a loan to pay for medication. Early last year I found a lump in my breast and finally in July a biopsy was done. However, the hospital told me they couldn't remove the mass because I don't have health insurance. I am scared and still in pain. I am a single mother, I am afraid for my two children.”
Reyna’s experience is, unfortunately, a common one for undocumented immigrants, who cannot access health insurance and necessary medical care because of exorbitant costs.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vast inequalities that exist within our health-care system. In the darkest days of the pandemic, immigrants and other New Yorkers of color stepped up to work in harm's way. Immigrants make up 54% of New York’s essential workforce. But, while they were putting their bodies on the line, many were being systematically excluded from the health-care system they needed if they got sick. According to a 2021 report by Families USA, more than 8,200 New Yorkers died from COVID-19 due to a lack of health coverage. It is estimated that at least 2,700 of them were undocumented.
When more than 40% of all COVID-19 infections, and roughly one out of every three COVID-19 deaths, are associated with health insurance gaps, there is systemic failure. With no current federal plan to address the problem of inequality in coverage, especially for undocumented people, individual states must step up to remedy this.
The answer for our state is Coverage for All, which would help New York move toward extending health-care coverage to all. Similar to what Governor Newsom has proposed in California, the bill would ensure access to coverage and care for undocumented residents.
By investing the resources to develop a more inclusive health-care system, New York will be creating healthier and more sustainable communities. Roughly 154,000 New Yorkers are uninsured and not eligible for insurance due to their immigration status. Passing Coverage for All in this year’s state budget, due April 1, would fix that. It would also help continue moving towards implementing the New York Health Act, the north star for universal care in New York.
Immigrant New Yorkers are not the only ones calling for an expansion of health coverage either. Insurers across the state have come out in support of Coverage for All and dramatically expanding coverage. Moreover, according to the Urban Institute, insuring 110,000 uninsured people could also save providers over $318 million in uncompensated care costs.
Like Governor Newsom, Governor Hochul has spoken of the need to invest in and improve our health-care system. By passing and funding Coverage for All in this year’s budget, she has the opportunity to make it happen. We all deserve access to doctors and hospitals and care. We all deserve to live healthy lives.
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Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas is an Assemblymember representing the 34th District in Queens. Theo Oshiro is the Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York. On Twitter: @votejgr & @theooshiro of @MaketheRoadNY.
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On the Hudson (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)
The New York-New Jersey Watershed Protection Act is critical for maintaining our fisheries, protecting our wildlife, and conserving our natural resources, urban greenspaces, and coastal resources. This watershed, the land that channels New York and New Jersey’s largest waterways and rainfall into the Hudson-Raritan Harbor Estuary, benefits us in many ways. Restoration efforts for the numerous waterways flowing through the Hudson Valley and New Jersey are scarce and underfunded. Restoring the watershed is an arduous task, due to extreme weather, such as rising air and water temperatures, increasing storms and rainfall, and rising sea levels.
The New York-New Jersey Watershed Protection Act, a bill under consideration in Congress, seeks to change this fact, introducing a watershed restoration program and a grant program to implement restoration and protection activities for the watershed.
Implementation of the New York-New Jersey Watershed Protection Act would alleviate some of the detrimental effects of storms caused by climate change and provide more protection for residents and wildlife from future crises. It would also reduce the loss of biodiversity and natural habitat, provide more residents with clean drinking water, and improve the quality of life by providing green spaces for communities to gather and cherish the natural habitat.
Managing the shorelines of the watershed is critical for flood mitigation. The current climate brings about unprecedented crises in natural disasters. Extreme loss of life and billions of dollars followed Hurricanes Sandy, Irene, Lee, and most recently, Ida. This bill recognizes that nature-based flood mitigation and restoring riparian corridors are cost-effective solutions. These nature-based features will maximize the resilience of neighboring communities and natural habitats in this era of changing sea levels and storm risks.
Managing the shorelines is also critical to improving the fish and wildlife habitat. This watershed also supports threatened and endangered species, including the shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon. Sustaining and enhancing fish and wildlife restoration and protection activities is pivotal for maintaining biodiversity. We need to meet the ecological needs of the wildlife and their habitat–for their protection and benefit and our own.
Many residents in the watershed region lack environmental justice. The populations living in the watershed region deserve access to clean water and the chance to enjoy the wildlife. Maintaining the water quality will improve opportunities for public access and recreation. The water quality in this region is particularly imperative, as this watershed is the source of drinking water for millions of people on the Mohawk, Raritan, and Hackensack Rivers.
The resources provided by the watershed support a very densely populated region, and they deserve adequate green spaces. The public depends on the improvement of the ecosystems and ecological processes in the watershed for clean water and enjoyment. The Watershed Protection Act aims to engage communities lacking in environmental justice through outreach, education, and community involvement to increase support for the restoration and protection activities in the New York-New Jersey Watershed. It also aims to improve opportunities for personal recreation along rivers and shorefronts within these communities.
New York Congressional Rep. Paul Tonko’s bill currently has 25 cosponsors: 16 from New York and nine from New Jersey, including all of the House representatives from Queens. These representatives from New York and New Jersey, and the rest of us from these two states and beyond, should continue to urge members of Congress to support this bill. It is America’s most crowded watershed.
Just this month, a companion bill of the same name was introduced by Senators Cory Booker, and Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Many versions of this bill have been in and out of Congress for years, and now more than ever, it is absolutely crucial to get it passed and signed into law by President Joe Biden. Our government representatives need to work to solve this problem and protect the watershed, for the environment’s sake, as well as our own.
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Sarah Quispe is studying at St. John’s University to receive a bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in criminology and justice.
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