Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a two-year extension of mayoral control over New York City public schools shortly before such authority would have expired at midnight Friday morning.
“This system has shown its success, with expanded educational options for students and parents, and improved academic outcomes,” Hochul said in a legislative memo.
“Mayor [Eric] Adams has proposed to improve the system, and he should be given the same opportunity as his predecessors to do so,” Hochul added.
The extension was a top priority for Adams, who endorsed Hochul shortly before her landslide victory in the Democratic primary for governor.
Sources say the mayor leaned on the governor to get concessions from state lawmakers in exchange for signing the bill into law, which passed the state Legislature weeks ago.
The tweaks, which will likely pass the state Legislature early next year, include delaying the expansion of the Panel on Education Policy, the city school board of mostly mayoral appointees, from 15 to 23 members until Jan. 15, 2023 — an expansion reportedly backed by the city’s powerful teacher’s union.
“The bill as drafted required technical edits to ensure that the City has sufficient time to properly effectuate this expanded and inclusive governance model through the new Panel on Education Policy,” Hochul said in the memo.
The delay will also buy Adams time to make all his picks for the PEP, which he previously failed to do for five months into his tenure. In the meantime, City Hall charged the panel with approving a major contract and a school funding formula that both failed without the mayoral appointees’ votes.
Hochul praised mayoral control, saying it “expanded educational options for students and parents, and improved academic outcomes.” APAdams in a statement thanked the governor for “allowing me and Chancellor Banks to keep the politics out of our schools” and improve education for children.
“The nearly one million students and their families deserve an education system free from bureaucracy,” Adams added, “and one that allots them the certainty they deserve — particularly after the trauma they’ve experienced over the past two years.”
The Adams administration has criticized the bill’s expansion of the PEP, including four more mayoral appointees and another four parent representatives — which Schools Chancellor David Banks has said puts “more bureaucracy in the way of making real change for kids.”
The governor has yet to sign legislation part of a package deal that would mandate the city decrease class sizes in city schools, which Adams has argued the city cannot afford without enduring budget cuts to schools and central DOE programs.
On Friday, advocates for smaller class sizes, including the teacher’s union, decried Hochul’s passage of mayoral control without the class size bill introduced alongside it.
“Last night Gov. Hochul signed the mayoral control bill but not the small class size legislation,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers. “Smaller classes are the No. 1 concern among NYC parents and educators and the reason why the bills received overwhelming support from the state Assembly and Senate.”
Hochul argued that Mayor Eric Adams should be “given the opportunity” to change the system as previous mayors had. Matthew McDermott“We are calling on the governor to sign this legislation now. Our students can’t wait.”
Leonie Haimson of the advocacy group Class Size Matters pointed to public outcry for the governor to sign the class size bill, which the governor has yet to call up for signature. A petition for the legislation’s passage has garnered more than 7,500 signers in a few days.
“It means (Hochul) is more responsive to the desires of one man, the Mayor, than she is to NYC parents, Legislators, or constituents,” Haimson said.
