IX. How the School System is Organized
Most public school systems in the U.S. are governed by an elected, independent
board of education with the power to appoint a school superintendent and
levy local taxes to support the schools. Not New York City’s school
system. Here, since 2003, the Department of Education is a city agency
controlled by the mayor. He appoints the schools chancellor, currently
Joel Klein, and controls the schools’ $17 billion budget, although
much of the funding comes from the state and federal governments and must
be spent for specific purposes. The replacement for the old Board of Education,
the Panel for Education Policy, is advisory only, and most of its members
are appointed by the mayor. (By a 40-year-old law, the system is divided
into 32 “community school districts” (see map) but the district
officials have little power now.) District numbers are still used and apply
in some contract provisions.
Principals, in collaboration with staff and parents through elected School Leadership Teams, have autonomy from the central school administration, including discretion on budget and hiring (within contractual provisions), and flexibility in designing their own education plans. In return, principals are held accountable for their schools’ performance as measured by extensive student testing and other criteria reported in an annual School Progress Report.
Still, the UFT contract remains in full force, and principals must abide by it.
Each school chooses an organization for support in instruction, finance, professional development and other areas. That organization is one of three types: a private external organization (Partnership Support Organizations, PSOs), or an organization created by an experienced DOE administrator (Learning Support Organizations, LSOs) or by collaboration with a network of other autonomous schools (Empowerment Schools).
In addition, a new funding formula is designed to direct more money to schools with more challenging student populations. The UFT worked hard to ensure that this formula is fair to all students and teachers. The success of the new organizational structure (while no answer to some schools’ lagging performance) will depend on the degree of collaboration between the newly empowered principals and their staffs.
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