For Immediate Release

State Senate fails to act on school governance bill

Jul 18, 2009 3:16 PM

The state Senate adjourned on July 16 without acting on legislation that would preserve Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s control of New York City schools after negotiations between Senate Democrats and the mayor broke down.

UFT President Randi Weingarten and ACORN issued the following statement in response:

After weeks of frustrating delays, the Democratic majority in the New York State Senate left on the night of July 16 without passing a bill to continue mayoral control of New York City public schools. We are deeply disappointed that, after a week when the state Senate focused on school governance, it did not get done.

A consistent demand of parents and Senate Democrats has been meaningful avenues for parental participation, a goal we sought as well. Even though we didn’t always agree with the mayor, he took a very significant step toward bringing the issue of school governance to resolution on July 16 by offering a strong plan to deliver effective parent outreach, training and participation in every borough.

A lot of angry and heated words have been exchanged in the last few days as stakeholders try to focus on doing what is best for kids. Everyone should take a deep breath and urgently get back to pursuing the goal of enacting the new governance framework set forth in the Assembly bill and the additional pieces for parental training and input.