Testimony of Michael Mulgrew before NYC Council Ed Committee

Sep 23, 2009 1:38 PM

Good afternoon, Chairman Jackson and distinguished members of the Education Committee.  I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about an issue that we all care very deeply about.  Governing our public schools is serious business and a high priority for all of us at the United Federation of Teachers.  When the state legislature renewed the school governance law over the summer and made critical changes to add greater checks and balances, transparency and accountability, we were pleased.   This was a win for the children, their parents, our members and everyone committed to providing a high quality education in our public schools.   But we can’t be naïve. 

We are grateful that you are calling this hearing today at the start of the school year.  You are setting the tone at the outset – all eyes are on how DOE will actually implement these changes.  We feel it is equally important and we are asking you and the state legislature to continue monitoring the implementation of this governance law over the coming months.  With your focus and oversight we hope we can ensure that this governance law will be implemented, as fully intended this year.

Over this past year, the legislature, education advocates, parents and educators across the city engaged in a painstaking process of hearings, task forces and reports to get a new governance law passed.  We worked hard.  At the end we felt the process brought us to a new school governance law with the transparency we all sought.  We endorsed the state bill with the changes that we all thought would provide greater access for parents and broaden decision-making in ways that kept accountability in place, but opened up the process to discussion and debate. 

The mayor and the chancellor lauded the bill passed by the Assembly and urged the State Senate to pass it exactly as the Assembly wrote it.  When it finally passed the Senate they trumpeted passage of this new governance legislation as a victory for the school system and the children it serves.  We wholeheartedly agreed. And now it is incumbent upon all of us educators and city officials to make it happen. The time is at hand and we must implement the new school governance law the right way – keeping to both the letter and the spirit of the law. 

We fully expected the DOE to get out in front of the governance process for the current school year over the summer.  There are expanded duties and new regulations for everyone who plays a key role in school governance.  At every level there are changes, but we are chiefly concerned with how the law is implemented at the school and district level – for this is the place where education truly happens.  We’re talking about district superintendents, School Leadership Teams (SLTs), District Leadership Teams (DLTs) and the Community Education Councils (CECs), most specifically.

We’re already well into the first month of school and the feedback we’ve gotten from our union members around the city, is the guidance and notification needed at the school and district level still hasn’t been disseminated to the field from DOE.

While I’ve summarized the key areas where there are changes in the new law, there are many layers that require detail and planning.  Some of the new processes that will need to be put in place have some complexity.  So, DOE will need to drill down the information throughout the system.  But the clock has already started – The DLTs,  SLTs and CECs in districts across the city, are already convening their kick-off meetings.  SLTs need to engage in budget planning and preparation of the Community Education Plans (CEPs).  How are they to proceed? They really need to know and they need to know it now.

We want to be helpful to the DOE and partner with them on making school governance succeed.  We can’t assist them unless they give all of us the tools. 

Additionally, we are very concerned when we hear that DOE is planning a one-year phase-in plan to implement the new powers and accountabilities for district superintendents.  And it gives us pause, when we hear that many superintendents are still responsible for many schools outside of their own districts.  How can they be effective stewards of their district schools and accountable to the parents, if this continues?

Creating an empowered, effective district superintendent’s office was a strong desire of parents and the community.  And UFT fully supported their struggle to have their voices heard on this issue. The governance law was specific and called for these changes to be immediate.  If the DOE is already planning to implement critical elements of the new law a full year from now, they are already out of compliance.  The time is now, in the current school year.  We are really hoping they can get this piece done quickly.

I think we can all agree that the recent Panel for Education Policy (PEP) board meeting did not present the best model for good relations when dealing with the public.   There’s no need to belabor everything that could have been improved at the PEP meeting but in order to ensure integrity, PEP needs a transparent process with clear checks and balances.  That certainly includes making sure the public can participate and that the PEP board members receive complete information on the contracts and other items set before them for examination and approval.  If PEP board members only receive summaries on multi-million dollar contracts that do not actually describe what work will be done, how can they have true deliberation? How do they really know what they’re voting on?  This will clearly impede rigorous policy review and we fear, undermine the improvement in the law we all fought so hard for.

The good news with the new law is that we can gain access to more information and we have the ability to ask the important questions.  We just want to affirm that we are willing partners who stand ready to roll up our sleeves with DOE and make this new school governance law work. 

Finally, I’d like to share our optimism about an aspect of the new law which makes the DOE and really all of us, more accountable to the public. We were thrilled that the new law finally granted the New York City Comptroller the authority to conduct financial, operational and programmatic audits over the DOE.  We were also hopeful that the Independent Budget Office will conduct their own analysis and review of DOE data, and generate independent reports that serve the public interest.   We hope to have a trusted view on what the data really says about what is happening in the classrooms. 

Ultimately, we encourage our colleagues at DOE to work with all of us and take this opportunity – with our improved governance law – and raise the bar on cooperation, collaboration and engagement.  The UFT is urging our members, parents and the community to take ownership of the rights they have gained under the new governance law.  We remain committed to making it work. Thank you.