State Lawmakers Adjourn Without Deal To Extend De Blasio's Control Over City Schools
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — New York lawmakers will end their 2017 session and leave Albany Wednesday without a deal to extend Mayor Bill de Blasio's control of New York City schools.
The policy, first enacted in 2002, will expire June 30. If it is not renewed control of the nation's largest school system will revert to a mosaic of local school boards.
No Deal Yet On Mayoral Control Of NYC Schools As State Legislature Set To Adjourn
While top lawmakers agreed on the benefits of mayoral control, they remain at odds about Republican proposals to link an extension to charter schools. Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan, of Long Island, sought to raise the cap on the number of charters allowed in the city, but Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, of the Bronx, refused to include the charter cap in the negotiations over mayoral control.
"We would have preferred to have tied everything up with a nice neat bow and returned to our districts with nothing at all left on our plate, but under the circumstances, that just wasn't possible," Flanagan said in a statement announcing the Senate's plan to adjourn.
Lawmakers may return later this summer to try to resolve the stalemate and reinstate mayoral control. The policy lapsed once before, briefly, in 2009, with little impact.
"I'm sure we will be back," said Sen. Marty Golden, R-Brooklyn.
The Senate planned to adjourn late Wednesday. The Assembly planned to adjourn shortly after, though both bodies would be needed to pass any extension of mayoral control. Heastie said Wednesday that mayoral control and charter schools should not be tied together.
"I'm not negotiating anymore," Heastie told reporters.
If mayoral control goes away for good, control of city schools would revert to a single board of education and many local districts. The city estimates that could create $1.6 billion in added administrative costs over 10 years. Supporters of mayoral control say it has led to higher academic performance and programs such as universal pre-kindergarten.
"If Albany doesn't get this done there's going to be a lot of angry people in the city," de Blasio said on WCBS 880 Wednesday.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
