may not do this full justice. The UFT has taken a position, for some time
now, against abolishing the Board of Education and against direct mayoral
control. Our view has historically been that there needs to be some
intermediate body that can shield public education from direct political
control.
In the recent past, it has become clear that this stance can cut more than
one way. At the same time that it denies the mayor direct political control,
it also provides him an alibi in terms of accountability. I don't have
control, Giuliani says, so I am not responsible. But because he does have the
control of the purse strings, he can also make it financially impossible for
the public schools to move ahead. This is particularly a problem with respect
to the problem of underfunding by the state, since the state feels, with some
justification, that everytime they increase funding to NYC public schools,
the mayor decreases city funding by the same amount.
The UFT recently adopted a position that would attempt to deal with this
quandary. Our proposal is to give the mayor a majority of the appointments to
the Board of Education, but to keep the Board as an independent agency. Would
that work? I don't know, but it seems worth a try, given the current dilemma.
The UFT does not support the position that Hillary took, therefore, of direct
mayoral control. To be fair, however, it is also the position of all the
Democratic mayoral candidates. There are issues here that extend beyond the
reign of Giuliani.
<< Speaking of opportunism, Leo, what do you make of Hillary Clinton
endorsing Rudy's position on abolishing the NYC Board of Ed, and putting the
schools under mayoral control? What's the union's position on this?
Doug >>
Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass --
