Extends expiration of current management of the city school district of the city of New York until June 30, 2020; aligns community district education council boundries with community board lines

Summary of specific provisions

Section one amends subdivision d of section 2800 of the New York city charter by adding a new paragraph 22 that gives community boards the power to coordinate with community education councils. This coordination includes providing space for meetings, providing administrative and clerical support, and helping to disseminate information to the community.

Section two amends section 2950-b of the education law to expands the number of members in the board of education of the city school district from thirteen to fifteen. This is done by giving the public advocate and the city comptroller one appointee each. The appointees must be city residents. Members of the boards are given fixed two year terms. One of the mayoral appointees must now be a parent of a child attending a charter school within the city school district.

Section 2950-b is further amended by mandating that the city board align the borders of community school districts with the lines of community districts as established by chapter sixty-nine of the New York city charter. This is to be done by the board's redistricting advisory study group. The board shall make available its report on redrawing the district lines no later. than November 1st, 2016. The final recommendation of the board shall be adopted no later than February 1st, 2017, and shall take effect on July 1st, 2018. No student attending a school prior to July 1st, 2018 will be forced to leave the school they are attending prior to that date.

Section three of the bill amends subparagraph 2 of paragraph b of subdivision 6 of section 2950-c of the education law by giving the borough president the power to fill vacancies due to there being no parents on the community education council with a child who is an English language learner or who has a child with an individualized education program.

Section four of the bill paragraph c of subdivision 6 of section 2950-c of the education law to give the borough president the tie breaking vote if there is a vacancy in a community education council for more than six months due to a tie vote in the election.

Section five of the bill amends paragraph b of subdivision 8 of section 2950c of the education law to state that the borough president shall have the power to nominate candidates for the community education council elections if there is a shortage of candidates nominated.

Section six of the bill amends subdivision 8 of section 2590-e of the education law to mandate that community education councils present their annual school report card at the subsequent community board meeting following the issuing of the report card.

Section seven of the bill makes a technical change to paragraph v of subdivision 1 of section 2590-f of the education law based on making community school districts coterminous with community board lines.

Section eight of the bill amends section 34 of chapter 91 of the laws of 2002 amending the education law, as amended by chapter 345 of the laws of 2009 to extend the effective date of these laws to June 30, 2020.

Section nine of the bill amends subdivision 12 of section 17 of chapter 345 of the laws of 2009 amending the education law to set its expiration date as the same for the laws of chapter 91 of the laws of 2002.

Section ten of the bill sets the effective date.

Justification

Chapter 91 of the laws of 2002 established a system of mayoral control over the New York city community school district which replaced the previous system in which local school boards determined education policy in New York city. During the first five years of mayoral control there were complaints that the system had swung too far away from parental participation in the schools and into the hands of a Department of Education run by the mayor of New York city. Chapter 345 of the laws of 2009 amended mayoral control in a number of ways meant to increase community and parental input and involvement in the running of city schools. Unfortunately these changes failed to go far enough to provide for meaningful parental involvement. While parent involvement was brought into the city board by mandating the inclusion of two parents with children in the public schools and the powers and responsibilities of the community education councils were expanded, the way these changes were made has not substantially increased parental involvement.

This legislation aims to make changes that will give parents the greater voice and support they need.

This legislation would give members of the city board fixed two year terms, as opposed to having them serve at the pleasure of their appointing authority. This change is meant to allow for greaten independent of the board - while the mayor and borough presidents continue to have the power to make appointments, those people they chose to appoint will have the ability to vote their conscience regarding controversial policy changes without having to fear that they will be removed. This legislation also increases the number of voices being heard at the city board. The board is being expanded to fifteen member, from the current thirteen, with the inclusion of appointees by the public advocate and the city comptroller. These city-wide elected offices play important roles in the governance of the city and should have a say in education policy. In addition, over the last decade and a half the number of parents with children in charters schools has increased significantly and the current system of parental involvement does not include their voices. For this reason, the legislation mandates that in addition to two mayoral appointees that have to be parents of children in public schools, one mayoral appointee has to be a parent with a child in a charter school in New York city.

The 2009 amendments to Mayoral control increased the powers and responsibilities of the community education councils. Unfortunately, those changes did not provide the councils with any additional support that would allow them to utilize these new powers effectively. In recent years many of these councils have also had problems in attracting the participation of parents. In 2011 the elections for community educational councils suffered from having dangerously anemic turnout in large parts of the city. Many councils report that they lack the resources and support to carry out their powers. This legislation aims to fix this in three important ways. First, it will increase the number of community education councils, currently at 32, to 59 by aligning community education council lines to those of community boards. This will give more parents the chance to participate. The legislation then empowers community boards to provide support and coordinate activities with their concurrent community education councils. They will be able to provide administrative and clerical assistance, their expertise in reaching out to the community, and space for meetings. In addition, the community education councils will keep the community board informed on education issues, including by providing the boards directly with the annual report card on the condition of schools in the district. Finally, in order to ensure that there are enough parents participating in all the community education councils, borough presidents are given the ability to ensure that vacancies in the councils are filled, so that the councils can be fully staffed at all times.

Prior legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implications

none

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately, provided that:

Sections one through seven shall take effect on the hundred twentieth day after this act shall have become law; and provided that the amendments to sections 2590-b, 2590-c, 2590-e, and section 2590-f of the education law in the appropriate sections of the bill shall not affect the expiration and repeal or reversion of such sections and shall expire and be deemed repealed therewith.