What's happening
This bill creates a commission to examine and make binding recommendations on New York City school governance and mayoral accountability.
Why it matters
The commission will include a diverse group of stakeholders. parents, students, teachers, administrators, support staff, and community advocates—ensuring that recommendations reflect a broad spectrum of perspectives and lived experiences in New York City schools.
Its powers go beyond mere study. , granting the commission authority to hold both public and private hearings, conduct research, and access resources and data from state and city agencies, giving it real investigative capabilities to identify systemic issues.
Recommendations made by the commission will be binding. , meaning the legislature must either fully accept or reject them, not modify them—this gives the commission’s findings unusual weight and could lead to significant and direct policy changes without typical legislative negotiation.
The timeline is designed for impact. The commission must report within one year, and the law automatically expires after the report is submitted, making this a focused, time-limited intervention aimed at immediate reform, rather than an ongoing advisory body.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Create NYC School Governance Panel
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to new york city education
- Referred to new york city education
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Create NYC School Commission
In Assembly Committee · Education · Sponsor Tremaine Wright
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6127
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 16, 2019
Introduced by Sen. MONTGOMERY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on New York City Education
AN ACT establishing a commission on New York city school governance and mayoral accountability
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. A state commission, to be known as the commission on New York city school governance and mayoral accountability, hereafter referred to as the commission, is hereby created to critically examine the effectiveness of the current school governance system and to identify shortcomings and develop recommendations for improving the New York city public school governance system.
§ 2. The members of the commission shall consist of elected and appointed parent leaders, students, administrators, teachers, support staff, and community members who are education advocates. All appointed members shall be appointed by the chancellor of the New York city department of education.
§ 3. (a) For the accomplishment of its purposes, the commission may meet and hold public and/or private hearings within or without the state, and shall have all the powers of a legislative committee pursuant to the legislative law. The commission is authorized and empowered to undertake any studies, inquiries, surveys or analyses it may deem relevant through its own personnel or in cooperation with or by agreement with any other public or private agency.
(b) To the maximum extent feasible, the commission may request and shall be entitled to receive and shall utilize and be provided with such facilities, resources and data from any court in the state and from any subdivision, department, board, bureau, commission, office, agency or other instrumentality of the state or of any political subdivision ther-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11902-01-9
S. 6127 2
eof as it deems necessary or desirable for the proper execution of its powers and duties and to effectuate the purposes set forth in this act.
§ 4. The commission shall make recommendations and a report of its findings. The commission shall submit such recommendations and report developed by it relating to issues involving the school governance system in New York city public schools, including any recommendations for legislative action as it may deem necessary and appropriate, to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly no later than the thirty-first day of December in the year next succeeding the year in which this act shall have become a law. The commission shall issue a binding recommendation which shall be presented to the legislature to completely accept or reject such recommendation.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the provisions of this act shall expire and be deemed repealed on the first day next succeeding the date of the submission of the report as required in section four of this act; and provided further, however, that the commission shall notify the legislative bill drafting commission upon the submission of its report as provided for in section four of this act in order that the commission may maintain an accurate and timely effective data base of the official text of the laws of the state or New York in furtherance of effecting the provisions of section 44 of the legislative law and section 70-b of the public officers law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act establishing a commission on New York city school governance and mayoral accountability
Purpose
To create a commission which will oversee the way
Summary of provisions
Section 1 establishes a commission to be tasked with critically examin- ing the effectiveness of the current school governance system identify shortcomings and develop recommendations for improving the NYC public school governance system. The membership will include elected and appointed parent leaders, students, administrators, teachers, support staff, and community members who are education advocates.
Section 2 establishes the effective date.
Justification
Currently, the Mayor and Chancellor of NYC have great authority over the school system. Despite multiple extensions of the NYC public school governance law since 2009, there has been very little public discourse on the merits of Mayoral control. There has been no adequate examination of Mayoral control or opportunities for parent leaders, educators, administrators and students to share their experiences and opinions on how the current system functions with legislators. Therefore, the estab- lishment of a formal commission to study mayoral control will create opportunities for parent leaders to provide input in developing a better school governance system.
Legislative history
None, new bill.
Effective date
Immediately
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.