New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has promised that some principals in the nation’s largest school system will have greater authority over local school decisions, such as hiring and budgets. This endeavor reflects the latest move in Bloomberg’s on-going school reform efforts.

NYC is perhaps one of the few areas in the country where the schools are run by the mayor, rather than an independent school board. Bloomberg’s school reforms, if they can be seriously called that, have taken bureaucracy to new heights with layers of government overseeing additional layers of government. Ostensibly such reforms have been designed to ensure schools measure up, but rarely has bureaucracy succeeded in creating a better educational environment for children.

Now Bloomberg says some NYC schools can be freed from the yoke of bureaucracy if they agree to meet certain performance standards. It’s unclear exactly what these performance standards will entail, but most likely it will involve more testing and rote memorization for students, with few students developing a capacity for independent thought or analytical problem solving.

The mayor’s approach is a promising first step, but unfortunately such reforms don’t go nearly far enough. Yes principals and local officials should have greater autonomy but so too should parents. This reform effort speaks nothing of the need for greater parental involvement, an essential component in the success of any school.

Bloomberg contends, principals will be held accountable for their school’s performance and those principals who don’t make the grade will be forced out. In reality not only should the principal be forced to meet certain standards but so too should the teachers and the school as a whole. If schools were forced to compete, they would be more inclined to improve. The NYC public school system, like every other public school system in the country, operates in a vacuum with no real challenge to their hegemony; as a result many public schools throughout the country produce marginal results at best.

Word to the wise: if you are a NYC resident with children start shopping for a private school early, and be sure to choose one that places a high value on academics and parental responsibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/nyregion/13educ.html?hp&ex=1150257600&en=cefdda08fcfd0ea7&ei=5094&partner=homepage