By Josh Rogers
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he does not want to take away the mayor’s control of the schools but is looking to give parents a “meaningful vehicle” to influence the decisions.
“This is not a matter of control, it’s a matter of transparency,” Silver told reporters Friday after delivering a speech on World Trade Center development. “It’s a matter of being heard. When people are heard, people react to what they’re saying. The question now is whether they have the opportunity to be heard, and creating the vehicles by which they can be heard without affecting who ultimately makes the decision.”
Mayoral control of the schools is set to expire at the end of June and the Assembly and State Senate are considering changes to the five-year-old law, which gave Mayor Bloomberg the power to pick the schools chancellor.
Community Board 1, some education advocates and some parent organizations have called for setting up a board independent of the mayor to run the schools. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein have resisted any dilution of their powers tying improvements to reading and math scores to the clear lines of accountability.
As for World Trade Center impasse, Silver took developer Larry Silverstein’s side in part – calling for the construction of a third tower as quickly as possible – but said Silverstein has to take more of the risk.
“We can’t sit around, wait for the economy to improve and then build into what may be the next downturn of the economy by the time we complete it,” Silver said. “I think that Larry has to take more of the risk. The Port Authority has to probably go forward and assist in the actual building.”
