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Bloomberg: 'Riots in the Streets' If Mayor Can't Control Schools
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 7, 2009
Modified Feb 7, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 7, 2009
Modified Feb 7, 2009
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As NYC officials attempt to convince Albany that mayoral control of the public school system is the way to continue (while the teachers union disagrees), Mayor Bloomberg said on his radio program yesterday that he was confident the Legislature would pass reauthorize mayoral control. And if not, "I think that there'd be riots in the streets, given what's the improvement. I mean, parents have choices. For the first time we're funding all the schools equally.... . If you go back and look, of all of the reforms that have got us 20% greater math scores, 20% greater English scores, 20% greater graduation rates, 20% less crime, all of these things, not one of them would have been done by the old Board of Ed. The old Board of Ed was totally dysfunctional. It was political patronage. It was pay-to-play kind of politics." One critic told the Post, "Bloomberg's bizarre comment only serves to underscore how completely out of touch he is with what public-school parents face every day."
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mayor bloomberg
mayoral control
riot in the street
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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