Editorial: With great power comes great responsibility

Earlier this month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg successfully wrestled control of New York City’s public schools away from the Board of Education – something every mayor for 30 years has tried, and failed, to do. The Horizon applauds that achievement. For the first time in many, many years, there is cause to be optimistic.

Few, if any, would argue that our schools are in a heinous state of existence. Most buildings are literally falling apart and most students are walking away with a gravely inadequate education. Drastic times call for drastic measures and at this point, any change is welcome.

Should anybody think this change is meaningless, consider the political liability the mayor is assuming. The performance of New York’s public schools will become the deciding factor in every mayoral election in the foreseeable future, most especially in 2004 when Mr. Bloomberg seeks reelection.

Oftentimes people decide which candidate they will vote for in a presidential election based upon whom the candidate would name to the Supreme Court. In the 2000 election, George W. Bush made it clear he would fill any vacancies with justices who opposed legalized abortion. The former vice president, Al Gore, said he would fill vacancies with pro-choice justices. Thus, if you wanted abortion to stay legal, you probably voted for Mr. Gore out of fear that a Supreme Court stacked with pro-life judges would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and make abortion illegal. Expect a similar “litmus test” to occur during the 2004 mayoral election. Who candidates would select to be Schools Chancellor will likely become as important as the candidates, themselves.

This is a good thing.

When it comes to the decisions that truly affect our students’ educations, parents have no real power because they do not vote for anyone who has any real power. With decision-making power centralized in the Board of Education, no one was directly accountable to voters.

The mayor asked for that accountability.

He may find the job of revitalizing the schools more difficult than expected, in which case he will find it difficult to win a second term. People who did not vote before but have children in schools now have a reason to vote.

Like the way your kid’s education has changed? Vote Bloomberg.

Don’t like the way your kid’s education has changed? Vote for someone else.

Since Mayor Bloomberg has not yet released details on the classroom-level changes he intends to make, we really don’t know what improvements to expect. What we do know is that this new management will bring a new approach and a new way of thinking.

At the very least, the community school boards will be eliminated a year from now, bringing a long overdue end to that debacle.