City controller William Thompson wants to tweak mayoral control to create more transparency and give parents a greater voice.

“It is time to put the ‘public’ back in public education,” the mayoral hopeful told state Assembly members at the fifth and final in a series of hearings on the law giving the mayor full reign over the schools. The law expires in June.

Thompson advocated for a school board made up of nine members chosen by the mayor and serving two-year terms.

Nominees would be picked by a 19-member committee drawn from a broad pool, including four parents, a teacher, a principal and five mayoral picks.

The mayor now gets to appoint a majority of members to the Panel for Education Policy and can replace them at will.

Thompson also said an independent body should be formed to audit test scores and graduation rates, since “concerns over data manipulation have arisen.”

Pointing to the millions of dollars spent by the Department of Education on no-bid contracts, he urged that the DOE be held to the same purchasing rules as any other city agency.

DOE Deputy Chancellor Chris Cerf later defended the agency’s procurement policies, saying no-bid contracts made up only about 3% of the total pie.

To help shore up parental involvement, Thompson said principals should be held accountable for creating effective school leadership teams.

Source: NY Daily News