Mayoral Control Still Debated In State Senate

Mayor Bloomberg is unhappy that the State Senate Democrats are stalling a vote on whether to continue mayoral control of the NYC public school system and he's ratcheting up the rhetoric. His spokesman tells the Post that the Senators are essentially breaking their promise to the public: "The pledge by the Senate leadership to allow a floor vote on the bill should be honored." The Senate Democrats claim that they would be fine with voting on the bill—as long as it has some amendments, like involving parents more. Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan/Bronx) tells the NY Times, "If the mayor’s people would just sit down at a table for an hour with a pencil and our amendments, this would all be over." The Daily News' editorial from Tuesday said there doesn't need to be amendments: "The Assembly...held public hearings in every borough and took voluminous testimony before fashioning a school governance bill. In contrast, the Senate held not a single official hearing on how the schools should be run..."