Cathie Black, Mayor Bloomberg’s pick for chancellor, was dealt an unexpected setback yesterday when a crucial state panel rejected her – even as the state schools chief suggested he’d OK the publishing executive if an educator served as her second-in-command.
The eight-member, state-appointed panel, which met in Manhattan, voted 4-2 to deny Black a waiver from the education credentials required of superintendents.
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The other two voted “not at this time,” a compromise position that could require Bloomberg to submit a new waiver application that creates the position of chief academic officer, who would serve with considerable autonomy as No. 2.
The vote was a nonbinding recommendation to state Education Commissioner David Steiner, who will make the final determination.
But Steiner tipped his hand by telling reporters that before the meeting, he had indicated his preference to panel members for a vote of “not at this time,” a strong hint that he’d be open to giving Black the job if she had the right backup.
“I will weigh their advice and insight as I consider the decision before me,” said Steiner, whose decision could come as early as today.
Officials at City Hall and the Department of Education declined comment.
The vote was received with shock in education and political circles, largely because many of the panelists who failed to back Black have direct ties to Bloomberg or Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.
“People have interpreted mayoral control to mean that Bloomberg gets his way, but it seems the commissioner and the people he appointed didn’t see it that way,” said Pedro Noguera, a professor of education at NYU. “I don’t think the mayor made a very persuasive case for why he thought Black was the best person to lead the school system.”
A former state Education official said Bloomberg would likely go for a power-sharing chancellorship rather than risk seeing his high-profile pick rejected.
That would move the city toward a system embraced years ago in Chicago.
But the official observed, “I don’t think that really works, because you lose accountability in the process.”
Additional reporting
by Joe Walker