The Board of Regents’ decision Monday to tap Merryl Tisch as chancellor is a hopeful sign for New York schools. An outspoken advocate for educational excellence, Tisch becomes the state’s first female chancellor, heading the board that sets policy for every school in New York public and private, from pre-school to post-grad.
Congratulations to her.
And the best of luck.
Tisch takes over from outgoing Chancellor Robert Bennett at a critical time.
For starters, the board must find a replacement for state
Education Commissioner Richard Mills, who is stepping down after having built a spotty record over 14 years on the job. And money is going to be a big issue, as New York’s sagging economy pinches budgets everywhere.
Her most important challenge: building on recent gains in education, especially in New York City.
This week, for instance, officials reported that the number of schools deemed in need of improvement under the No Child Left Behind law fell to 653, from 719. In the city, the number sank to 401, from 432.
City Hall, in particular, wants to make sure the trend continues, by getting Albany to renew the law that puts the
mayor unambiguously in charge of the public schools.
That law, which expires in June, gives voters someone to blame when schools underperform. And, under Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein, they’ve shown notable progress.
Tisch, to her credit, has long backed mayoral control. Yet in 2007 testimony, she called for “tweaks” to the law to allow for greater “public engagement.”
“What we need is a powerful commission . . . [with] the authority to question the department,” Tisch said. “Absolute authority is never a good thing.”
That’s worrisome to hear, because foes of mayoral control like the United Federation of Teachers and Democrats, like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who are beholden to them say precisely the same thing.
A little tweak here and a little tweak there, and pretty soon you’re on a fast track to the bad old days when the UFT had an iron grip on the classroom, when the pols controlled hiring and purchasing and when nobody cared much about the kids.
Tisch, moreover, has strong ties to DemocratsSilver, in particular.
A member of the wealthy Tisch family, she’s donated heavily to the speaker and his party. She’s also chairwoman of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, whose director is married to Silver’s chief of staff.
Meanwhile, Silver, as speaker, effectively controls the regents and thus their choice of chancellor.
The good news is that the new regents boss now insists she backs “full control” for the mayor. And Bloomberg, whose legacy rests heavily on preserving his reforms, calls her a “first-rate thinker.”
Again, Tisch has long championed genuinely vital education policies, like high standards and charter schools. We have every hope that as chancellor she’ll extend her admirable record even further.