Four elected officials teamed up with the teachers union yesterday to push a bill that would eliminate mayoral control over the city’s school system.
Democratic state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, Queens Assemblyman David Weprin, and City Council Members Jumaane Williams and Robert Jackson rallied with United Federation of Teachers rep Carmen Alvarez on the steps of City Hall.
Montgomery and Weprin’s bill, introduced in the Senate and Assembly on Friday, would reinstall the city Board of Education, which would choose the chancellor and set education policy.
“I’ve been to too many meetings where the parents are crying and pleading for the board to pay attention,” said Montgomery, who The Post recently revealed racked up more per-diem expenses than any other state senator in the past three years. “Mayoral control does not work. Control of our schools must be put back in the hands of educational professionals.”
Mark Botnick, a spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg, said, “This measure has failed time and time again, and we are confident it will follow suit this year.”