US News

‘POISON PILL’ FOR MAYOR

Defiant state Senate Democratic leader John Sampson proposed 11th-hour legislation yesterday to curb City Hall’s control over schools by imposing fixed terms on appointees to the Panel for Educational Policy — a move Mayor Bloomberg’s office branded a “poison pill” aimed at killing mayoral control.

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Sampson’s bill would allow the mayor to continue to appoint the majority to the policy board — eight of 13 members.

But the measure also includes a provision requiring board members to serve firm two-year terms, instead of at the mayor’s pleasure.

That means renegade board members could vote against the mayor’s wishes on major policy issues without fear of being fired — a proposal Bloomberg opposes.

Sampson’s measure adds more uncertainty to the fate of mayoral control amid the circus-like gridlock in the Senate.

The school-governance law lapses at 11:59:59 p.m. next Tuesday. If it’s not renewed, mayoral control would be eliminated.

“This is a poison pill and everyone knows it,” a Bloomberg official said. “It’s a vote to let mayoral control die and return to the old Board of Education.”

The Sampson bill also recommends opening a $25 million parents’ training academy, which a Bloomberg aide described as a “pork barrel.”

Bloomberg has endorsed a mayoral-control bill that passed the state Assembly; it omits fixed terms and a parents’ academy.

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Sampson submitted his bill a day after Bloomberg told The Post he would oppose last-minute bids to curtail his powers to run the schools.

Gov. Paterson has put the Assembly bill on his list of items for the Senate to approve in the special legislative session he ordered.

carl.campanile@nypost.com