Mayor Bloomberg and Education, Essay Example

Education is a vital component of technological and economic growth and development. As such it is held in high regard by both the local and national government. The former mayor of New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg had always pegged his legacy on his policies on education and the reforms that he sought to realize within the education sector in New York. His pledge to the people of New York was to make Education is priority if he was elected to office, thus the nickname “Education Mayor”. His tenure was filled with some controversy on the education front with many having mixed and varying opinions on his performance, his policies and reforms. He aimed at overhauling the education system and schools within the city of New York. This paper will look at the different reforms and policies that the mayor put in proposed and/or put in place, and based on facts, develop a valid and honest opinion on this mayor regarding education.

The Education Budget

Mayor Bloomberg believed that the education system, at the time he stepped into office, was grossly underfunded. He believed that there was great potential for these schools to record better results and improve the quality of education received by students. In 2002, after his election into office, he sought to increase the amount of funding that schools received. In 2002, the budget allocation for education in New York City was at $12.95 billion. As of December 2013, when he left office, the education budget was at $24.65 billion (Subramanian). Mayor Bloomberg managed to almost double the amount spent on education within New York. This translated to $20,199 in terms of spending per student in 2013, up from $10,694 in 2002 (Subramanian).

However, the education budget had an Achilles heel in the form of budget cuts in some of the art programs. Owing to the high cost of maintaining and running some programs, the mayor looked to cut the funding for these programs and redirect the funds towards the mainstream programs and expanding his education policy. Most of the programs that suffered this cut were mainly the artistic programs.

Closure of Failing Schools

One of the former mayor’s signature strategies was the closure of perpetually failing schools. He believed that one of the main reasons that New York City’s education was at a deplorable state in 2001 was the high number of failing schools. Many schools failed to graduate even half of its students with a huge number of students recording low test scores. This was faced with formidable opposition, especially when in 2012, 23 schools were before the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), instituted by the mayor, faced full or partial  closure. The mayor succeeded to close more than 150 schools that were labelled “failing schools” (The Education of Michael Bloomberg).

Growth and Creation of Charter Schools

Bloomberg was a great believer in charter schools. These are schools that were formed as a result of partnership between the local government and the private sector. These charter schools are funded by the government, but are run by the public sector through private corporate boards. He pulled together resources and got some wealthy philanthropists to raise the cap that existed in charter schools on two occasions, in 2007 and 2010 (Bloomberg 25).

Increase in Graduation Rates

The mayor’s strategies have managed to yield one considerable and positive result, the increase in the number of children graduating from high school (Chapman). The city of New York records a 61.3% graduation rate as of 2013, up from 50.9% in 2002. This has also been facilitated by the increase in number of public schools from 1,200 in 2002 to 1,819 in 2013 (Chapman).

Opinion on Bloomberg’s Education Policies

Bloomberg’s education policies may appear to be effective from the surface. However, these policies fail to produce any other measure or gauge of success apart from the fact that the graduation rates have increased considerable during his tenure as mayor. This is because these policies have had more negative effects than positive ones.

The closure of failing schools has proven to be detrimental to the society. This is owing to the fact that most of the 150 schools that Bloomberg has closed had unbalanced numbers of children who were at risk. This is because these schools that are considered “failing schools” have students who were too old for their grade. This is because they have been previously held back due to deplorable economic status and they require specially tailored education services. These schools usually give away free lunches to their students, and as statistics shows, such children are 11 times more likely to fail (Giroux). This is the same case with children who are too old for their grade. This has created a situation where students from poor backgrounds are locked out of education services and programs that can meet their special education needs while at the same time remain affordable to them.

A ripple effect of these closures has been felt across New York as the students from the closed schools are transferred to nearby schools, causing overcrowding in some of the classes. This causes these schools to stretch their available resources, leading to a downward spiral that also causes these schools to become eligible for closure by the Panel for Education Policy. Furthermore, as many of the students who are too old for their grade are not easily accepted into the better performing schools, they opt to drop out, increasing the dropout rate within the city of New York. This domino effect has considerable negative bearings on the socioeconomic state of the city of New York.

While charter schools provide for better management of school resources, they fail to meet the education needs that currently plague the city of New York. Charter schools always enrol fewer students who either come from extreme poverty, are English-language learners and/or are special-needs. Public schools enrol twice the number of these students than the charter schools. This means that a huge number of special-needs, poor and English-learning students are concentrated in public schools, leading to a further increase in the fail rate of these schools, leaving them with very little resources to cater to their needs.

Since charter schools are privately managed, they usually hire their teachers privately and do not have to go through the rigorous recruitment standards associated with public schools. This means that these schools can hire staff who are not unionized. This means that the teachers cannot be fully realize job satisfaction and enjoy the protection that a union offers them. Furthermore, these teachers are usually unqualified, inadequate and lack experience. The problem is further compounded by the fact that these teachers only stay for 3 to 4 years.In conclusion, Most of Bloomberg’s education policies have only served to reinforce the inequalities within society. This is because these policies have created a huge rift between students from a rich background and those from a poor background. It is evident that students from a well-off background, who can afford quality education will receive better opportunities as compared to the poor, special-needs student from the underperforming public school. The neglect of these students and the closure of school that causes overcrowding only further compounds the problem for these students and the city as a whole.

Works Cited

Bloomberg, Michael. A stronger, more resilient New York. New York: The City of New York, 2013. Print.

Chapman, Ben. “Mayor Bloomberg’s education reforms yielded mixed results.” 19 December 2013. NY Daily News.http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bloomberg-doubled-education-budget-reform-efforts-yielded-article-1.1552573. 15 March 2014.

Giroux, Henry A. Education and the crisis of public values : challenging the assault on teachers, students, & public education. New York: Peter Lang, 2012. Print.

O’Day, Jeniffer A, Catherine S Bitter and Louis M. Gomez. Education reform in New York City : ambitious change in the nation’s most complex school system. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press, 2011. Print.

Santos, Fernanda. “Bloomberg Focuses His Legacy on Education Reform.” 13 January 2012. The New York Times.Internet Source. 15 March 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/nyregion/bloomberg-focuses-his-legacy-on-education-reform.html?_r=1&>.

Subramanian, Mathangi. “Education after Bloomberg.” 3 January 2014. Al Jazeera America. Internet Source. 15 March 2014. <http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/1/education-reformmichaelbloomberg.html>.

“The Education of Michael Bloomberg.” 17 April 2013. The Nation. Internet Source. 15 March 2014. <http://www.thenation.com/article/173896/education-michael-bloomberg?page=0,1#>.

Yanushevsky, Rafael. Improving education in the US : a political paradox. New York: Algora Pub, 2011. Print.