Year Two Report on the Campaign for Better Schools: Outcomes of the Mayoral Control Debate--Changes to NYC Governance Legislation and Long-Term Effects, May 2009-May 2010
Author: Gold, Eva
Date: 2010-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Schools,Urban Schools,Governance,Grants,Public Officials,City Government,Politics of Education,Political Campaigns,Institutional Cooperation,Citizen Participation,Parent Participation,Community Involvement,Educational Legislation,Political Influences,Program Effectiveness

Since 1995, the Donors' Education Collaborative (DEC) has supported a range of groups--advocacy, organizing, research and policy groups--who advocate for, or whose members come from, diverse constituencies concerned about public education in New York City (NYC). DEC has also encouraged collaborations among these types of groups to leverage their influence on education policy at the Department of Education (DoE), city and state levels. The groups, consisting of youth, parents and community leaders, operate in all five NYC boroughs. In December 2007, DEC provided a planning grant to the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), with the understanding that in collaboration with the Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ), the Community Involvement Project of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform (CIP), and the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), they would design a campaign to ensure that a wide range of parent and community voices were part of any public discussion of the future of mayoral control. Following six months of planning, these initiating groups received a DEC grant to build a broader collaborative that would mobilize parents, youth and community members to participate in the mayoral control debate, with the hope that their voices would help inform the forthcoming mayoral control legislation. The grant period extended from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, the date for sunset of the state legislation that initially established mayoral control of NYC schools. This grant provided DEC with an opportunity to take a fresh look at the impact its grant making strategy was having on the broader NYC educational policy environment. DEC invited Research for Action, working in collaboration with Professor Jeffrey Henig of Teachers College, to evaluate the initiative for that purpose. The evaluation has been conducted in two parts. A Year One Report, covering the period May 2008-May 2009, focused on the political environment in which the Campaign emerged, how Campaign members worked jointly to create a platform for making changes to mayoral control, their success in gaining visibility and legitimacy for their positions, and the role of DEC's funding in building the capacity of the Campaign to be a player in the mayoral control debate. The Year Two Report covers May 2009-May 2010 and continues the story of the Campaign and its impacts both on the NYC school governance legislation and on the city's long-term educational and civic environment. Appended are: (1) Fieldwork and Data Analyzed; (2) Campaign Initiating Groups; (3) Campaign for Better Schools Steering Committee; and (4) Final Campaign Platform. (Contains 6 figures and 67 footnotes.)