The management of the New York City public schools is becoming an issue in the political campaign now taking place. Almost all the candidates for public office have had some harsh words for the central Board of Education. Some have taken the position that the central board is so bad that it should be abolished -- or weakened to the point of destruction -- and that the schools would be managed better by the 32 decentralized community school boards.
Last week this same general view - that the running of the schools should be turned over to the community boards entirely - was supported by a number of individuals and organizations, some of whom were responsible for the bitter community control conflicts of the 1960's. These groups are as unrepresentative today as they were a decade ago. But as long as they are supported by tax-free foundation money, they will continue in their efforts to pit teachers, students and parents against each other.
What is surprising in this election campaign is the fact that while everybody has been willing to attack 110 Livingston Street, no one has said a word about community school boards. At the same time that the old community control groups were demanding more control and power for the districts, The New York Times disclosed that in one district alone there were 32 principals employed even though there were only 20 schools in the district. This means that while thousands of East Harlem schoolchildren in the district are in need of special help, the district is wasting nearly $500,000 - maybe more - on unnecessary patronage plums.
Only the Tip of an Iceberg
A complete investigation should be made. The revelation about principals without schools is only the tip of an iceberg. And there is no reason to believe that this practice and similar ones are confined to only one of our community school districts. There are undoubtedly others, and some of the waste may be much larger than the $500,000 indicated in just this one aspect of the District 4 management. Of course, not every community board has engaged in such patronage, and many conscientiously try to keep administrative overhead to a minimum. But if each community district wasted only the amount revealed in the District 4 disclosures, that
would represent a loss of $16 million; the chances are that the loss is much greater.
Of course, the central board and the chancellor must share the blame. One of the reasons the schools have a central board and chancellor is to make sure that districts do not engage in practices like these. But so far the central board and chancellor have failed to act - either in District 4 or in other districts which put political patronage ahead of the welfare of pupils.
The evidence is clear. Any move to give community boards greater power over money and jobs is likely to result in less money being used for children. If there is to be a change in the management of our schools, it must be in the opposite direction - the direction which Mayor Beame has suggested. There must be greater power given to central authority to provide leadership and eliminate waste. The central board must clean up the districts - and it must do more than it has to root our waste in its own headquarters.
The issue is a big one. Mismanagement always is. But at this juncture in the city's history, good school management could mean the difference between the survival or death of our city. A better school system is needed ifwe are to retain and rebuild the economic base of our city. Those who divert money away from children to the pockets of their political supporters are driving both taxpayers and businesses out of the city.
WINS: 'Madness Has Crept Into the System'
We agree with much of what radio station WINS said in a recent editorial: "The report of a school district in Manhattan, District 4 in East Harlem, having more principals than schools, is only the latest indication of the madness that has crept into the city's educational system - and that has lowered standards and robbed many children of a chance to learn and grow.
"Nearly half a million dollars is being spent on these extra principals, and nothing the local school board has said in any way justifies this waste. A lot of children in the city are being cheated, and their parents are being fooled. The recent community school board elections delivered the message. These boards should be scrapped. Parents and other members of the community clearly do not have any interest in them. Too often they serve as private empires that drain money away from the classroom.
"The central board indicates, as usual, that it probably is powerless to do anything about the situation in District 4. The central board has a long history of failure. The board can correctly talk about lack of funds -- but that is no excuse, for example, for letting tough kids attack other students and teachers in the classrooms and get away with it. It seems the board always uses money as the reason for inaction. Sometimes that is valid. But we're fed up with excuses for failure. They city's political and educational power structure must show some determination, guts and courage to improve the public school system now, or turn the power over to others."