The 10th Amendment to the Constitution: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people (What does “to the people” mean?)
Education is not mentioned in the constitution and as per the constitution is “reserved for the states” Fifty states, fifty different systems of education governance. In states the governor or the state legislature selects a governing board who selects a state education leader, a commissioner. States are divided into geographic school districts with elected school boards, about 14,000 nationally, 700 in New York State, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers and NYC, the suburban districts and hundreds of districts with three or fewer schools. Each district funds schools through local property taxes determined by the elected school boards and state formula-driven aid.
In NYS education is governed by the Board of Regents, a seventeen member board elected for five year terms by a joint meeting of the state legislature, actually by the Speaker of the Assembly, although not in the law legislators from the geographic region meet informally and recommend a candidate to the Speaker. Any NYS resident can apply and public interviews take place before members of the Education Committees, the interviews are live-streamed.
The Regents choose a State Commissioner, the Regents meetings take place monthly and are live-streamed.
The website of the NYS Department of Education: https://www.nysed.gov/
The meeting schedule of the Board of Regents: https://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/dates
About fifty professions fall under the auspices of the Board of Regents and the Commissioner. https://www.op.nysed.gov/
For a dozen years I worked with Dr. Cashin, the Regents member representing Kings County, I attended Regents meetings, researched issues and interacted with the UFT staffers who attend Regents meetings. The Regents meetings are live streamed and the debate is, at times, contentious.
The 700 school districts elect school boards in May, and vote on the education budget proposed by the school board. State law places a 2% cap on budget increases. The NYC school budget is part of the NYC budget.
Education funding is the largest item in the state budget, The 25-26 budget for education was $37B, 15% of the budget
The NYC school governance structure, the Panel for Educational Priorities is unique, since 2002 a mayoral control system.
The Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) is the 24-member governing body that oversees New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) and acts as the board of education for the New York City Department of Education (DOE). The bylaws of the PEP define their role: “The Panel for Educational Policy shall advise the Chancellor on policy matters affecting the welfare of the city school district and its pupils.”
The meetings are desultory, voting on a long list of contracts, almost always approved, comments by the chancellor, speakers with three minutes to comment, frequently a long line of speakers. the issues of the day, see below, ignored
* Why did the state test scores dip so dramatically?
* Should the PEP explore using alternative procedures for the five specialized high schools NOT required to use the SHSAT?
* Does the chancellor intend to ask a task force to explore the question of racial segregation in schools?
The PEP members occasionally ask a question, they clearly appear to have no influence on the setting of education policy.
Each school district has a Community Education Council (CEC) elected by parent activists and appointed by the boro presidents. Aside from approving school zoning lines the Councils are advisory.
Pursuant to New York State Education Law Section 2590-h, every public school in New York City is required to maintain a functioning School Leadership Team (SLT). These teams, hopefully, act as the primary vehicle for shared decision-making, helping to shape a collaborative school culture and educational policies.
Each district is required to have a District Leadership Team,
The central team of the City School District of New York City team shall also include a majority of teachers upon designation by the teachers’ collective bargaining organization ... In the case of District 75, District 79, and the [a ]high school [division] districts, [special education division, and the chancellor’s district, the Chancellor of the City School District of the City of New York] the respective superintendent shall appoint the members of the team. The team[, a majority of which shall be teachers,] shall include the superintendent of the district for which the team was formed or his or her designee; members of the District Leadership Team (DLT); school administrators upon designation by the administrators’ collective bargaining organization; a majority of teachers upon designation by the teachers’ collective bargaining organization;
By statute teachers, selected by the union, serve on the School Leadership Team and the District Leadership Team; however, have no role on the Panel for Education Policy, the PEP.
At the school level a UFT School Consultation is a monthly contractual meeting between a school principal and the union’s school consultation committee under Article 19H of the DOE-UFT contract School consultations mirror district-level meetings (district reps with superintendents) and citywide meetings (UFT president with the DOE Chancellor)
Should teachers, selected by the Collective Bargaining Agent (UFT) serve as members of the Panel for Educational Priorities, the School Board?
Germany has a system called co-determination, workers serve on corporate boards,
Codetermination aims principally to give workers a voice in the company decisions. This means matters on organisation of the business, the conditions of work and the management of personal and economic decisions affecting the future of the company and jobs. Workers therefore choose Works council representatives and members of the supervisory board to represent them.
Pros: While at the school and district level teachers are part of the educational decision-making process, aside from formal consultation meetings, the decisions impacting the entire system are made by the mayor. The voice of classroom teachers is not heard. For example,
* The Spring 2026 State Test scores dropped dramatically, the chancellor brushed aside, why did the scores drop?
* The Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) is embedded in law, the passing rate for Black and Hispanic students is incredibly low: should the Department use other criteria for the five small high schools currently using the SHSAT? The law does not apply to these schools.
* A national study claims NYS schools are the most segregated in the nation. The chancellor asked five districts to explore remedies with no time lines. Do the claims of school segregation simply reflect neighborhood housing patterns?
These are just a few of the issues that are shelved, teachers serving on the PEP could highlight these and other critical issues.
Cons: The UFT is the collective bargaining organization, its role is to negotiate a contract and through provisions of the contract ensure the compliance with the contract. Management and labor have clearly defined roles and should not be intertwined.
What are your views? Suggestions?
The Albany legislative session convenes in January, while mayoral control is clearly unpopular the school community, parents and teachers, have not coalesced around a replacement.
