Hold Bloomberg Accountable -- Queens Chronicle Editors

For a lucid review of the current budget conflict, be sure to read the Queens Chronicle's editorial: "Place Blame For School Cuts Where It's Due" (full article here). The editors criticize DOE for their "smoke and mirrors media campaign" and point out how the administration that often talks about accountability is working hard to shift the blame. Excerpt here:

But Klein is wrong in shifting the blame to state legislators, who allocated that $63 million as extra funding for struggling schools. Were the city to have kept its end of the bargain by meeting that $99 million dollar shortfall in the first place, that state funding could be used toward its intended purpose: helping struggling schools. Instead it is being leveraged as a political tool to close a gap the administration has created for itself.

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Parents and educators rightly feel they are being forced to choose between inequitable cuts and short-changing special needs schools because of the mayor’s Band-Aid approach. Keep the blame where its due. In this era of ostensibly increased accountability in schools, our students deserve as much.