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Followers of NYC education politics waited with baited breath yesterday as the clock ticked its way towards midnight, and the expiration deadline for the 2002 mayoral control law rapidly approached.

I followed this story with increasing interest over the past several months (see here , here and here) and last reported on June 16th that  a bill introduced by Speaker Sheldon Silver to extend mayoral control beyond the June 30th deadline (with certain amendments) was making its way through the Assembly.

But ongoing dysfunction in the State Senate (don’t even get me started) prevented the timely renewal of the mayoral control law, and when the clock struck midnight last night, it officially expired.

So now what?

Will the New York City public school system descend into a state of senate-like chaos? Will there be (as Mayor Bloomberg predicted) rioting in the streets? Not quite. In fact, so far, very little has changed.

By law, when mayoral control expires, power automatically shifts back to a seven-member city Board of Education. The mayor appoints two members, and each borough president appoints one. In theory, this should mark an end to the mayor’s almost unilateral control over the schools. But in practice, the mayor is trying to retain power by persuading at least two borough presidents to appoint members who will approve of his policies. So far, his powers of persuasion seem to have worked on Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer, and Staten Island borough president, James P. Molinaro. As I type these words, the newly resurrected Board of Education is meeting together for the first time.

Among the Board’s priorities will be deciding whether to reappoint Joel I. Klein as chancellor so he can continue his work uninterrupted. Also, (according to an excellent GothamSchools article providing a step-by-step guide for what must happen, by law, when mayoral control expires) the Board will have to elect its own president; begin collecting salaries ($15,000 per year for members and $20,000 for the president); approve a new school budget (since the old one expired when the mayoral control did); and figure out what to do about community school boards.

Prior to mayoral control, New York City’s 32 community school boards had real power to oversee middle and high schools in their districts and to hire superintendents. By law, these school boards need to be reconstituted, but elections can't be held until next May. So what happens until then? The short answer is: there are several possibilities. And it’s pretty complicated. As is what to do about school superintendents, who under mayoral control were appointed by the chancellor, and technically should now be appointed by (non existent) community school boards. Oh, and did I mention that summer school officially starts today?

Sigh. In the interest of keeping things running smoothly in the short term, I imagine that it’s in everybody’s best interest to maintain the status quo (i.e. keep Joel I. Klein as chancellor, and the existing superintendents). But what about the long term? How long will it take for Albany to finally vote on this issue? And will they pass the amended mayoral control bill that was already passed by the Assembly? So much is up in the air. Meanwhile, the fate of New York city schools, and most importantly, the students who populate them, hangs in the balance.

(Photo: JulieFinestone’s flickr photostream/Creative Commons)