Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Bloomberg and Klein on Class Size

Mayor Bloomberg talks about small high schools, but rather than invest in them, he breaks larger high schools into four or five small ones.

Klein’s one and only contract proposal to the UFT completely eliminated all limits on class size.

Worse, he actively fights small class size.

When the city was on the verge of a ballot initiative to lower class size, he personally quashed it, maintaining it would confuse the voters. Mayor Mike wanted to eliminate party primaries in NYC. He spent millions of his own dollars surreptitiously promoting this initiative, which failed. Too bad—Republicans will just have to continue calling themselves Republicans when they run.

As for the 115,000 New Yorkers who signed the petition—Mayor Mike’s vote overrides yours.

When the Campaign for Fiscal Equity won a landmark lawsuit, along with billions toward hiring better teachers and reducing class size, the judge stated NYC could be required to contribute. CFE proposed the city pay 25%. Governor Pataki proposed the city pay 40%. Mayor Bloomberg offered not one dime, and one of his reps told the New York Times they’d consider saying “No, thank you.” if they were required to actually contribute.
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