NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATES FORUM ON EDUCATION

Herman Badillo	Michael Bloomberg	Fernando Ferrer	Mark Green	Alan Hevesi	Peter Vallone

Each candidate was provided with nine questions and asked for an interview. Of the six major party candidates—Republicans Herman Badillo and Michael Bloomberg, and Democrats Fernando Ferrer, Mark Green, Alan Hevesi and Peter Vallone—Badillo and Hevesi scheduled personal interviews, Green supplemented his written responses with a brief telephone interview, and the other three emailed their responses.

Perhaps the most heated topic concerned public school governance. Four of the candidates favor elimination of the Board of Education in favor of direct Mayor accountability for the schools. The exceptions are Ferrer, who believes no change is necessary, and Alan Hevesi, who favors expanding the Board to eleven members, giving four more appointments to the Mayor. Green and Badillo would rely on either a separate group monitoring the system or the City Council checking on the Mayor.

All of the candidates, except Bloomberg, have extensive political experience and are quite knowledgeable about education. Bloomberg certainly has executive experience. Hevesi has announced the formation of a new party, the Education Party, that will place his name on the November ballot.

If whoever is elected lives up to his campaign promises, it appears we will have a Mayor who plans to bring about significant changes in the public schools.

—Stuart Dunn (interviews conducted with help from Dr. Pola Rosen and Sarah Elzas)

Each candidate was asked the following questions. Click to read their responses.
	Do you believe the current governance of the New York City public school system needs revision? (responses)
	What do you think are the primary problems with the NYC public schools? (responses)
	Do you support merit pay for teachers? (responses)
	How would you assure safety and order in the schools? What changes need to be made in reporting or prevention? (responses)
	How would you go about getting a fair share of the state education budget for NYC? (responses)
	Do you support the charter schools program? Would you expand/limit it? (responses)

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