Tom Menino on Education

First mayor to gain control of big-city school system

[NYC Mayor Mike] Bloomberg is the most visible of the mayors in this position since he runs the largest city in the US. In 1992 Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was actually the first city mayor to gain control of his city's school system. Bloomberg followed suit when he was elected in NYC and other big city mayors have followed.

The single biggest reason that a mayor should not control a school district is that it would put too much power in the hands of the single chief executive of both the city and its schools. It is a recipe for disaster because the mayor in control will be primarily obligated to govern the city first, and that could come at the expense of the school system.

In-district charter schools and raise charter cap

But if that does not happen, I am prepared to support another way forward--I will call for lifting the cap on charter schools. Let me be clear: charter schools are not a magical cure-all for public education. There are excellent charters, just as there are underperforming charters; and there are excellent traditional schools, just as there are underperforming traditional schools.

Performance pay for teachers in Boston public schools

I believe we should connect educators' work with student achievement and reward people for classroom results. Today I am proposing to introduce performance pay to the Boston Public Schools. I want to reward teams of educators who achieve significant results in the classroom of our lowest performing schools. These teams will jointly be accountable for their students' results, fostering greater collaboration. Performance pay will help accomplish what we all want: attracting more excellent educators to our school system and rewarding them for the results their students achieve. I look forward to working with all stakeholders to make this important reform a reality.

Longstanding opponent of publicly funded tuition vouchers

Mayor Menino is a longstanding opponent of tuition tax credits and publicly funded tuition vouchers for the parents of Catholic school students.