Mayor Eric Adams could receive a three-year extension of mayoral control over the city’s public schools, with some checks on his power, according to a proposal presented Monday to Assembly members at a closed Democratic conference.
“The plan that we talked about was three years during the course of the presentation,” Assembly Education Committee Chairman Michael Benedetto told The Post.
“There were many [legislators] who thought that was OK, but also a few who thought that was too long,” Benedetto added.
“Some of them suggested possible changes to it,” he said. “So right now it’s still in formation — but we’re getting close.”
The tentative win for Adams, whose initial ask was for three years, could come with an additional mayoral appointee to the Panel for Educational Policy — and maintain his plurality on the pseudo-school board, Benedetto said.
In return, the new PEP would have 18 members, according to the plan, up from the 15 permitted under its current structure. Additional members could represent certain parent interests — for example, families of students with disabilities.
One member could be a charter school parent, Benedetto said.
State Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), who chairs the upper chamber’s New York City Education Committee, told The Post he’d rather nix the charter school from the Assembly’s proposed plan, instead favoring a parent whose child is learning English as a second language.
He was also on board with a plan to tie a smaller class size requirement into an extension of mayoral control, capping classrooms in the low 20s of kids.
Liu, who was at an event with Department of Education officials on Friday, said he’s discussing the state of negotiations on a “near daily basis” with Adams and School Chancellor David Banks.
“He’d like to get it done,” said Liu.
Appointees would also have various fixed terms, the legislators agreed, decided by the mayor.
Most of Adams’ picks would get two years — three appointees would get three years, including the charter school parent, and two appointees would get four years on the panel, Benedetto said.
Term limits have been floated around as a mechanism to block the mayor from axing members he does not agree with — a move that Adams’ predecessors have been known to use on dissenters.
In the long term, the legislature could form an independent “review group,” that would have to report back to state lawmakers in two years to assess how schools are progressing under mayoral control.