Historical Educational Policy Study on School Closures and School Choice During the Bloomberg Administration
Abstract
Between 2002 and 2013, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein used mayoral control to close over 200 schools and expand school choice in New York City. Mayoral control ended the decentralization of 32 school districts between 1969 and 2002. As a result, they centralized the mayor's power not only over education but over housing, police, public property, fire, and most public agencies. This political history examines how neoliberalist educational policies like school closures and school choice enabled Mayor Bloomberg to utilize school reform policies as a catalytic factor in New York City’s revitalization. This research study emphasizes the interconnectedness between educational policy, urban development, and economics through a historical lens. Policy Regime Theory argued that educational policy exists within the context of history. Thus, educational policies should be examined and designed within a historical context. As a result, researchers, policymakers, and community activists must examine the motives and interests at play in creating educational policies. Researchers and policymakers should design educational policy considering its impact on housing, race, police, healthcare, property, and businesses to examine how it affects the lives of students, families, and communities.
Subject Area
Education Policy|Education history|Public administration
Recommended Citation
Chatman, Danielle Terrilyn, "Historical Educational Policy Study on School Closures and School Choice During the Bloomberg Administration" (2021). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI28418306.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI28418306
