Members of the Mayors and Public Schools Task Force, convened by Conference Advisory Board Chair Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, met on Wednesday afternoon. The meeting began with a presentation by Danica Petroshius, Majority Education Advisor to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, who provided a brief overview of federal policies and funding related to education. She noted that education was the dominant theme in the recent presidential election and the key stated priority of the new President, who is expected to unveil an education bill in the very near future. Recent and pending legislation promise increased funding in such areas as the hiring of new teachers, after-school programming, Title I education, and teacher quality.

Ms. Petroshius stated that there are a number of opportunities for mayors to influence the debate on education policy and invited their feedback. The new President's anticipated education bill is one of these, as are some pending or anticipated bills including the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is up for reauthorization this year, and the Republican "Straight A's" Bill. Other areas where mayors' voices need to be heard include early literacy, teacher quality and school construction. Mayor Menino noted that some of the mayors' key education priorities are already contained in Mayor Brent Coles' 10-point plan. Ms. Petroshius invited mayors who wanted more information on specific provisions of education policies to visit the Department of Education website or to call her office at (202)224-5501.

After the short presentation, member mayors-several of whom are former school teachers-discussed a number of common challenges facing educators and mayors. Fresno Mayor Alan Autry wondered if the federal government has any long-range plans to address the lack of English skills among immigrants, particularly Mexicans, noting that there is a 60 percent school dropout rate among Hispanics in Fresno. He suggested that the recent election of a new Mexican president presents a "window of opportunity" to address this issue in a bi-lateral fashion. Atlantic City Mayor James Whelan raised the issue of teacher burnout due to the challenges of having to incorporate ESL and special needs students into regular classrooms, not having enough time to teach, and student discipline problems. A number of mayors provided examples of how some of these problems have been approached in their own communities, including the example of a private/public partnership with Cisco Systems whereby high-school students are provided technical training and become eligible to work at Cisco Systems upon graduation. Mayor Menino mentioned a Boston partnership with Merrill Lynch that involves assistance with recruiting and mentoring new teachers. A number of mayors agreed that solutions to these complex problems do not lie solely with the federal government but must be addressed at all levels of society.

In closing, Mayor Menino said that The U.S. Conference of Mayors would request a meeting in the very near future with Secretary-designate of Education Dr. Rodney Paige to discuss mayoral concerns.