By Joan Crigger
August 5, 2002

During a lively session with Pia Saengswang, Associate Director of the Broad Foundation, and Mike Casserly, Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools, mayors indicated their priorities on education for the next year and heard some of the implications on local school districts of the "No Child Left Behind" Act which was passed by Congress last year.

Conference of Mayors President Boston Mayor Thomas M Menino opened the discussion by reminding mayors that the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Broad Foundation have entered into a new partnership this year called the Mayors- Initiative on Leadership in Education (MILE). "The Mayors- Initiative for Leadership in Education is exactly what we need to continue the progress and education reforms that mayors have made in cities and to provide all mayors, whether they are directly responsible for their schools or not, the opportunity to become involved. All mayors need to be involved with their local schools," Menino said.

Ms. Saengswang told mayors that the Broad Foundation is primarily interested in K-12 education in public schools and said that Eli Broad, the President of the Foundation, strongly believes that strong leadership is the only way to improve the schools. She indicated that mayors are extremely important whether they run their school systems or not because of the power of the bully pulpit. Saengswang also said that mayors know how to be effective in challenging fiscal environments and in many public school systems, that is the hardest challenge to address.

Ms. Saengswang then asked the mayors to share their thoughts for the focus of the several Broad'sponsored meetings over the next year. The first meeting will be a one day session in Cleveland on October 8.

Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf indicated that one of the challenges Virginia Beach schools faced was the ability to attract and keep math and science teachers despite paying premium salaries.

Saengswang indicated that San Diego, Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston and some other cities had been very successful in attracting outstanding superintendents and teachers by selling their cities.

Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, who appoints the School Board in Trenton, believes they have a good superintendent. However, Palmer said, "I think teachers need more training about who really needs special education. They seem to have lower expectations of the children and their families." Mayor Palmer also said he was concerned about the cost factor of special education.

Ms. Saengswang agreed that the data really does suggest that underperforming kids are being pushed into special education.

Mike Casserly agreed that pushing children into special education, usually for behavioral problems, was an issue across the country and added that an emphasis on reading in the early elementary grades seems to make a difference.

Other issues that mayors brought to the table were little or no parent involvement, English as a Second Language particularly for parents, the digital gap for parents and children, early childhood education and the need for assistance with child care, the problem of overcrowded schools, dropout prevention strategies in which mayors can play a significant role, and after- school programs.

Mike Casserly then briefly described some of the implications of the "No Child Left Behind" Act, which, he said, was the largest, most complex, most dense piece of legislation that Congress had passed in some time. He indicated that their would be more funding for major cities because of the increased funds in Title I which is targeted to poor children. Casserly added that there would also more flexibility in transferring funds but that the bill is highly prescriptive and the accountability provisions were not going to be easy to achieve. Casserly also talked about the testing provisions in grades 3 through 8 and 10 and the mandate for progress each year and many of the other implications of the Act, particularly those that could cause significant problems for schools who continue to fail. He added that the biggest problem would be that most students in those schools would want to transfer to one or two better schools, many of which are currently overcrowded.