Council Members Propose Halt to Schools Plan

City Council members critical of the mayor's proposed education overhaul are introducing a resolution today calling on Mayor Bloomberg to postpone the plan.

The resolution calls on the Bloomberg administration to "engage parents, teachers and students in a substantive dialogue about the future of our public schools," according to a statement released yesterday by a labor-based political organization, Working Families Party.

Twenty-eight council members, including the chairman of the education committee, Robert Jackson, support the resolution, according to the statement.

The mayor's plan, which would devolve more power and funding to school principals in exchange for more accountability next year, is already under way, however. The Department of Education is reviewing applications from private organizations that will assist schools and developing a new data-sharing system that will allow principals, bureaucrats, and parents to track student achievement.