The main Assembly bill passed by a vote of 47 to 8; all four chapter amendments were approved by varying margins, with 15 senators opposing the creation of a "parent training academy." Senators Bill Perkins and Ruben Diaz Sr., two outspoken critics of the current system, voted against all five measures. ("Where's the beef? There's no beef. The mayor hasn't done a great job with the educational system," Diaz said on the floor, before offering to run the system himself. "Just give me $50,000, and I'll graduate more kids.")

Senator Daniel Squadron upstaged bill sponsor Frank Padavan by speaking first on the measure (causing audible grousing from some of Padavan's fellow Republicans), and said that the tweaks to the Panel for Educational Policy make it "a process for public input, for transparency" that "changes the dynamic between the chancellor and the communities, the department and the public at large." Padavan thanked Squadron for being "very, very articulate in giving a comprehensive outline of this bill."

Perkins said he voted against the chapter amendments—which were endorsed by city officials after a deal by Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson—because they come "in the context of mayoral control."

"If the numbers are so outstandingly good, why are there no parents clamoring to get into the school around the corner from where they live?" Perkins said, speaking against the Padavan-Squadron bill. "Why does The Times report that the gap between black kids, and white kids, and Latino kids is not shorter? With all of this extraordinary success?"

"We are obviously in the tale of two cities," Perkins said. He said that segregation of schools would continue under the system, saying mayoral control is "dividing our city on racial and class lines."

It's unclear whether the Assembly will take up or pass the chapter amendments passed by the Senate, but city officials have agreed to follow them ministerially, without legislative action. The dissenting votes came from Senators Perkins, Diaz, Huntley, Kevin Parker, Velmanette Montgomery, Eric Adams, Carl Kruger and Tom Duane.

Six Republican senators were excused. They are Senators John DeFrancisco, Kemp Hannon, Ken LaValle, Tom Libous, George Winner and Betty Little.

It was the last vote of the day. Some senators fled the chamber before the final tally was announced.

"Summer is upon us," Senator Neil Breslin said from the rostrum. 

 "He seems to know a lot about schools and children, and it's amazing when he's barely even an adult himself," she said of Squadron, 27, who is serving his first term in the chamber.

Squadron was just married to Elizabeth Weinstein, who works at City Hall. He obtained a written commitment from the Democratic leadership in the chamber to vote on the bill by July 17; a commitment which wasn't followed. Huntley took umbrage with a commitment about her vote.

"It's not my fault that he had a vested interest with his wife working for the mayor," Huntley said.

Squadron sat in the back row of the chamber looking sheepish. Huntley later walked by him without speaking.

Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos and Senator Frank Padvan, a Republican from Queens who is sponsoring the Assembly bill in his chamber, revealed the resolution to the reporters at a press conference this morning.

"It's re-emphasizing what's already there," Padavan said, noting that the task force will have the power to hold hearings, subpoena witnesses and issue reports. It will not have a formal role in moving legislation. There will be four Democrats and three Republicans on the task force.

"It's redundancy. I think it has to do with their conference politics," Skelos added. "This is something that becomes a little more feel-good for them."

Both men said they would support the resolution. Micah Lasher, a lobbyist for the City Department of Education, said the city took no position on the resolution. Democratic Senators Bill Perkins and John Sampson spoke in favor of the resolution.

The Democratic leaders met last night, sources said, and talked about items could be considered during a session Thursday that is expected to be brief. (It's not known if all 62 senators will even show up.)

Legislators will take up a bill already passed by the Assembly reauthorizing mayoral school control, as well as four chapter amendments to create outside advisory councils and a parent training academy.

According to a source familiar with the agenda, senators will also act on the nominations of Dennis Rosen to chair the State Liquor Authority and Mark Cohen, a court of claims judge on Long Island whose nomination was a flashpoint when it was considered last month. Senators will also, according to the source, take up two judiciary bills: one increasing the number of family court judges and another allowing electronic service of some documents.

Not on the list: a bill legalizing same-sex marriage (this will supposedly be on the docket in September), the nomination of Jay Walder to lead the M.T.A. and other tenant protection measures.

Travis Proulx, a spokesman for the chamber's Democratic majority said that a session has been called for 10 a.m. on August 6. Senators will take up a bill which cleared the Assembly authorizing mayoral control of schools, as well as four chapter amendments agreed to in a deal last week.

"The rest of the agenda is still being decided," Proulx said.

This means that mayoral control would be reauthorized before the start of the current school year, but chapter amendments tweaking the law would not be in place until they are approved by the Assembly and governor. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has committed to considering the amendments in conference.

"In my crystal ball, none of the rubric of what they have suggested, I wouldn't expect, will be a problem with my colleagues," said Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell, a Manhattan Democrat. "But the devil is always in the details, and until we see what those are, it will be difficult to say."

Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, a Bronx Democrat who was one of that chamber's strongest proponents of mayoral school control, said he won't vote for the amendments because he doesn't think a parent training academy is a good use of money. He still expects they'll pass. Most others I spoke to are at least open to entertaining the idea of discussing the Senate's amendments, as Sheldon Silver was quoted Monday, in a closed-door conference.

"I always took the view that the Senate is an independent body that had a right to take a look at the school governance issue and add or subtract what they thought would be important. I never held it against the senate that they didn't just accept the Assembly bill in total," said Assemblyman Rory Lancman, of Queens. "But that goes both ways. I don't think the Assembly is necessarily obligated to accept and reject what the Senate has added."

He said all of the amendments dealt with "legitimate areas." Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat said there was a "very slow, tedious, and time-consuming process" already.

"We conferenced it extensively, and we came out with a work-product that I voted for," he said. "I think that the senate....we played a game on Sunday and the Senate is taking it up on Monday morning. They're in a better position to be critical about what we did. But at the end I think at the end we have to come to some kind of consensus, and we will."

As The Times reported, the deal would mirror proposals the conference put on the table last week. Senators would pass a bill that has already cleared the Assembly—a bill which retains the core elements of mayoral school control and is supported by Michael Bloomberg —if Bloomberg agreed to support chapter amendments allowing for a parent training academy and other items to ensure more parental involvement.

Entering the meeting, State Senator Tom Duane said senators were to be briefed on a "framework" of a deal. Two Democratic sources in the State Senate said that this deal is different than the framework that fell apart last week because it does not involve a memorandum of understanding.

Sources confirmed that one of the last sticking points was cleared last night, as Wayne Barrett reported, when Democrats agreed to shift administration for the parent training academy to CUNY.

The deal would come after two weeks in which Bloomberg and senators traded barbs publicly.

There were 15 people last night who voted for a bill which would end all of the progress that we've made in the schools in terms of bringing down crime and improving test scores and graduation rates and bringing down the drop out rate. You wonder what goes through their heads? And they all come from neighborhoods where the improvements in the schools have been dramatic.

Acting on the bill was basically a shot at Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  Here's what Bloomberg had to say this morning on his weekly radio show on WOR:

There were 15 people last night who voted for a bill which would end all of the progress that we've made in the schools in terms of bringing down crime and improving test scores and graduation rates and bringing down the drop out rate. You wonder what goes through their heads? And they all come from neighborhoods where the improvements in the schools have been dramatic. And you wonder what on earth they are thinking about, in terms of voting for a bill that would literally end all of that.

(Snip)

The property owners, people that work in the City are becoming- it's laughable. We are the role model for how to fix the school system and Albany is the role model for how you can destroy it and nobody can quite understand why. And it's a very small group of State Senators. That's the thing that's the most frustrating. It's time perhaps for the others to stand up and say, ‘I don't care. I am going to go up there and whichever party is in control, whatever it is, things are more important than party- or whether I get a bigger office or more perks or more member items. Maybe it's about that. I don't know. But I think it's time for everybody to call their State Senator, which I have done and I am going to call her again today, and say, ‘Enough. You just can't- go home? No. You cannot. You are- we've elected you to do something. If this isn't something you're supposed to be doing, I don't know what is.