ALBANY—Putting politics aside for a moment, the Senate mess may have a tangible impact on the final shape of the bill reauthorizing mayoral control of schools.
Newly named Democratic conference leader John Sampson is, as the Post noted this morning, a "foe" of the system and is one of the co-sponsors of a bill that would have diluted the mayor's power over the Panel for Educational Policy.
The Assembly had been waiting for the State Senate to iron out the wrinkles in its version of the legislation, but, with the upper chamber now in flux, finally went ahead and acted on its own. A bill was voted through the Senate education committee Monday. Senate Republicans say they will pass it.
"I think it's a good compromise," State Senator Marty Golden, a Brooklyn Republican, told me yesterday after a brief "session" in the chamber. "I don't see Democrats or Republicans having difficulty with that bill."
State Senator Frank Padavan, a Republican from Queens, added that he was "prepared to introduce it as our companion bill."
"There may be some accommodations here and there, but essentially the bill meets the requirements that we have been discussing with the chancellor particularly in regard to superintendents and districts, and the advisory panel," he said. "All of the essential ingredients are in it."
