By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a message for voters: If you think New York City’s public schools are better now than in the 1990s, vote for me.
The mayor’s comments came at a news conference Tuesday, when he was questioned by reporters about mayoral rival Comptroller Bill Thompson’s education plan. The mayor said he hadn’t seen the plan, but he was willing to stand on his own education record.
When asked about Bloomberg’s remarks, Thompson played down their importance. He said that education was just one of several issue in the mayoral race.
But it’s a hot one.
Two months before the primaries, the comptroller’s campaign launched an attack on the mayor’s education record, saying he was lax on the oversight of standardized test scores and calling for the resignation of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.
“Our mayor claims credit for an unparalleled turnaround in our public schools, but the real story is something very different,” Thompson said at a press conference in July. “The New York City Department of Education has become the Enron of American education.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s campaign has been touting his success with the school system since the advent of mayoral control and attacking Thompson’s record as president of the Board of Education from 1996-2001.
“When Bill Thompson ran the old dysfunctional Board of Education test scores and graduation rates were flat, dropout rates were up, school violence was rampant, and billions that could have relieved overcrowding were squandered instead,” campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a statement this month. “The facts are clear: Bill Thompson failed our kids at the Board of Education.”
Despite his brush-off on the education issue this morning, Thompson will be presenting his vision for New York City’s public education system Tuesday night at Pace University.
