Dear Friend,
As our City's Chief Financial Officer, John Liu insists education is the best long-term economic investment for New York. As the father of a seventh grader in public school, though, he has an especially vested interest in our school system.
That's why for John – just as for the millions of fellow parents throughout the City – when it comes to the quality of his son's education: it's personal, and there is no limit for better.
A fairer admissions process. Removing dangerous toxins from the buildings. Abating the battles for school space. Equalizing digital literacy. Parental input taken seriously. Demanding college readiness. See news reports below on just some of John's understanding of and vision for New York City schools.
For more, tune-in this Monday morning at 10:00am to WNYC Radio (FM 93.9 / AM 820 / Live Stream) when John talks live on "The Brian Lehrer Show".
Happy Father's Day!
CBS NEW YORK: "Liu: NYC High School Selection 'Unfair, Deeply Flawed'" - 6/13/2013
EXCERPT - New York City Comptroller John Liu says the process that matches eighth graders with high schools is unfair and arbitrary. Liu's office audited the process that the city's Department of Education uses to assign each eighth grader to a high school for the following year.
"Applying to high school is an important and stressful enough experience for students and parents, and it must not be left to a sloppy and random system like the one our audit found."
WALL STREET JOURNAL: "Comptroller: NYC high school selection unfair" - 6/13/2013
EXCERPT - Liu, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor, said an audit by his office "confirmed what many frustrated parents and students have long suspected: the City's high school placement process is often unfair and deeply flawed."
NEW YORK TIMES: "Education, Vision and the Mayor's Race" - 5/19/2013
EXCERPT - But there can be truth in applause lines. Comptroller John Liu spoke for many at the forum when he told of his frustrating inability, as a parent, to give input to school officials.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: "It took hospitalizations for Bloomberg administration to take PCBs in school lights seriously" - 5/9/2013
EXCERPT - Until this week, the city kept insisting it needed 10 years to replace more than half a million lighting fixtures that contain the dangerous substance. Other leaders have offered concrete plans. City Controller John Liu has proposed a bond issue that would more than pay for itself through energy savings.
NY1: "Mayoral Forum On Education" - 5/7/2013
EXCERPT - City Comptroller John Liu got top marks from some in the audience. He blasted having charter and traditional schools share space. "It sends a terrible, terrible message to the kids in that building that there could be this kind of dichotomy, I would say classism, within the same school building," Liu said.
CRAIN'S NEW YORK: "Dems: School cellphone ban will be history" - 4/26/2013
EXCERPT - "So many kids today have the mobile devices, and yet the schools still ban them," said city Comptroller John Liu. "We've got to rethink that policy. That's a policy that needs to be overhauled."
WNYC: "Mayoral Candidates Promise Teachers a New Direction" - 5/11/2013
EXCERPT - Liu reminded the audience that his son attends public schools, and that his family immigrated from Taiwan where there is a national holiday to celebrate teachers.
GOTHAM SCHOOLS: "Liu's latest education report urges home computers for students" - 4/5/2013
EXCERPT - Comptroller John Liu wants the city to help every low-income high school graduate head off to college with his or her own computer. The report on closing the "digital literacy divide" is the latest in a series about how the city can boost the number of its students who graduate from college and contribute to its economy. Altogether, Liu, who is responsible for the city's fiscal stewardship, calls for nearly $40 million a year in new spending on computers and technology programs.
CITY & STATE: "Liu Lays Out Bold Proposals in State of the City Speech" - 12/21/2012
EXCERPT - On education, Liu struck a chord with the crowd by calling for an increase in the number of people who enter the city's workforce with a Bachelor's degree. He said that placing more high schools on college campuses throughout the city creates "wonderful synergies" for students and plants the seed of the importance of higher education. Additionally, Liu recommended that the city offer free CUNY tuition to the top 10 percent of New York City public high school graduates.
REUTERS: "New York City comptroller proposes bonds to strip PCBs from schools" - 11/30/2012
EXCERPT - New York City Comptroller John Liu on Friday proposed borrowing $407 million through a new bond program to remove dangerous toxins from public schools. Proceeds from the sale of the bonds, which would be called Green Apple Bonds, would be used to strip polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from old lighting fixtures by 2015. That would be six years earlier than the Department of Education's existing plan to remove PCB-carrying light fixtures in 772 buildings by 2021.
