GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

After promoting his latest education policies around the city for the last week, Mayor Bloomberg took his renewed focus on schools to Washington, D.C., today.

Speaking at a conference of mayors, Bloomberg touted his education accomplishments, outlined his latest initiatives, and griped about the obstacles. He also explained how he sees himself fitting into the murky politics of education, where he said the right wing attacks unions and resists national reform efforts and the left eschews testing and other measures to boost accountability.

Mayors, he said, represent a “sensible center” in an education debate otherwise driven by ideologues:

The attacks on education by ideologues on the right and on the left must be met — and must be fended off — by the sensible center. And that is the people that you are here with today, the mayors. Mayors are pragmatists and problem-solvers, not ideologues. They don’t have the luxury of being on both sides of an issue. They have to be explicit as to where they stand. … Mayors are where the action is. Mayors are where the rubber hits the road.

They’re expected to make hard-headed decisions based on the facts – not on special interest politics. (more…)