ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo is echoing Mayor Bloomberg’s tough talk on failing schools, saying those that don’t shape up should face a “death penalty.”
While not specifically mentioning Bloomberg’s controversial school closing policy, the governor said the state cannot allow under performing schools to stay open indefinitely.
“There is going to be have to be a death penalty for failing schools . . . where we say the children come first, before the bureaucracy,” Cuomo told reporters during a stop in suburban Buffalo late Thursday. “If the school fails, the school has to end.”
Cuomo said options for failing schools include a takeover by the state or a takeover by a charter school.
“I don’t want Albany to sit there and tell communities how to run their schools but I do feel comfortable sitting in Albany and saying failing schools is not an option,” Cuomo said.
Since 2002, the Bloomberg administration has shuttered 164 struggling schools and replaced them with 656 smaller ones.