Boston Schools Put Under Mayor

Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld signed into law Friday a measure that abolishes Boston’s elected School Committee and puts the nation’s oldest school district under the control of the mayor.

Weld’s approval of the controversial bill makes Boston the third large U.S. city to put the governance of its schools in the hands of a panel selected by the mayor. New York and Baltimore also have non-elected school boards.

Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn had long sought to oust the 13-member elected School Committee, which critics have portrayed as inefficient and inept.

Calls to disband the committee gathered steam during a rancorous 15-month effort to select a new superintendent.

During the search, it was learned that one candidate had been fired from his previous post and another, selected in part because the panel thought he was black, turned out to be white.

However, many minority leaders staunchly fought the initiative, saying a board controlled by the mayor would rob communities of their traditional control of public education.

Under the new law, the mayor will choose a seven-member school board from 21 candidates selected by a 13-member nominating panel. Nine members of the nominating panel will be selected by parents’, education and business groups and four by the mayor.