Authority Over School Board Causing Conflict In City Hall
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's City Council president is on a collision course with Mayor Jim Kenney, over the tenure of the soon-to-be impaneled school board.
Council President Darrell Clarke introduced a bill on Thursday that would take away the mayor's power to fire the board members he appoints.
With public schools returning to local control later this year, council already had a bill pending that would ask voters to approve a charter change to give them approval power over the mayor's appointees.
Clarke's bill adds that the charter change would include removal of board members only for cause, a change from the wording adopted in 1999, which Clarke voted for, that board members serve at the pleasure of the mayor.
He says his concern is uniformity.
"It's consistent with everything we do here. The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Board, Civil Service Commission, ethics board, water board, all those different entities must in fact have cause," Clarke said.
"Well that's just not true," said Deputy Mayor Jim Engler in response.
Engler says the charter default is that appointees serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority and, especially for the school board, it's important to establish accountability.
"One of the complaints about the School Reform Commission has been this diffused accountability, whereas the mayor has said he wanted that direct accountability to lie through the members of the board and to him," said Engler.
The issue will be subject to hearings in the coming weeks.
