New York City Mayor Bloomberg signed a deal with
the United Federation Of Teachers last week, granting 80,000 New York teachers
pay raises of 16% to 22%. The deal came on the heels of the 100,000 strong protest
staged by the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network
and the UFT. The mayor had originally planned to cut over $1 billion dollars
from the New York public school system. "I commit to you today, I will
make the schools better," Bloomberg vowed. "I want to be held accountable
for the results, and I will be."
Bloomberg recently won control of the New York
school system after New York Governor Pataki signed into law legislation that
ended 33 years of decentralized school management. The new law handed power
over the school system to the Mayor. On July 1st, the Board Of Education will
be replaced with a 13 member panel, eight who will be appointed by the Mayor.
Mayor Bloomberg is also expected to restore roughly 2/3rd’s of the operating
budget for the school, or roughly $250 million dollars.
"This is a clear cut victory for hip-hop,"
Hip-Hop Summit Action Network Chairman Russell Simmons told AllHipHop.com. "This
should give us all an understanding of the power hip-hop possesses."
In related news, all of you up and coming moguls
will have the chance to learn from the "Godfather" of hip-hop himself.
Tonight (June 19th) Simmons will explain to future moguls who he attained his
level of success at the Learning Annex in New York. There will be a Q&A
session that follows. The evening will be moderated by acclaimed writer and
hip-hop historian, Nelson George. Information is below:
Course # 5058NY Preferred Seating is
Section A — Wednesday, June 19
07:00 PM to 09:00 PM — Manhattan
Fee $ 44.00
