Education Advocates Butt Heads With Mayor At City Hall
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Parents gathered on the steps of City Hall Wednesday to protest massive cuts to education, and things got a bit heated when the mayor showed up.
Dozens of parents worried about the city's plan to lay off thousands of teachers took part.
They say their childrens' education will suffer because classes will become overcrowded.
After the demonstration, a parent activist confronted Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanding he do more to save teachers.
Meantime, a day after calling Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget an outrage to the city, the mayor tried to smooth things over.
"Everybody wants to pick a fight. But there's no fight with the governor," Bloomberg said. "He's gotta do what he's gotta do for the state and I've gotta do what I gotta do for the city. We're both going to express ourselves. And in the end we need his help to help us balance our budget."
Bloomberg still wants Albany to eliminate unfunded mandates, allow the city to reform public pensions and eliminate the "Last In, First Out" teacher tenure policy. But so far lawmakers aren't budging.