So If “The Public” Wanted You To Jump Off A Bridge, You’d Do That, Too?

Which “public” is Mayor Bloomberg talking about when he “answers” how his position on term limits is not hypocritically self serving? Another rule — don’t trust any politician who uses “the public” more than three times in a single answer:

“I don’t think it’s hypocritical at all,” Bloomberg told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. “The public came to me and said that they wanted to, wanted me to change term limits, see if I could get term limits changed, serve another term,” he explained. “I said I’d be willing to spend four more years of my life helping the public and doing what I think is right so I leave my kids a better world. Did that.”

“But the public clearly wants to go back to two terms, and I said that it would be on the ballot. It is,” he added. “The public has a chance to express themselves today. That’s what democracy is all about.”

See also: Bloomberg For Mayor 2009.

About Those Astonishing New Test Scores . . .

Remember this as Wolfson makes mayoral control a centerpiece of his campaign:

For many students, bungling more than half the questions on a test would mean an F and all that comes with it — months of remedial work, irksome teachers and, perhaps, a skimpy allowance. But on New York State’s math exam this year, seventh graders who correctly answered just 44 percent of questions were rewarded with a passing grade.

What gives?

Three years ago, the threshold for passing was 60 percent. In fact, students in every grade this year could slide by with fewer correct answers on the math test than in 2006.

In math this year, 86 percent of students statewide passed the test, scoring at least a Level 3 (of 4), and 82 percent passed in English, the highest percentages in many years. But the lower passing scores, especially for math, have provided fodder for skeptics who believe the state has made it easier for struggling students to pass.

In New York City, which saw some of the largest gains, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has used the scores as evidence of his successful leadership of the schools. The jump in passing rates also helped 97 percent of the city’s schools earn A’s or B’s on their Department of Education report cards this year.

Dis-Graceful

Which is more “disgraceful” — a mayor that suspends term limits, spends $18 million before Memorial Day* and thus knocks out a major contender or a reporter who is doing his job by asking a simple question about what the mayor’s rationale for running again is given that the economy has apparently “turned a corner”?

*Point of comparison: By October 1997, Mayor Giuliani had only spent $9 million, way back in the days when billionaires didn’t spend their way into office**.

**And what has this rugged independence gotten us? A whole lot of lawn chairs. Keep tweaking him, Azi.

Oh Goody, I Hear There’s A Sale On Bookcooks Going On Downtown!

Because when you need help in the kitchen, it helps to have a good bookcook at hand:

The percentage of third through eighth graders in the city’s public schools who scored proficiently on state reading tests catapulted an incredible 11.2% upward since last year — from 57.6 percent to 68.8 percent.

Surprisingly, the largest gains were made in the city’s long-troubled middle schools — led by a nearly 20 percent jump since last year in the number of sixth graders meeting state benchmarks, from 52.7 percent to 72.6 percent.