To no-one's surprise, an appeals court in NY upheld a lower court ruling blocking NYC from closing 19 chronically failing schools (jeers!). Bloomberg and Klein, however, aren't backing down. Here's Klein's op ed:

Last week, the respected research group MDRC published a landmark report which found that the policy of replacing our city's failing schools with new, small high schools has resulted in dramatic improvements in the lives of tens of thousands of our children, including many traditionally disadvantaged students.

That is why it was so disappointing yesterday when the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of a lower court, halting the City Department of Education, solely on technical grounds, from replacing 19 failing schools.

While I firmly believe that the effect of this ruling - which will force us to admit students to schools that have long failed to graduate more than half their students - is bad for New York City children, we will, of course, follow it. But I want to make clear: The Mayor and I remain steadfast in our commitment to providing New York City's students and families with better schools and more options, and I know we will succeed.

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