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Mayoral control has been extended through summer 2015, as the State Senate passed the measure during a special session in Albany Thursday.

The bill, which was drafted by the State Assembly, previously expired on June 30 during the Senate's power struggle, forcing the city to revert back to the old Board of Education.

The mayor will appoint eight positions in the Department of Education, but two of those positions must be filled by parents.

Bloomberg said that this move will preserve a public school system improved that greatly under his direct control.

"The State Senate today took a major step that will benefit millions of public school children for years to come: it preserved a system of clear accountability for our schools that has produced clear and dramatic results for our students," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a statement. "With the governance question resolved, we can now move full steam ahead with efforts to ensure that this school year is marked by more great progress."

Lawmakers say the new school governance reform package gives parents greater access to the school system, increases transparency and fiscal oversight, promotes enhanced arts education, addresses concerns over school safety procedures and strengthens the role of community superintendents.

Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. said four amendments were necessary, and said in a Wednesday statement, "For those who remain apprehensive, the proposed legislation brings total transparency to school governance and has built-in mechanisms that allow all their concerns to be voiced and resolved."

The Assembly needs to vote on the amendments next month.

Other city senators still called for the demise of mayoral control earlier in the day.

"It gives us the kind of opportunity to end that kind of dictatorship, to end that wrong political approach that's been taken to the public school education for our children in New York City," said Democratic Manhattan Senator Bill Perkins.

Governor David Paterson is absent from Albany today, as he is currently on vacation.