Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren is doubling down on her push for a state takeover, saying the Rochester City School system needs a total reset.

• Mayor Warren announces proposal to put the issue of state control of RCSD in the hands of the voters
• It comes on the heels of the Distinguished Educator quitting
• With the current state legislation session ending, voters wouldn’t see this until next year at the earliest

“It’s time to vote yes for our children, our future,” Warren said.

At City Hall Friday, Warren and City Council President Loretta Scott joined together, along with two other councilors, to say state control of the RCSD was a decision too big for either of them.

Instead, it's a decision that should be left to the parents.

“They are the ones who send their kids off to school to be educated," Warren said. "They are the ones that are fighting to give their kids a fighting chance at life."

This referendum announcement fell on Distinguished Educator Jaime Aquino’s last day. He quit after a year with RCSD, identifying problems and offering recommendations to fix the troubled district.

The district submitted a 68-page action plan on Thursday to address those recommendations, but Warren says they didn’t even read that plan.

“At this point in time, it needs a total reset. And we need to move," Warren said. "We don’t need to continue to try and protect a system that’s been failing our children.”

Warren says this proposal follows long discussions with the state commissioner of education and other lawmakers. 

City Council will vote on the legislation later this month.

“Our kids deserve better, it’s just that simple," Scott said. "Our kids deserve the same learning environment as their suburban counterparts.”

If passed, voters would decide at the ballot box November 5.

Then, it would be up to the state legislature to pass its own legislation. But with the current legislative session coming to a close, that isn’t something that would happen until next year at the earliest.

“I’m hopeful that when they decide that they want something different, that the state legislature won’t stand behind the ballot box vote, or stay behind the scenes, and not do what the citizens of the city want to do.” Warren said.

And if that passes, the state commissioner of education would be free to implement a state plan for the district. 

But if the referendum doesn’t even survive the ballot box, Warren says at least the families of Rochester were given a voice.

“We can never say that we didn’t know what the parents and people of our city wanted, because they would have voted," Warren said. "And we will accept whatever decision they make.”

City education leaders wasted no time conducting their response, hours after Warren’s call for a referendum.

“Only the people in the district can fix the district,” said interim Superintendent Dan Lowengard in a media briefing joined by Board of Education President Van White. Lowengard added, “It’s the people here that roll up their sleeves and work together that can do this, even at 60 percent graduation.”

White also responded to the mayor’s announcement, saying, “The partnership can’t just end in a conversation about problems. That conversation has to also include talking about solutions even if it means, saying, 'hey Van, I think this is where I’m at. I think I have to have a referendum.'”

White hopes a conversation with Mayor Warren will help create a solution ahead of the referendum.