Mamdani and Mayoral Control
Mamdani and Mayoral Control
As Cuomo continues to waffle over whether he’ll campaign on his independent ballot line the losing candidates are beginning to line up with Zohan, the UFT is holding meetings to consider his endorsement, other powerful unions have jumped on board, unless the Republican party intends to drop their current candidate, Curtis Sliwa and replace him with Cuomo or Adams, or Bloomberg decides to drop ten million into someone’s political war chest Mamdani looks like the next mayor.
Education was way down the list of voter concerns, topping the list, affordability, safety, housing, childcare, maybe 3-K and perhaps 2-K, Gothamist reports,
On his campaign website, Mamdani said he supports “an end to mayoral control” — the long-running system where the mayor directs education policy and appoints a schools chancellor to run the department.
But so far, Mamdani hasn’t detailed his plans for an alternative. On his site, he said he’d strengthen “co-governance” through the Panel for Educational Policy, an oversight body that replaced the city’s old school board but mostly exercises power over contracts, and other advisory bodies like community education councils. Under the current governance structure, the mayor appoints most of the Panel for Educational Policy’s members. It would ultimately be up to the state legislature to change mayoral control, but it would be a political sea change for a mayor to advocate against it.
Still, Mamdani’s message reflects a growing sentiment among parents and educators who criticize mayoral control as a top-down approach that diminishes parent input, devalues educators’ expertise and causes chaos when new administrations abruptly shift course.
In a mayoral forum hosted by the United Federation of Teachers in May, Mamdani said he’d work with the teachers’ union and other stakeholders to formulate a new governance model and “chart a new course in this city that is less about understanding the mayor as a monarch and more about understanding the mayor as a leader who partners with the very people who keep the system running.”
Mayoral Control “sunsets” June 30, 2026, the state legislature must renew or change the law or the law reverts to the previous system, a central board made up of one appointee by each borough president and two by the mayor, the board members were salaried ($37,000 annually), a full time assistant, the chair was selected by the members. The members were impressive; the Brooklyn member was the Dean of the School of Education at Brooklyn College. Local school boards were elected, ranked choice voting, with very low voter turnouts.
Many education experts warn that abolishing mayoral control risks returning the city’s vast school system to what they consider the bad old days of corruption and fragmented policies.
“Part of what this demonstrates is a lack of historical perspective on policy in New York,” said Ester Fuchs, a professor of political science at Columbia University who helped spearhead mayoral control during the Bloomberg administration.
Too many school boards, especially from the poorest districts, were elected by local politicians and unfortunately “corruption and fragmented policies” were commonplace. At the other end of the spectrum there were innovative school boards with wide parental involvement. The Midwood-Sheepshead Bay district fully committed to school-based management, school-based decision-making, an extensive training program for School Leadership Teams and an active, very active District Leadership Team.
The current 25-member Panel for Education Priorities (PEP), the central school board, gives the word rubber stamp a bad name. The Community Education Councils, the local school board, is elected by local parent leaders, very few voters, the councils are plagued by internal bickering, aside from zoning, and have no power.
In 2007, a highly regarded book, The Education Mayor regaled the new movement, mayoral control, New York, Chicago, Boston, and spreading elsewhere. Bloomberg negotiated extended school days and teachers received substantial salary increases, however, the chancellor Joel Klein had NO education experience, and totally reorganized the school system every few years, closed 150 schools and tried to change the law and lay off teachers in closed schools as well as additionally change the law replacing “last in, first out” seniority rules. The union fought back and thwarted Bloomberg who reciprocated by increasing the number of teacher unsatisfactory ratings.
As Bloomberg lost interest and turned the school system over to two deputies, Eric Nadelstern and Shael Polikoff-Suransky, who believe the best decisions are made by those closest to the kids: school leaders and teachers.
De Blasio threw $1 B (“ThriveNYC”) into the lowest achieving schools, chaotic, service providers clashing with providers, pulling kids out of class over the objections of teachers, an abysmal failure .
David Banks, a longtime friend of Adams, forced the introduction of phonics-based reading programs, experienced teachers craft the program to meet the needs of the student, top-down programs violate the rules of personal and organization change, “change is perceived as punishment” (“You’re doing it wrong”) and “collaboration reduces resistance”. Teaching should not be an assembly line job.
The Affinity District, six highly regarded not-for-profits (New Visions for Public School, ) “managed” clusters of schools, they resemble a charter school network, however, the schools are public schools operating under the UFT contract, the contact allows “school-based” options and many schools avail themselves of the SBO process. The Affinity District makes charter schools superfluous.
Norm Fruchter in three superb blog posts tracks the origin and the functioning of the Affinity District, btw, a must read by Zohan and his education advisor.
New York City’s Affinity District (Part 1): What is it? | NYU Steinhardt
New York City’s Affinity District (Part 2): The Origins | NYU Steinhardt
The road from July to November will have many twists and turns, Trump is already bashing Zohan and other democratic electeds are not yet ready to endorse Mamdani. If Cuomo decides to campaign the game is on, remember, NOT ranked choice voting, plurality voting, the candidate with most votes wins.
Zohan probably has an unannounced transition team, mulling advise on the major decisions,
Will he retain Jessica Tisch as police commissioner? Is she interested in remaining?
Behind the scenes, who will he favor for Speaker of the City Council? Selected by the 51 Council members, shortly after the Jan 1 swearing in of members.
Will Zohan keep the current chancellor until the legislature determines the future of mayor control or select a new chancellor? Who will he appoint to the PEP, the central board?
Should each CUNY School of Education work closely with a high needs school district?
My suggestion: speak with Eric Nadelstein and Shael Polikoff-Suransky, President of Bank Street College of Education, Mark Dunetz, the President of New Visions for Public Schools, Ashleigh Thompson, the University Dean of Education at CUNY, Mary Vaccaro, the Vice President for Education Issues at the UFT, and Kim Sweet, President of Advocates for Children.
Perhaps Robert Frost describes the future for Zohan,
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Keep em coming Peter! I have so many thoughts ✨