Chalkbeat

NYC school board rejects $1.65 million tech deal in early setback for Mamdani

2026-08-28T21:14:19+00:00

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New York City’s school board failed to approve a technology contract advanced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration this week, a month after Mamdani’s slate of board members began their terms.

The $1.65 million contract would allow the Education Department to continue using Oracle software that supports “mission critical” functions including an HR help center serving more than 150,000 employees and an enrollment support center fielding roughly 1,000 calls a day about issues ranging from student transportation to special education, officials said. Losing access to the software could result in lost data and prevent families from accessing enrollment information online, a department spokesperson added.

But after fierce pushback against Oracle and its co-founder Larry Ellison during the board’s public comment period, including over the company’s investment in artificial intelligence, city officials could not muster the votes to approve the contract.

Two mayoral appointees to the Panel for Educational Policy, as the board is known, abstained from the vote. Three other mayoral appointees did not attend the meeting. The contract failed with nine votes in favor, six opposed, and two abstentions, falling four votes short of the 13 needed to pass.

Shortly before the vote, Deputy Chancellor Lindsay Oates, who oversees human resources, urged the board to approve the contract. She argued that the Education Department relies on Oracle for HR systems that are essential as the city welcomes thousands of new hires to the nation’s largest school system.

“Many of them are coming in and calling the call center with questions about their benefits,” she said. “We are worried about the disruption of service if this contract is tabled.”

Education Department officials said the service would run through September. They did not elaborate on whether they have backup plans to avoid disruptions.

The contract represents a small part of the roughly $13 billion the Education Department spends on outside vendors. But the administration’s inability to secure enough votes for the deal suggests the board may not be a rubber stamp for the Mamdani administration’s agenda. Under previous administrations, the board has generally voted in line with the administration’s proposals, with some notable exceptions.

The vote also suggests that growing pressure on the panel to scrutinize AI and technology contracts could complicate efforts to continue using existing education technology or adopt new tools. Education Department officials have promised to release new guidelines for artificial intelligence and technology before the first day of school on Sept. 10.

In the run-up to the vote, several educators and other tech skeptics criticized the Oracle contract and Ellison, who has embraced AI and supported Donald Trump’s 2024 election bid.

Liat Olenick, a parent, educator, and climate activist, said she worried about the company’s environmental footprint connected to growing AI use. Though the city’s contract with Oracle indicates it would not include student- or teacher-facing AI products, Olenick wondered if there might be other AI applications embedded in it.

“Will Oracle services include AI use by administrators?” she asked before the vote. “Is it necessary to contract with a company that’s fueling the climate crisis and putting New York City students’ health and futures at risk?”

An Education Department spokesperson said there is “no AI use associated with this contract.” Reps for Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.

Others raised concerns about how Oracle would protect sensitive data, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers. Education Department officials implemented Oracle’s cloud software service “as a proactive measure to safeguard this information,” rather than relying on email, according to contract documents.

One board member said she was reluctant to vote against the contract in part because Education Department contract documents say Oracle would be required to delete the department’s data from its systems within 90 days of the contract’s expiration.

Raysa Rodriguez, whom Mamdani appointed last month, said she took concerns about Oracle “very seriously” but felt it would be riskier to let the contract lapse. She said a new agreement would “further protect the data that we have.”

The two mayoral appointees who abstained, Crystal Vera-Montalvo and Karla Cordero, did not respond to requests for comment. Primo Lasana, another mayoral appointee, said he wished the contract had been tabled until a future meeting so the board could consider it more carefully. He ultimately voted in favor.

Some panel members elected by parent leaders said they voted against the contract because they believed the city should control its sensitive technology systems.

“The staff that manages it should be public servants,” said panel member Naveed Hasan.

Panel chair Greg Faulkner, whose term ends in September, said in an interview that he was frustrated by the vote and worried the Education Department would be forced to scramble to fix its HR systems. But he acknowledged that panel members are feeling pressure to be cautious around tech contracts.

“Anything we do with technology gets scrutinized,” Faulkner said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools head toward first day without gradebooks and other software amid tech freeze

2026-08-26T20:27:04+00:00

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After intense backlash to its initial artificial intelligence policy, New York City’s Education Department ordered principals last month to halt software purchases while officials develop new guidelines.

But the city has yet to release a new policy or lift the purchasing freeze despite the approaching Sept. 10 start of school. Principals are increasingly worried they won’t have access to key software programs — including electronic gradebooks and platforms teachers use to communicate with families — for the first day.

Four public school administrators, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal, said they have been unable to make routine software purchases, even for programs they’ve used for years that do not rely on AI.

“Two weeks before the start of school, we’re not sure what we’re going to be allowed to have and not allowed to have,” said one Brooklyn high school principal. “It’s a huge pain.”

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced the moratorium on software purchases in early July to give the city time to develop a stronger AI policy. An initial set of guidelines released in March ignited fierce pushback from families who said it did not do enough to limit AI, especially for young children.

Samuels later acknowledged the policy “missed the mark” and indicated the final guidance would include clearer limits. An Education Department spokesperson did not respond to questions for this story, including about when the guidance will be released or when software purchases may resume.

That uncertainty is causing headaches for school leaders, who often use basic education software tools that require annual purchase orders.

School leaders said they have been unable to renew subscriptions to digital hall passes or electronic gradebooks, raising fears the programs will not be available for students’ return.

Another administrator was unable to order software programs designed to help students who need more support in reading and math, including i-Ready, a major tech platform. Separately, the Education Department provides schools with access to i-Ready for required student assessments.

“I’m concerned about the operation of the school,” a second high school principal said.

Samuels initially suggested that software tools required for “mandated services or school opening needs” would be exempt from the pause, though multiple principals said they have not yet heard back about their requests to buy software during the freeze.

Some experts said the city has good reasons to be cautious about pressing ahead with education software tools, given concerns around student privacy, data breaches, and the proliferation of AI tools and chatbots added to products that schools have long used.

But Tom Liam Lynch, an expert who previously worked on education technology for the Education Department, said the city is behind the curve in developing a clear digital learning strategy.

“It’s really late in the game for the city to be figuring this out,” he said, noting the school system has struggled to adapt to AI.

He said that there are risks to releasing guidance so close to the start of the school. Principals typically plan well in advance of September and the last-minute technology policy could upend choices schools have already made about how to support teachers and students.

“Schools are unfortunately going to be in a position where they have to scramble with this,” he said. “That doesn’t lead to what you really want when it comes to quality pedagogy.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC paraprofessionals’ $10,000 pay bump becomes law as City Hall vows a legal challenge

2026-08-19T19:41:35+00:00

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A bill guaranteeing paraprofessionals a one-time $10,000 pay bump became law automatically on Wednesday after Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined to sign or veto it.

But within hours, City Hall announced plans to file a legal challenge, arguing the legislation improperly sidesteps the collective bargaining process.

The confrontation puts Mamdani in an awkward position because he supported similar legislation to boost paraprofessionals’ pay during his campaign, which focused on affordability issues. At the same time, allowing the legislation to stand could weaken City Hall’s power to manage labor costs if other unions began clamoring for legislation mandating pay raises.

Paraprofessionals, school aides who typically support students with disabilities, are among the lowest-paid employees of the city’s public school system with starting annual salaries of roughly $33,000. The $10,000 pay bump — known as the “respect” check — passed without a single dissenting vote in City Council last month.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, vowed an “all-out war” if the mayor tried to derail the bill and has argued it is consistent with state law.

“We are prepared to engage in a legal fight for the RESPECT check and the paraprofessionals who keep our schools running,” union officials wrote in an email to members on Wednesday.

City Hall spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach acknowledged that paraprofessionals are “indispensable” and “they have not been fairly compensated for their essential work.”

But Rauschenbach said in a statement that legislation sets a “dangerous precedent” and allows “politicians to bypass workers and their unions and dictate the terms of employment themselves.” He added: “The City is filing a lawsuit to protect the right of every union to negotiate on behalf of its members.”

City lawmakers swiftly criticized the administration’s lawsuit against the council.

“The Respect Check passed the Council by a vote of 49 to 0 because members across every borough and every political perspective agreed these workers deserve better,” Eric Dinowitz, chair of the council’s education committee, said in a statement. “Rather than build on this consensus, the administration has chosen to sue the body fighting for our paraprofessionals.”

City Council estimates the total cost of the $10,000 payments, issued in four installments between January and August 2027, will be about $325 million. Roughly 25,000 paraprofessionals are eligible in addition to substitute paraprofessionals, whose pay bumps will be prorated based on the number of days they work.

The union argues the pay increases are essential to begin addressing a shortage of roughly 1,600 paraprofessionals. Those vacancies can have severe consequences for students with disabilities, some of whom are not able to ride school buses without an aide.

The legislation has strong support from many paraprofessionals who say they deserve wages that reflect their importance to the school system and must work second or third jobs to make ends meet.

Undrea Polite, who has worked as a paraprofessional for 30 years, said she was disappointed that the city is fighting the pay bumps in court. She said she planned to use the money to help equip her sister’s house with a ramp so her elderly mother could get in and out more easily.

“I am so sad that the city is choosing to fight us — and fight some of the most underpaid, dedicated workers that they have,” she said.

Yet others argue the one-time payments aren’t a long-term fix and are frustrated the pay bumps won’t count toward their pensions.

“I’m all for getting more money but this does not solve the problem,” said Marie Wausnock, a union executive board member who co-founded a slate called Fix Para Pay, which largely opposes Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus. “The paras are pawns in this political game.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC teachers were promised $8,500 bonuses for large class sizes. The details are murky.

2026-08-18T19:03:17+00:00

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When Mayor Zohran Mamdani secured a two-year delay in fully complying with the state’s class size law, the teachers union won a concession: Educators could receive pay bumps of up to $8,500 if their classes exceeded the caps.

But more than two months after the union announced the bonuses — and with the first day of class less than a month away — it remains unclear which teachers will receive them.

Teachers may be eligible for extra pay if their classrooms are exempt from the law because their building doesn’t have enough space or if their school can’t hire enough educators to staff smaller classes. But not every teacher in an exempt classroom will get a bonus, according to the union. The Education Department declined to explain how bonuses will be awarded or how much money has been budgeted for the payments.

Union officials contend the payments create a powerful “accountability incentive.” The possibility of doling out big pay bumps could push the city to shrink class sizes rather than seek exemptions from the law, which generally require union approval. Last school year, the city relied on thousands of exemptions to comply with the law, which generally caps class sizes at 20 to 25 students depending on the grade level.

But experts and advocates said the bonuses could disproportionately flow to teachers at more affluent schools, where classrooms tend to be more crowded. They worry that could exacerbate turnover at high-poverty schools by adding a financial incentive to move to a lower-poverty one.

“I wish they were using strategic compensation to do the opposite: to try to retain teachers in our lowest performing, traditionally hardest-to-staff schools,” said Evan Stone, CEO of Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group that has raised equity concerns about the class size law. “The priority is about pressure to meet class size.”

Dan Goldhaber, a teacher labor market expert at the University of Washington, said pay differentials can help with retention. The city could strategically deploy them to the most effective teachers who wind up teaching larger class sizes in a bid to keep them in the system, he noted.

But the ambiguity about which teachers will ultimately get pay bumps could dampen the effect on retention, he said. There is no guarantee that teachers who receive the bonus this coming school year will get it again the following year when the value rises to $9,500. It’s unclear if the pay bumps, which count toward educators’ pensions, will continue after that.

“The effect would be a lot larger if it’s really clear what are the parameters of the program going forward,” Goldhaber said. “That is, I think, an example of a real missed opportunity.”

Education Department officials are expected to hash out which classrooms will be exempt from the law by November, which means teachers won’t know whether they will receive a bonus until the school year is underway. This coming school year, the law requires 70% of the city’s classrooms to comply with the class size caps or win an exemption, which are subject to approval from the Education Department and unions representing teachers and principals.

The city’s Independent Budget Office estimated that at least 2,463 general education teachers could be eligible for the bonuses based on last year’s exemptions. If all of those teachers receive the full $8,500, the pay bumps could cost roughly $21 million in the first year.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew recently told Chalkbeat that the union is still hashing out details about the pay bumps. He declined to address concerns about whether teachers at more affluent schools will disproportionately benefit.

“We’re working through it right now, so we will let you know as soon as we are there,” he said. Union officials have previously suggested that higher-need schools would be “addressed first.”

Some teachers have expressed mixed feelings about the pay bumps. Robert Effinger, the union chapter leader at the Bronx High School of Business, said he is already trying to manage teachers’ expectations about them.

Most of the teachers who are aware of the bonuses have assumed they will be eligible for them, he said. “I have to patiently explain to them that it’s not that simple.”

One of Effinger’s social studies classes last year had 34 students — the current limit under the teachers’ contract — which generates significantly more grading and administrative tasks. His classroom is so crammed that he doesn’t have space for students to do group work or other activities, he said.

Effinger said he would rather teach classes of no more than 25 students than win a pay bump.

“The money is not going to make up for all the amount of work,” he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s unexplained test score swings prompt experts to question reading results

2026-08-13T19:07:26+00:00

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This year’s startling collapse of New York City’s reading scores, followed by last year’s big gains, has some experts asking: Did something go wrong with the test itself?

There is no clear evidence there is a problem, experts emphasize, but the unusually wide swing in scores warrants careful investigation, multiple testing experts told Chalkbeat this week.

“My instinctive reaction is there may have been an issue last year that we missed,” said Marianne Perie, who consults with states on testing. “This kind of big increase followed by a big decrease is surprising.”

Perie co-chairs New York state’s technical advisory committee, a panel of experts paid by the state to oversee the testing process. She spoke to Chalkbeat about the trends in her personal capacity, she said. The committee is set to meet next month to review the results in detail and seek to better understand what might explain the changes, Perie said.

Half of New York City students were considered proficient in reading on last year’s tests, down 6 percentage points from the year before, according to preliminary results released last week. The share of third, fourth, and fifth graders who met grade-level standards fell to levels similar to 2024 in both New York City and state.

The sharp test score swings in those grades immediately sparked theories about what could explain them. Some educators and families wondered if the transition to computer-based testing was a factor. Others pointed to a literacy shakeup in New York City that has been dominated by one controversial curriculum.

Last week, EdTrust-New York, a nonprofit advocacy group, called for an independent audit of the state’s reading tests. Officials “never adequately investigated or explained last year’s dramatic gains, making this year’s reversal difficult to interpret,” the group said in a statement.

JP O’Hare, a spokesperson for the New York State Education Department, said the agency “takes this decline seriously and will conduct a detailed analysis to better understand where students are experiencing challenges.”

Simona Beattie, a spokesperson for NWEA, the state’s testing vendor, said in a statement, “At this stage, we have not found any anomalies through our standard due diligence process, which includes corroborating results with an external third party.”

“Given this, we have high confidence in the accuracy of the results,” Beattie added.

In New York City, the share of third graders scoring proficiently on the reading test fell by 14 percentage points, after rising by 13 points the year before. There were also substantial shifts in fourth and fifth grade scores on the test in both the city and state. Seventh and eighth grade reading scores essentially held steady. Math scores ticked up across the state but were flat in New York City.

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said in a statement that the scores merit “rigorous analysis so we can ensure we’re measuring what students are learning.”

The fluctuations in elementary reading scores were quite unusual and surprising, said Benjamin Shear, a testing expert at the University of Colorado Boulder. “It requires further scrutiny, questioning, and digging.”

What’s behind the reading score drop? Experts weigh different theories

City officials and some outside groups took a victory lap after last year’s dramatic surge in elementary reading scores, arguing that the major literacy curriculum overhaul was paying off.

Now, the teachers union is pointing to the declines as evidence of problems with the city’s curriculum mandate and threatened to withdraw their support. But that does not explain the broad test score declines across the state, including districts that have not made similar curriculum changes.

In general, testing experts, known as psychometricians, say that a number of theories are worth considering to explain large shifts in scores: changes in student demographics, testing practices, opt-out rates, and educational policies.

Figures released by the city indicate there were no major changes in the number of test-takers in early grades. The share of city students considered low-income in elementary grades also held fairly steady. And while the state finished its transition in the spring to computer-based testing, that wouldn’t explain swings in fifth grade, where digital assessments have been the norm since 2024.

EdTrust-New York noted that in contrast to state scores, there was steady progress on interim reading assessments New York City schools administer at least three times a year.

Emily Oster, a Brown University education economist who has tracked test scores across the country, published a post on Substack this week questioning the plausibility of New York’s score changes. She suggested that there may have been a technical error in comparing the results year to year.

In an email to Chalkbeat, Oster acknowledged there is no definitive proof for this. But, she said, the reported results are “not consistent with nearly everything else we know about student learning.” She noted that fourth graders’ reading scores had jumped last year, but that same group of students, now fifth graders, have seen scores fall back this year.

Asked about Oster’s post, O’Hare from New York’s education department said: “Speculation is not a substitute for data … Our ongoing review of the preliminary data has not identified any of the issues she outlines in her conjecture.”

An over 200-page technical report documented the process to ensure the accuracy of the 2025 results.

Scott Marion, a testing expert with the Center for Assessment, said he’s naturally suspicious of a large change in scores that doesn’t persist the following year. To him, it’s implausible that the rise and fall of scores represents real differences in achievement or teaching practices.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.

Marion says that perhaps more questions should have been raised about the sharp score increase last year. In his experience, education officials are eager to have testing experts investigate unusual declines, but not unusual increases.

Andrew Ho, a Harvard professor who serves on New York’s technical advisory committee, said he believes the shifts probably point to real changes in student learning, even if the actual swings aren’t as extreme as the exams suggest.

“We should absolutely look at the test, but we should absolutely also look at what the test is likely revealing,” he said.

Matt Barnum is Chalkbeat’s ideas editor. Reach him at mbarnum@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Rift widens between City Hall and teachers union as UFT threatens literacy curriculum pushback

2026-08-12T22:25:28+00:00

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When New York City officials launched a big shakeup in reading instruction three years ago, they had a key ally at their side: the city’s teachers union.

Now, shortly after a plunge in reading scores, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew is threatening to drop the union’s support of the curriculum overhaul.

That could complicate Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plans to expand the initiative, known as NYC Reads.

“The Department of Ed. is completely incompetent and irresponsible in its implementation, and we are not going to stand by,” the union chief said in an interview, pointing to a series of tasks piling up for teachers as they adopt the curriculum changes. Without reforms, “we’re going to just have to pull our support for it.”

Mulgrew’s criticism of the reading curriculum is the latest point of tension between the union and City Hall. Mamdani recently backtracked on campaign pledges to support a boost in pay for paraprofessionals and swiftly reduce class sizes — both major union priorities.

Mulgrew said he still thinks it is a good idea to require common reading curriculums in all elementary schools instead of giving each principal the authority to pick their own, the biggest shift under NYC Reads. But other burdensome requirements have been layered on top of the mandate, he said.

He criticized the number of student assessments — at least three every year in reading — as excessive. Another point of contention: As of last year, schools must use additional city-approved intervention programs for struggling readers, a major priority of Chancellor Kamar Samuels. Those programs, however, don’t always line up with the reading curriculums, Mulgrew said.

Mulgrew also accused the city of rolling back earlier promises to give teachers flexibility to implement the curriculum at a pace that makes sense for their students and schedule.

An Education Department spokesperson said the union’s claims are untrue, noting there were no changes in the district’s assessment or pacing policies last year. The only change was to require that schools use approved intervention programs, officials said.

Mulgrew’s comments came days after officials revealed that just half the city’s students in grades 3-8 were proficient in reading on the state tests administered in the spring, a decline of 6 percentage points from the year before.

Even as union officials initially blamed the test score decline on flaws with the Education Department’s implementation of NYC Reads, Mulgrew said he does not believe the tests accurately measure student learning. (Some experts have raised questions about whether the unusually large fluctuations reflect problems with the test.)

The reading curriculum overhaul has won mixed reactions from educators. Some have welcomed the changes as long overdue, while others have been frustrated with the programs city officials have required them to use.

Still, Mulgrew’s comments came as a surprise to some teachers.

“What he’s saying is coming out of nowhere,” said Kate Gutwillig, who retired from Manhattan’s P.S. 134 in June.

She agreed with Mulgrew’s criticism that schools are being asked to assess students too often using tools that don’t map well onto the school’s curriculum.

Still, the notion that there were major changes in how NYC Reads was implemented last year “does not ring true to my experience,” she said.

Other observers said it would be a significant blow if the union dropped its support of the initiative, which includes union-supported and city-funded centers that offer training connected to NYC Reads.

“Right now, they are a core implementation partner,” said Evan Stone, CEO of Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group that supports the curriculum changes.

“I don’t think it stops the program” if the union pulls its support, Stone said, noting that the city has pressed ahead with a math curriculum overhaul over the union’s objections. “But it certainly doesn’t make the work easier.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC is acting faster on special education legal orders but still misses most deadlines

2026-08-10T19:20:52+00:00

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New York City has long failed to quickly provide special education services even after families won legal orders for them, generating more than two decades of litigation.

Three years ago, city officials embraced a federal court order requiring dozens of reforms to more swiftly provide services like speech therapy, tutoring, or tuition payments for students who can’t be properly served in public schools. But a key question has been surprisingly difficult to answer: Is the city actually providing services to students with disabilities more quickly?

New data from independent auditors offers good news and bad news: More families are getting services and other payments within court-mandated deadlines — but the Education Department still blows past the legal timeframes in the vast majority of cases.

“There has been some improvement,” said Rebecca Shore, the litigation director at Advocates for Children, which brought a class action lawsuit in 2003 that sparked additional court oversight. At the same time, she said, the city is “nowhere near” full compliance.

When families believe they aren’t getting the right special education services they can file a legal complaint against the city that is adjudicated by an administrative judge, known as an impartial hearing officer. Caregivers were on track to file under 16,000 cases last school year, officials said at a City Council hearing in June. When families prevail, the Education Department typically must comply with the order within 35 days, the deadline established in a 2007 legal settlement, unless a hearing officer offers a different timeline.

Orders for services like speech therapy, counseling, and transportation were implemented on time in just over 36% of cases according to a recent audit that focused on cases with deadlines in January. That’s up from a compliance rate of 7.2% during the first months of 2023, just before a Manhattan federal judge ordered the city to make a series of reforms to speed up the process.

The Education Department provided on time payments — which can offer funding for private school tuition, outside evaluations, and tutoring — in just under 13% of cases in January. That represents a jump from early 2023, when orders were implemented on time in just 4.1% of cases. (The regular quarterly audits are running roughly two years behind; the auditor conducted a narrower one-month review of cases with deadlines in January.)

“We have made substantial progress by improving core processes, increasing staffing capacity, and advancing critical technology upgrades, all of which support a stronger and more responsive system,” Education Department spokesperson Onika Richards wrote in an email.

She added that the city remains “committed to meeting our obligations” but did not respond to a question about whether the city plans to reach full compliance. In some cases, officials contend that delays stem from families or their advocates not submitting paperwork on time.

Delays continue in most cases

Still, many families continue to experience delays after receiving a favorable ruling from a hearing officer, according to caregivers and their legal advocates.

Nilda Ferrer, a Bronx mom, said she had to wait for the Education Department to line up transportation for her teenage daughter, who has autism and anxiety and struggled with claustrophobia. Her bus ride to a private school in New Jersey, which she attends at no cost because there isn’t an appropriate public school for her, sometimes stretched roughly two hours, Ferrer said.

Bronx mom Nilda Ferrer and her 17-year-old daughter, Nilda.

After unsuccessfully lobbying for the city to find a more manageable transportation option, she filed a legal complaint seeking a taxi service with help from a lawyer at Legal Services NYC. She was thrilled when the family won the case last December.

“I thought that that would be the end of it,” said Ferrer, who works as a home health aide. Instead, it took weeks for the city to implement the service in response to the order. Her daughter wound up missing school as a result, compounding existing struggles with school refusal. (Citing privacy concerns, city Education Department officials declined to comment on the case.)

The family will likely have to file another legal complaint this coming school year, as the city did not include the taxi service on her daughter’s special education learning plan. “Now we have to fight it all over again,” Ferrer said. “It doesn’t make sense to me because her situation is not changing.”

NYC has yet to complete 21 court-ordered reforms

It remains to be seen whether the city will continue making progress on implementing special education orders more quickly.

Officials have been slow to comply with the 2023 order requiring the city to modernize its special education implementation system, after a court-appointed special master found it relied on antiquated technology and manual data entry.

City officials have yet to complete 21 of the 51 reforms required under the 2023 federal court order, according to a special master report released last month, including a technology overhaul of a case management system that missed its March launch date and does not currently have a timeline for completion.

David Irwin of Thru Consulting LLC, the court-appointed special master, credited the city with hiring staff, committing resources, and making some technological progress, including launching a customer service portal for families and their attorneys that offers case information.

“The leadership in DOE is very engaged in this,” Irwin said, noting that he meets with Chancellor Kamar Samuels every month.

Still, city officials are simultaneously trying to revise some of the requirements that stretch back to a 2007 court settlement, arguing the terms of that agreement are outdated.

The Education Department is pushing to loosen the 35-day legal window, according to a recent court filing. They want to exclude certain private school cases from the court settlement’s requirements, including timelines and auditing rules. And they are pushing to scale back the independent audits that measure their performance, such as assessing only a sample of cases for timeliness, in part because the audits are expensive and delayed. The auditing firm cost the city $6.6 million in 2025 alone.

Lawyers representing families, including Shore of Advocates for Children, criticized those proposals in a court filing.

“Rather than focusing on improving its implementation rates,” the lawyers wrote, “the DOE is asking this Court for shortcuts.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC reading scores sink, with third grade proficiency falling 14 points

2026-08-07T20:42:44+00:00

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Reading scores sank in New York City last school year, with a nearly 14 percentage point decline among third graders, according to preliminary data released Friday.

Among students in grades 3-8, about half were proficient in reading, a decline of 6 percentage points. That nearly erases a 7 percentage point spike the year before. Math scores were flat, with 57% of students considered proficient.

The declines in reading proficiency were most pronounced in grades 3-5. In addition to the dramatic decline in third grade, fourth grade scores fell nearly 6 percentage points, and fifth grade scores fell by 13 points. (You can find your school’s test results at the bottom of this story.)

The unusually steep drop in reading proficiency comes as the city is heading into its fourth year of a major shakeup in literacy instruction. All elementary schools are required to use approved curriculums that officials contend line up with the science of reading, a longstanding body of evidence about how children learn to read. A growing number of middle schools are in the process of adopting new reading curriculums, too.

City officials vowed to conduct an analysis of the sharp fluctuations in reading scores.

“School leaders across New York City are seeing dramatic swings in literacy proficiency reflected in this year’s state assessment results,” schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said in a statement. “These results raise important questions and deserve careful, rigorous analysis so we can ensure we’re measuring what students are learning.”

City officials noted that the state test scores diverged from the city’s own periodic assessments, which generally showed improvements in reading.

The city’s teachers union has supported the elementary reading curriculum changes, but criticized the Education Department’s approach in response to the latest scores.

“We have to refocus on what we know works in literacy — a clear plan, a tailored science of reading curriculum, and meaningful professional development for educators,” Mary Vaccaro, the union’s vice president for education, said in a statement.

She said the Education Department “abandoned that approach” last year and “piled on additional programs, assessments, consultant’s recommendations and curriculum in the hopes that ‘more’ would equal better, and we lost ground.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has vowed to double down on the literacy and math curriculum overhauls launched by his predecessor. In May, he announced plans to expand the math curriculum mandate into elementary schools, a move the union also criticized.

Test scores alone can’t prove whether a policy is working because many factors influence them. But city officials pointed to the dramatic 7 percentage point spike last year as evidence the new reading programs are paying dividends.

The reading proficiency declines mirror a similar 5 percentage point drop across the state. Some testing experts told Chalkbeat this week that whipsawing scores are unusual and raise questions about whether there are irregularities in the exams.

Andrew Ho, a Harvard professor who serves on a panel of experts who are paid to advise New York on its state assessment system, said the state exams are carefully constructed.

“It’s uncommon but not unprecedented” to see test scores significantly shift up and down, Ho said.

Observers should consider them in the context of other data, including the city’s own assessments and the National Assessment of Educational Progress, widely considered the gold standard assessment. A new round of results on that federal exam, including for New York City, are expected next year.

Others worried that there was an unidentified problem with the tests. Emily Oster, a professor of economics at Brown University who has studied patterns in state assessment results, said the swings were reminiscent of COVID-era disruptions but without an obvious cause.

“It’s just so implausible that there would be these kind of swings, and that they would be concentrated in some grades and some subjects and not others,” she said. “It just feels like there’s a mistake.”

EdTrust-New York, an advocacy group, called for an independent audit of the last three years of state testing data. “NYSED never adequately investigated or explained last year’s dramatic gains, making this year’s reversal difficult to interpret,” the group said in a statement earlier this week.

A spokesperson for the state’s Education Department said that the state conducts two independent audits of its assessments each year and those reviews have not flagged any problems.

As in prior years, the test results show deep disparities between student groups.

Asian American students saw the largest declines in reading scores last year among racial groups, with proficiency rates dropping to about 67%, down nearly 8 percentage points. A similar share of white students were considered proficient in reading.

Meanwhile, nearly 42% of Black students were proficient, a decline of 5 percentage points. About 37% of Latino students were marked proficient, 6 percentage points lower than the prior year. Just under 22% of students with disabilities were proficient readers.

Students who are currently learning English, or were in the past, saw the largest reading dips. Their proficiency rates dipped nearly 10 percentage points to 62.1%.

Math scores were more stable. Almost 44% of Black and Latino students were proficient in the subject, up less than 1 percentage point respectively. White and Asian American students’ scores dipped by about a percentage point each, to 74% and nearly 80%, respectively.

Curious about school-level test results? Here is a searchable breakdown of math and English scores across all of the city’s public schools (charters are not included).

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

New York reading scores plunge on state tests while math proficiency edges up

2026-08-05T21:12:57+00:00

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Reading proficiency plunged across New York state last school year while math scores ticked up slightly, according to preliminary state test results obtained by Chalkbeat.

About 48% of students across the state were proficient in reading on the 2025 state exams administered in grades 3-8, down 5 percentage points year over year. Meanwhile, 57% of students passed the math exams last school year, a modest gain.

The dramatic decline in reading proficiency raised eyebrows among multiple experts who noted state test scores tend to change gradually. The declines also appeared to be concentrated in grades 3-5. Fifth grade reading proficiency declined 14 percentage points last year, for instance, the largest drop of any grade level. The prior year, fifth grade scores soared 13 percentage points.

“Data doesn’t usually look like that,” said Emily Oster, a professor of economics at Brown University who has studied patterns in state assessment results. “Those are pretty big year-on-year swings.”

Oster noted that the math results are more consistent with other states that have seen incremental progress in the wake of pandemic-era declines.

Data from New York State Education Department

The drop in reading scores comes as state officials have nudged school districts to embrace the science of reading, a longstanding body of evidence about how children learn to read. New York City, which enrolls nearly 40% of the state’s public school students, has mandated sweeping changes to elementary school literacy instruction to boost student achievement. (District-level results are not yet publicly available. Last year, the state and city reading scores both increased by roughly the same amount.)

State test scores are an imperfect measure of any single policy because many different factors influence student achievement. But officials often use the scores to bolster the case for their preferred policies — including New York City’s reading overhaul — and scores are typically considered a rough barometer of the school system’s performance.

“The Department takes this decline seriously and will conduct a detailed analysis to better understand where students are experiencing challenges, which student groups and communities have been most affected, and where additional support and resources are needed,” state Education Department spokesperson JP O’Hare said in a statement.

More detailed data is expected soon, though city and state officials did not confirm exactly when district-level scores will be available.

Multiple experts who reviewed the testing data at Chalkbeat’s request said the fluctuations could point to changes with the test itself.

“Seeing statewide numbers that are patterned in that way really leads me to worry about something unusual in the 2024 test and how it was scored,” said Aaron Pallas, a Teachers College professor who has studied school performance. “If we didn’t have 2024 data, we’d say things are pretty stable.”

State officials reduced the number of questions students needed to answer correctly to be marked proficient in 2024, raising questions from some observers about whether the test was easier. State officials previously stressed that the scoring changes were standard adjustments to account for the difficulty of the test questions and did not make the exam easier.

The state is also in the process of transitioning to computer-based assessments instead of paper-and-pencil tests. Experts were skeptical that would explain the fluctuations and state officials said they have extensively studied the question and said the effect is negligible.

Andrew Ho, a Harvard professor who serves on a panel of experts who are paid to advise New York on its state assessment system, said he believes the test reflects changes in student achievement but the exact magnitude may be noisy.

“The safe bet is that there was a real gain and a real decline,” he said, “but probably neither is as big as we’re seeing.”

Officials should pay close attention to a range of data sources, including federal tests that are often considered the gold standard, and consider data over multiple years.

“It’s always about triangulating information,” Ho said. “‘Don’t overreact to blips’ is the sort of statisticians’ mantra.”

Still, experts said policymakers should still take the drop in reading scores seriously, especially as many students have not fully recovered from pandemic-era learning disruptions.

“There’s a lot of kids who are not going to be able to go on and keep advancing in school,” Oster said. “It means that we need more tutoring” in addition to other support.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC official overseeing Mamdani’s childcare expansion for 2-year-olds is stepping down

2026-07-31T21:24:47+00:00

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A top Education Department official overseeing Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ambitious childcare program for 2-year-olds is stepping down.

Simone Hawkins, the deputy chancellor of the division of early childhood education, is leaving her post in September, city officials said Friday afternoon.

Her departure comes at a key moment for Mamdani’s free childcare initiative. The program, which could be Mamdani’s most operationally complex campaign promise, is set to launch this fall with 2,000 free seats in a handful of neighborhoods. Families are expected to receive offers on Aug. 4.

City officials did not say why Hawkins is stepping down and declined to make her available for an interview.

“Over the last few years, Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins was a leader in making New York City more affordable and accessible for working families,” schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said in a statement. He praised her for helping to grow early childhood programs, tackle payment delays to providers, and expand programming for preschool students with disabilities.

The news of Hawkins’ departure shocked many early childhood education advocates and others who worked with her in city government.

Brooklyn City Council member Lincoln Restler framed the news as an “enormous loss” for the early childhood education system, noting Hawkins was responsive to his concerns and helped open vacant childcare centers the city was paying for.

“I’ve seen the (Education Department) bureaucracy eat good people alive,” he said. “Deputy Chancellor Hawkins was one of the few people who could tame it.”

Other advocates said she helped shore up the division after former Mayor Eric Adams made cuts to preschool programs for 3-year-olds.

“We appreciate the work that Simone has done over the past two years to strengthen early childhood education,” said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, including “shoring up 3-K and making sure it would be here to stay permanently.”

Hawkins was appointed deputy chancellor by former Chancellor David Banks in 2024. She assumed the role as the division had long struggled to pay providers on time, undergone a bumpy staffing shakeup by Hawkins’ predecessor, and was rolling out a controversial curriculum mandate for early childhood programs that city officials recently loosened. Early childhood advocates and elected officials praised Banks’ decision to appoint her.

Her portfolio includes the city’s universal pre-K programs for 3- and 4-year-olds as well as subsidized programs for infants and toddlers.

Hawkins has held multiple roles in the city’s Education Department. She served as the chief executive for operations in the early childhood division in 2022, but resigned eight months into the role shortly after testifying at a City Council hearing that focused on late payments to providers. Officials said her resignation had been in the works before the hearing and was for “personal reasons.”

Officials did not say if Hawkins has a new job lined up.

“Over the past two years as Deputy Chancellor, we’ve improved practice, launched 2-K, a historic program that will deliver affordable child care for New York City families, and opened schools that for too long have sat vacant,” Hawkins said in a statement.

“I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have worked with a slate of dedicated and committed public servants at New York City Public Schools.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani names 13 school board members, cementing control of NYC schools

2026-07-28T18:58:17+00:00

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed 13 people to the city’s school board Tuesday, cementing his control over the panel that votes on major policy changes, contracts, and decisions to merge or close schools.

The appointees to the Panel for Educational Policy bring a range of professional experience, including an environmental justice advocate and a budget official at the MTA. Others have more traditional education policy backgrounds, including a former early childhood policy official who worked under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. Several are current or former public school parents.

Mamdani also reappointed three members who served under former Mayor Eric Adams. The terms of Adams’ appointees ended last month. (See a full list of Mamdani’s appointees below.)

“Public schools belong to New Yorkers, and the families, students and educators who make them what they are deserve a real voice in the decisions that shape them,” Mamdani said in a statement. “The Panel for Educational Policy has a vital responsibility to help guide our school system with transparency and accountability.”

Under state law, the mayor has the power to appoint 13 of the board’s 24 members and pick the chair from a list provided by state lawmakers. The current chair’s term does not expire until September. Parent leaders select five members, and each of the five borough presidents appoints one.

That structure gives Mamdani direct authority over the school system, a power he campaigned on giving up to make the system more democratic, though he never sketched out a clear alternative. He abandoned that position shortly before taking office and successfully lobbied state lawmakers for a two-year extension of mayoral control in the most recent state budget.

Under Mamdani, the panel will likely consider a range of hot-button issues, and advocates are already gearing up to influence the new board.

A group pushing for a moratorium on artificial intelligence in the city’s public schools plans to rally outside Wednesday’s panel meeting, the first that will feature Mamdani’s new appointees. The board has previously been skeptical of AI, and the city is developing new guidance on how the technology can be used in classrooms. The city delayed releasing the guidance due to overwhelming pushback, but officials said they planned to release it before this fall.

The panel will also have to grapple with how to approach declining enrollment in the nation’s largest school system. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has indicated the city may need to ramp up school mergers and closures, but such proposals often spark fierce backlash, with parents, students, and educators packing board meetings in protest.

Historically, mayoral appointees tend to vote in line with the mayor and his schools chancellor. Mamdani, however, has vowed to listen to community input. It remains to be seen if that posture will give his appointees more room to vote independently of City Hall’s wishes. The mayor can no longer remove his own board members simply for voting against his proposals under a 2022 tweak in state law.

Adams sometimes struggled to control the board, which more frequently bucked City Hall’s proposals than panels under previous mayors. Toward the end of his term, Adams allowed three mayoral appointees on the board to sit vacant, effectively giving up his majority.

Under recent changes to the board’s structure, mayoral appointees serve one-year terms that expire at the end of June. That makes Mamdani the first mayor required to work with board members appointed under his predecessor for his first six months in office. Although Mamdani could have filled two mayoral vacancies that Adams left open, he mostly allowed them to sit empty in recent months. He appointed one member, Brooklyn College professor Maddy Fox, in time for the June board meeting.

Greg Faulkner, the panel’s current chair who was appointed by Adams, said he was impressed with the new slate of board members.

“I’m excited by this new group — the diversity and experience is really great," he said.

Here are the members Mamdani appointed, according to a press release issued Tuesday afternoon. The three members Mamdani reappointed are Alan Ong, Marjorie Dienstag, and Amy Fair.

Karla Cordero

Cordero is chief of staff at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, which fights for climate justice in low-income areas of West Harlem and upper Manhattan. She previously worked in government and helped launch an emergency food program during the COVID pandemic that delivered more than 18 million meals to New Yorkers.

Tariq Khan

Khan has spent nearly three decades at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he now works in budget and finance. The Queens resident has also been active as a parent leader in his local school communities.

Mehrain Mahdi

Mahdi, a parent in Manhattan’s District 2, served on her school’s leadership team, where she launched an after-school Spanish program. She also founded Little Leaping Leaders, a mentorship program for young girls.

Alan Ong

Ong, a longtime civic leader in Queens, has served as a parent-teacher association president and as president of District 26’s Community Education Council. He previously was an Adams’ appointee on the PEP.

Amy Fair

Fair has worked in higher education administration for more than 25 years and is the director of strategic initiatives and special projects at NYU Steinhardt. She has also served on the community education council in Bronx District 11 “and in several community leadership roles supporting students, families and schools,” according to her official bio.

Courtney Rajwani

Rajwani, the parent of two public school children, is a managing consultant at the Lewin Group, a healthcare consulting firm. Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, she was an executive director for policy development and support in the city Education Department’s early childhood division.

Crystal Vera-Montalvo

Vera-Montalvo is the director of community educational engagement at the College of Staten Island. She oversees a slew of programs, including English as a second language, continuing education, GED, as well as other initiatives geared toward older adults and people with disabilities. She is the parent of a current New York City public school student.

Marjorie Dienstag

Dienstag’s three children have attended both public and private schools, including one who currently attends a District 75 school, which serves children with more complex disabilities. She led a grassroots push to build a West Village middle school that includes a program for District 75 students.

Lucas Koehler

Koehler previously worked as a seventh-grade math teacher in the Bronx and is now the chief financial officer at the Foundation for City College. His bio credits him with playing a “key role in expanding New York City’s early childhood education system.” He also previously worked in the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget.

Primo Lasana

Before becoming chief impact officer at the Forum for Youth Investment, a nonprofit focused on youth development, Lasana was the executive director of Reading Partners and director of new site development at iMentor. He’s also been active on his Brooklyn community board.

Kristin Jefferson

Jefferson is a senior education consultant at Teaching Matters, a nonprofit that works with schools to improve reading and math instruction through training and coaching. She also founded KJ-Ed Solutions LLC, an education consulting firm. She previously was the academic director and network multilingual learner coordinator at Explore Charter Schools and director of recruitment for the Education Department’s Office of New Schools. 

Maddy Fox

Fox is a Brooklyn College professor who studies children and youth as well as sociology and is a faculty member at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is a “union member and participatory action researcher whose work focuses on partnering with young people and communities to shape public policy,” according to her official bio. Fox has two children in the city’s public schools.

Raysa Rodriguez

Rodriguez is the executive director of the Citizens’ Committee for Children, an advocacy and research organization. She previously worked at other nonprofits, including the United Way of New York City. During the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, she was a senior adviser on children’s issues for the deputy mayor for health and human services. She was born and raised in the Bronx and is a former kindergarten teacher.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

NY officials propose mandatory science of reading update for teacher prep programs

2026-07-20T19:40:28+00:00

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New York officials want teacher preparation programs to revamp their instruction to align with the science of reading, a longstanding body of evidence about how children learn to read.

Under the proposed regulations, many teacher preparation programs — including those focused on early childhood education, bilingual education, English language learners, literacy, and students with disabilities — would be required to align their instruction with the state’s science of reading framework.

The framework emphasizes evidence-based approaches including phonics, the relationship between sounds and letters, as well as phonological awareness, oral language, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency.

The proposal, introduced at a state Board of Regents meeting last week, comes as some advocates and experts have raised alarms that roughly half of the state’s teacher preparation programs are failing to properly train educators in reading instruction, significantly higher than the national average.

Prospective educators would also be expected to devote a portion of their “field experiences” and student teaching to providing evidence-based literacy instruction and assessing students with reading challenges. The proposed regulations require more explicit training on dyslexia, one of the most common learning disabilities, and officials said the proposal is consistent with recommendations from a state dyslexia and dysgraphia task force.

“The knowledge base that supports the science of reading is not new,” Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young said during the meeting. “It is about ensuring that we’re using what we know about how children learn, grow, evolve, and making sure — by the regulation — that it exists in every teacher preparation program.”

If adopted, the proposal would represent one of the most concrete steps so far from state officials to require higher education programs to adopt stronger approaches to training educators to teach reading.

The proposed changes come as many students are struggling with reading. More than 40% of the state’s fourth graders scored at the lowest level in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often considered the gold standard in assessment. That was roughly 10 percentage points worse than in 2013. Reading proficiency on state exams has increased over the past few years, diverging from the federal test.

The proposal is an outgrowth of a multi-state effort New York joined in 2023 to reform teacher preparation programs organized by The Hunt Institute, a nonprofit affiliated with Duke University. Officials said the regulations are designed to ensure all teacher preparation programs are consistently teaching evidenced-based literacy practices. If adopted, many teacher prep programs would be required to comply by September 2028.

Some groups that have been critical of New York’s teacher prep programs said the proposed changes are promising.

“This would be a significant step forward for the state,” said Ron Noble, the chief of teacher prep at the National Council on Teacher Quality, which released the report last month that found half of the state’s teacher prep programs did not adequately teach reading.

Noble praised the idea of beefing up requirements for literacy-focused work in student teaching and other hands-on training experiences. “That is a great idea,” he said, “ one that I haven’t seen in lots of other states.”

Still, several observers and members of the Board of Regents wondered how the Education Department would enforce the requirements, especially because teacher prep programs are reviewed on a seven-year cycle. Some Regents worried the state wouldn’t catch flawed practices for the better part of a decade.

“How will we ensure accountability and follow through?” asked Regent Hasoni Pratts, who represents Brooklyn, during last week’s presentation. “We won’t know if they’re doing what they say they’re doing until we review in 2035, when I know many of us may not be here.”

State officials said they can already require corrective action if fewer than 80% of prospective teachers pass certain certification exams. If teacher prep programs don’t align their coursework with the science of reading, state officials will first provide technical assistance. They could eventually be denied “reregistration,” a state education spokesperson noted, which would prevent the program from recruiting new students, according to state rules.

State officials hope the Board of Regents will approve the new rules in November after a public comment period.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Wildfire smoke forces Summer Rising indoors as officials limit outdoor activities

2026-07-16T19:10:30+00:00

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New York City officials urged summer school programs to limit outdoor activity on Thursday as wildfire smoke wafted into the five boroughs.

The Education Department’s guidance to principals also asked schools to reschedule outdoor trips.

The city’s summer school program, known as Summer Rising, has slots for about 110,000 elementary and middle school students this year, offering a mix of academics, enrichment activities, and trips.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned in a social media post that the “combination of dangerous heat and unhealthy air is a serious threat to New Yorkers’ health.”

Thursday’s pivot indoors marked the latest heat- or smoke-related disruption to the city’s public schools. During a heat wave earlier this month, summer programs were instructed to cancel outdoor field trips on July 1 and July 2, according to an internal email obtained by Chalkbeat. In June 2023, the school system switched to remote instruction for a day due to wildfire smoke (though most students already had the day off).

Education Department officials said they follow Health Department guidelines on air quality to make decisions about whether outdoor activities are safe for children. They did not indicate whether they plan to issue a similar warning for Friday when the smoke is expected to ease.

One Brooklyn principal supervising a summer school site, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said the heat and smoke has led them to limit outdoor activities on about half of the days of this year’s summer program, which began July 1 and ends Aug. 7 for middle school and Aug. 14 for elementary schools.

As a result, students are getting less time for recess, basketball, and soccer, because a larger number of students must rotate through the campus’s air conditioned gym. They’re playing games like “7 Up” instead.

“It’s really not ideal — there’s not as much space for free play inside,” the principal said, noting staying indoors is important because many of his students have asthma.

The principal did not receive the guidance that Education Department officials sent to school leaders in advance of the smoke on Thursday and was “literally going off the [New York City Emergency Management] text alerts I personally signed up for” to make decisions about when to limit indoor activities.

Grace Bodenmann, chief education officer at New York Junior Tennis & Learning, said her organization moved programming indoors at the 26 Summer Rising sites they work with as well as the two full-day camps they run at charter schools. They made the move based on instructions from the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development, which sent out two emails Thursday morning, she said.

“It’s not that fun to be in a school from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.,” Bodenmann said, noting that while Summer Rising sites are required to have air conditioning, not all spaces in a building necessarily have AC, particularly some of the larger spaces such as auditoriums, cafeterias, and gyms. “It’s hit or miss,” she said. “And you can’t open the window.”

Under a recent state law, children are not allowed to be in school spaces that reach 88 degrees or higher.

Students at the New York Junior Tennis and Learning's ACES afterschool program at P.S. 9 in Brooklyn.

Another challenge: Some of the Summer Rising sites have multiple community organizations in one building jostling for space.

But it’s clear that families rely on the program: Attendance was barely down over the past two days, she said. Bodenmann was eager to find out what would happen on Friday, which is when many organizations organize field trips. Rescheduling those trips can be difficult.

Meanwhile, many of the air purifiers the city distributed to every school during the pandemic are gathering dust. Many educators have stopped using them because of concerns that the devices the city bought are noisy and are not as effective as other models. Although the city’s guidance to custodians directs them to keep windows and doors closed when possible and and check HVAC systems, it does not mention using the purifiers.

Some experts previously told Chalkbeat that school systems should think more intentionally about indoor air quality, especially in regions like the East Coast that have less experience responding to smoky conditions.

“On the West Coast, wildfire smoke has just been part of life for a while,” said Patricia Fabian, an associate professor of environmental health at Boston University. On the East Coast, “people have really only started talking about it in the last couple of years.”

Clean indoor air is important for student and staff health, she said. And while she wasn’t familiar with the purifiers New York City purchased for schools, she said that air purifiers can help filter particles and reduce the risk of wildfire smoke.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

NYC expands high-demand special education programs into preschool for the first time

2026-07-14T17:22:12+00:00

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New York City officials are expanding a slew of the city’s highest-demand special education programs into preschool classrooms for the first time, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday.

The expansion this fall is meant to help address the city’s longstanding failure to provide classroom seats to every preschooler with a disability — a legal requirement — even as officials created universal preschool for typically developing 3- and 4-year-olds. Mamdani framed the effort as part of his broader push for universal childcare.

To help close the gap, Mamdani said Tuesday that the city will expand five popular programs that already serve K-12 students with autism and other disabilities as part of a $67.5 million investment included in the city budget. The expansion will add 250 total seats to the Nest, Horizon, AIMS, Path, and ACES programs in 26 schools across 14 of the city’s 32 local districts.

“Universal has to mean exactly that — it has to mean universal,” Mamdani said at a press conference at P.S. 5 Ellen Lurie in Inwood. “Having a child with a disability or a special need should not make families the exception to that rule.”

Eric Adams, Mamdani’s predecessor, promised to provide a seat to every preschool student with a disability. His administration made some progress by opening hundreds more seats. But some students still sat at home without a placement, which can be detrimental to children with disabilities early in their development. A Mamdani spokesperson did not say whether the latest expansion is enough to guarantee a seat for every child next school year.

Mamdani emphasized that the expansion will enable children to attend programs closer to where they live in classrooms that often include typically developing peers. Children have long been forced to travel outside of their neighborhoods to access appropriate special education programs. The city is also hoping to keep more students in the public school system rather than paying for private services when families can’t find appropriate placements.

City officials said many of those programs produce strong academic outcomes for students with disabilities, who tend to post much lower test scores and graduation rates than their typically developing peers.

About 97% of Nest and Horizon students, which serve children with autism, ultimately graduate high school, officials said. Students who attend are more likely to be proficient in reading and math than peers in other programs, officials have previously said. They also tend to have higher attendance rates. At the K-12 level, thousands more students could benefit from those programs than there are available seats, even as city officials have incrementally expanded them.

The announcement represents one of the few education initiatives Mamdani has advanced since taking office, and advocates praised the investment.

“This funding is urgently needed as the city works to ensure that all preschoolers with disabilities get the evaluations, services, and programs that they need,” said Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children, an organization that helps families navigate the special education system.

City officials also pledged to strengthen other support for preschool students with disabilities who often go without the services they’re entitled to even after securing a classroom seat. Only 63% of preschool students with disabilities received all of their mandated related services, including speech and occupational therapy, Education Department officials said at a March budget hearing.

The $67.5 million plan includes hiring hundreds of additional staffers, including teachers, psychologists, social workers, and therapists. Officials said the hires will help reduce wait times for special education evaluations. The Education Department is also expanding a program that places special education teachers in general education preschool classrooms, allowing more students with disabilities to access instruction alongside their typically developing peers.

Here are the 26 schools that will receive new special education programs, including which program they will operate. Education Department officials did not immediately identify specific programs for seven of the schools.

District 2: P.S. 042 Benjamin Altman, Nest
District 5: P.S. 133 Fred R. Moore, Horizon
District 6: P.S. 005 Ellen Lurie, Horizon
District 7: Academy of Exploratory Arts, Nest
District 9: P.S. 028 Mount Hope, Horizon; P.S. 058, AIMS; P.S. 070 Max Schoenfeld, Path; P.S. 063X Author’s Academy, and Lucero Elementary School
District 10: P.S. 310 Marble Hill, AIMS; PS 023 The New Children’s School, Horizon; Rose Hill Pre-K Center
District 11: P.S. 068 Bronx, Horizon; P.S. 111 Seton Falls, AIMS; P.S. 121 Throop
District 12: P.S. 006 West Farms, Horizon; Samara Community School, Nest
District 14: P.S. 147 Isaac Remsen
District 15: P.S. 015 Patrick Daly, ACES; P.S. 024, Horizon; P.S. 958, AIMS
District 20: D20 Pre-K Center
District 21: P.S. 212 Lady Deborah Moody
District 30: P.S. 152 Gwendoline N. Alleyne School, Horizon; P.S. 171 Peter G. Van Alst, AIMS
District 31: P.S. 054 Charles W. Leng, AIMS

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC budget gives every public school kindergartner $1,000 for college, restores education programs

2026-06-30T19:04:37+00:00

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New York City public school kindergartners will automatically receive $1,000 for college expenses, up from $100, under a budget deal announced Tuesday between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council.

The budget also restores a handful of education programs that Mamdani did not include in his preliminary proposal and were at risk of cuts, including a mental health initiative that operates clinics in schools and a program for students with disabilities who have sensory issues that interfere with their learning.

The $125.8 billion budget agreement marks the end of Mandani’s first budget cycle since taking office. Though he initially warned of a multi-billion shortfall, the mayor indicated that the deal with the City Council “balanced the budget without slashing the services that New Yorkers rely on.”

“Above all else, this budget offers a roadmap for the years to come,” Mamdani said shortly after shaking Council Speaker Julie Menin’s hand.

The mayor steered clear of some potentially controversial cuts. Earlier this month, city officials indicated that they will spend $290 million next year to keep school budgets steady even if their enrollment drops, a pandemic-era “hold harmless” policy that many school funding experts argue should be phased out. Former Mayor Eric Adams tried to wind that program down, but faced enormous backlash and reversed course.

Still, Mamdani scaled back other education initiatives. He initially planned to spend more than half a billion dollars to comply with a state mandate to shrink class sizes. After convincing the state legislature to extend the deadline to reach full compliance, Mamdani pared back class size spending considerably.

Here’s what you should know about the budget deal.

A tenfold boost for college savings accounts

All kindergartners in New York City public schools will automatically receive college savings accounts with $1,000, money that is invested in a tax-advantaged 529 account and is expected to grow before students tap it for higher education expenses. (Most charter schools have opted into the program, too.)

The NYC Kids Rise program, which launched about a decade ago, previously doled about $100 per student. Making the program more generous was a top priority for Menin who framed it as “one of the most effective ways we can truly address income inequality” and ultimately boost students’ future wages.

The money can be used for vocational schools, community college, or four-year programs. Menin said the $64 million initiative is the largest universal college savings program in the nation. Families, businesses, and other organizations can contribute as well.

City Council’s initial proposal called for depositing $3,000 into accounts for low-income families, but that did not make it into the final budget deal.

A slew of programs spared from the chopping block

Similar to prior mayors, Mamdani did not include funding for several existing education programs until he faced pressure to do so from advocates and City Council members. Those programs, restored in next year’s budget, include:

Mental Health Continuum ($5 million) Offers mental health support at 50 schools, largely in the South Bronx and Brooklyn as well as several school-based clinics.
Restorative justice ($6 million) Supports schools to adopt less punitive approaches to student misbehavior, such as peer mediation and circle discussions.
Sensory Exploration, Education & Discovery ($8.4 million) Provides extra help for students with disabilities who have sensory issues that interfere with their learning.
Outreach to immigrant families ($4 million) Helps fund efforts to communicate with families in their home languages, including translation services and in local ethnic media outlets.
Student Success Centers ($3.3 million) Trains youth leaders to help high school students navigate the college admissions process.

The Coalition for Equitable Education Funding, a constellation of more than 120 advocacy organizations, praised the funding restorations.

“These programs are currently benefiting thousands of students and families, and we thank the Mamdani Administration and the City Council for ensuring these critical programs will continue for another year,” the group wrote, which reported the dollar amounts that were restored. (A City Hall spokesperson did not immediately confirm them.)

Fate of popular school data contract remains unclear

Mamdani vowed to slash wasteful spending in outside Education Department contracts, but his budget proposal included cuts to just one: A portal that stitches together data from various city databases. Many educators say it is a useful tool that saves countless hours that would otherwise be spent combing through creaky databases by hand.

City officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether the $8.9 million contract with the nonprofit New Visions for Public Schools would be restored in the final budget deal. A slew of educators, advocates, and lawmakers have called in recent weeks for the city to reverse the decision to cut the contract.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani promised to cut wasteful education contracts. Critics say he picked the wrong one.

2026-06-26T21:06:01+00:00

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After promising to eliminate wasteful Education Department contracts, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration has so far publicly identified just one item in the agency’s $12 billion contract budget.

It’s an $8.9 million data portal developed by the nonprofit New Visions for Public Schools that merges reams of student data, including attendance and test scores, into a tidy dashboard.

The proposal is generating backlash from the City Council, even as local lawmakers have pushed to rein in contract spending. Many educators are also furious, and nearly every public school in the city uses the portal. Additionally, the data portal serves as a case management system for a program that pairs homeless students with “caring adults” — an initiative Mamdani wants to expand.

“There are very few things that the teachers and I say that we have to have,” said Sarah Scrogin, principal at East Bronx Academy for the Future. “It doesn’t make sense to take it away.”

City officials have not offered a detailed rationale for cutting the data portal, which allows staff to quickly identify trends in student test scores, flag students who are off track for graduation or frequently absent, and input qualitative notes so school teams can coordinate support.

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said at a City Council hearing this month that his agency proposed eliminating the New Visions data contract because similar information is available in other systems. But even Samuels acknowledged the tool is useful to schools and it would be “clunky” to pull data without it.

“I could see why it was viewed as potentially duplicative, but in terms of actually how the system works, I understand the value of the portal,” Samuels said.

An Education Department spokesperson said the city hopes to “extend core functions” of the tool next school year but did not say whether the contract would be extended. The city’s final budget is due July 1.

The proposal has raised questions from local lawmakers about how city officials are vetting contracts for elimination as Mamdani seeks to reduce spending. City Council member Rita Joseph raised concerns about how the cut could affect the program for homeless students, called Every Child and Family is Known.

“How does the city plan on expanding Every Child and Family is Known … while simultaneously cutting the platform it depends on to do the work?” Joseph asked during a recent hearing. A group of state lawmakers have urged the city not to cut funding for the portal.

Scrogin, the Bronx principal, said the tool has helped guide decisions about how to support vulnerable students, noting that her school participates in Every Child and Family is Known.

Three years ago, she began providing students in temporary housing with laundry cards and detergent after noticing that school staff were repeatedly citing lack of access to clean clothes as a barrier to school attendance.

“I don’t have time to read handwritten logs about why students couldn’t come to school,” Scrogin said. The New Visions portal, which digitally aggregated the notes, made the pattern clear.

She has also used the tool to identify students who need additional math tutoring based on their Regents scores and math credits.

For their part, New Visions officials have pushed back against the argument that the portal is duplicative because schools already have access to the same data elsewhere.

“The challenge that administrators, teachers, counselors face across the system is not that the data exists somewhere, but that the data exists in too many different places,” New Visions President Mark Dunetz told the City Council.

He argued the department’s existing tools function as one-way reporting systems rather than collaborative planning tools. Without the portal, educators would have to manually download spreadsheets and compare data across multiple systems instead of accessing it in a single dashboard.

Dunetz said no current Education Department tool connects data from the department, other city agencies such as the Department of Homeless Services, the City University of New York, and a range of community organizations.

He added the contract is a good deal for the city because New Visions raises roughly $5 million annually in philanthropic funding for the portal on top of the city’s investment.

“A private for-profit vendor would probably charge at minimum $25 million for this level of personalized software development,” he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC delays school AI guidance after backlash

2026-06-24T22:39:22+00:00

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New York City education officials are hitting pause on releasing comprehensive artificial intelligence guidelines after their draft policy from March sparked fierce backlash.

Officials initially said their final guidance would be released in June, but backed away from that timeline during a Wednesday City Council hearing focused on AI in schools. Instead, the policy guidance will be released sometime this summer, First Deputy Chancellor Danielle Giunta said.

Giunta said the “shifting national conversation, which has really escalated over just the last couple of weeks alone” was one reason for the delay, along with nearly 6,500 comments responding to the March draft. Officials have not released those responses but told City Council members they would do so.

Worries about AI — and education technology in schools more broadly — have increased in recent months. More than half of City Council members signed a letter urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani and schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels to pause AI use in schools citing concerns about learning and mental health. A broader petition seeking a moratorium on generative AI use in city schools has received thousands of signatures.

The Education Department’s draft policy used a traffic light framework that spelled out various uses of AI and their risk levels. Assessments and grading are not allowed, for instance, but brainstorming lesson plans gets a green light. Student AI use was largely left out, even though it’s one of the most pressing issues schools face. In response to the draft policy, parents packed public meetings and largely criticized the approach.

Samuels, who did not attend Wednesday’s hearing, recently said that the Education Department’s draft policy “missed the mark” that AI “is the most invasive technology that we’ve seen.” He suggested the final guidance would have stricter limits for the city’s youngest students.

Giunta said Wednesday that the city is considering different expectations based on age and grade level and thinking about how to prepare older students “for a world in which AI is already present without allowing AI to replace their own thinking.”

City Council members repeatedly pressed Education Department officials about the extent to which AI tools are already used in classrooms and indicated families should have a greater say over how their children are exposed to it.

“There are huge gaps in our understanding of how the technology is being deployed and when,” said Manhattan council member Carmen De La Rosa, who chairs the technology committee. “We do need the time to be able to wrap our arms around what is happening in our classrooms.”

Education officials said they are working with superintendents and principals to develop a more comprehensive sense of what tools schools are already using.

The Education Department’s stance on AI has whipsawed in recent years. When ChatGPT gained widespread use, city officials blocked its use in schools in 2023. Three months later, they rescinded the ban.

Former schools Chancellor David Banks grew increasingly warm to the technology, saying “AI can revolutionize how we function as a school system” and could be used for everything from college advising to assessing student work. But he never released a clear policy, leaving that task to Mamdani and Samuels to complete. Meanwhile, schools have been left to devise their own approaches.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Most high schoolers no longer need to pass Regents to graduate. Schools are in the dark on what’s next.

2026-06-24T19:07:52+00:00

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By next fall, the majority of students in New York high schools will not be required to pass the state’s Regents exams to earn a diploma, a major shift that state officials hope will reshape teaching and learning.

There’s just one problem: The state Education Department has not yet revealed what the new graduation requirements will look like — even as the Class of 2027 will be the last cohort that must pass the exams to graduate under the current timeline.

That disconnect is alarming advocates and educators who worry that schools will not have enough time to seamlessly transition to new graduation standards.

In interviews and responses to a Chalkbeat survey, educators and families said they felt confused about the transition and unsure what it means for their schools. One member of the state Board of Regents, Hasoni Pratts, said during a public meeting this month that her own child is unclear on whether they need to pass the exams.

“Teachers are going to need time to figure out what the requirements are and how to translate that,” said Robert Effinger, a teacher at the Bronx High School of Business. Right now, he said, “There’s no information.”

State officials have been planning for years to transition away from the Regents, exit exams that date back to the mid-1800s. In their place, state officials have outlined a list of six high-level attributes students must have to graduate, known as the “portrait of a graduate,” such as effective communication skills and critical thinking. Students will be able to demonstrate those skills in a wider variety of ways, such as research projects and internships, state officials have said. The Board of Regents, which oversees the Education Department, must approve any changes to the graduation requirements.

Many educators have cheered the move away from graduation exams, which research suggests do little to promote student learning and have fallen out of favor across the country. The move could free them up to ditch test prep and pursue more creative learning experiences and hands-on projects. Several also hope it will help quell some students’ test anxiety.

Educators pointed to existing models of how to assess students in other ways. Some schools have waivers from the state Regents exams and rely on performance-based assessments, where students give presentations — but those efforts, educators say, require lots of planning and buy-in. International baccalaureate schools also have a well-developed system of assessments and emphasizes collaboration with peers and applying learning to real-world contexts. Again, that approach requires extensive teacher training and support.

Samantha Schmoeger, the principal at The Boerum Hill School for International Studies, which uses the IB curriculum, said she appreciates that the state is planning to allow students to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of ways, and she feels confident that the IB framework aligns with the state’s changes.

“That said, the uncertainty around future graduation requirements does present challenges,” she wrote in an email. “Long-term planning for curriculum, assessment systems, staffing, counseling, and student pathways requires clarity.”

State is slow to share details on graduation changes

State officials have emphasized that the transition away from Regents exams will be gradual — and local districts may continue to use them as one possible graduation pathway even after the new requirements take hold.

A state Education Department spokesperson indicated that officials will reveal more details about the standards early next school year and are collecting public input this summer.

The new graduation measures — along with overhauled credit requirements — will fully take effect for students who enter high school in 2029.

State officials recently suggested that schools should begin experimenting with different ways of assessing students and boosting access to opportunities like work-based learning, even before the actual graduation requirements are available. They’ve secured $2 million to help schools adapt to new graduation requirements and are requesting additional grant and state funding.

Multiple school leaders said they are reluctant to make changes before the state releases more details. Some are wary of telling families that the Regents will no longer be required because they want students to still take them seriously.

“We’re all sort of in limbo,”said one Brooklyn high school principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

As Regents exams exit, equity concerns rise

The transition away from Regents exams has prompted concerns from some educators and advocates about maintaining consistent standards across hundreds of school districts and thousands of schools.

Erick Espin, a teacher at Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning, said his school already emphasizes fieldwork, expeditions, case studies, and project-based learning. More recently it introduced career-focused programs through FutureReadyNYC.

But he worries that if schools have more control over graduation measures — along with pressure to keep graduation rates high — there may be incentives for schools to push students to graduate even if they haven’t mastered key skills.

“The state needs to strongly consider how to more objectively evaluate the skills of New York students,” he said.

Effinger, the Bronx high school teacher, raised a similar concern. “It’s going to be too easy to set up a race to the bottom for graduation requirements without serious guardrails,” he said.

State officials said there will be protections to ensure graduation standards are applied equitably. “This is not about lowering standards,” Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young said earlier this month. “This is about redefining how all of our students meet the standard.”

Without a detailed plan, some advocates are wary.

Alren Benjamin-Gomez, the executive director of the advocacy group Education Trust-New York, said the state is setting up a “wild west” where schools are trying to guess how to prepare for the new graduation system.

It makes sense to move away from the Regents exams, Benzamin-Gomez said, but she would like to see a new system that is “rigorous and comparable across the state.”

“The reality is that an alternative is actually challenging to create,” she added. But “I think it’s poor policy, I think it’s poor rollout, I think it’s poor implementation to leave people so unclear on what is the new approach,” she said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

The other champions at the Knicks parade: NYC public school student basketball players

2026-06-18T22:06:06+00:00

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As the New York Knicks marched through lower Manhattan Thursday morning with hundreds of thousands of fans cheering their first NBA title in 53 years, another set of underdogs followed behind: the Seward Park Campus varsity basketball team.

Seward ended its own yearslong championship drought in March, and the team’s four seniors scored a last-minute invite to join the parade as part of a broader delegation of eight Public Schools Athletic League championship teams.

After a near-sleepless night of anticipation, the students woke up at dawn. Within hours, they were atop a double decker bus traveling up Broadway’s Canyon of Heroes from Battery Park to City Hall. They hoisted their own championship trophy and tossed Knicks T-shirts into the roaring crowd, which drew more than 2 million people, police officials said.

It felt like the city was there to celebrate them, too.

Brooklyn Hollins, a member of the team who goes by “BK,” said onlookers asked them to sign autographs and pose for photos, catching him off guard. “I don’t have the signature ready, so I just wrote BK number 20,” he said. “Everybody was just showing love.”

Fans also recognized the school. “It was so many people saying that they went to Seward, they played against Seward,” Hollins said.

And just as the Knicks’ championship win brought New York City residents together, Seward’s championship helped bring its Lower East Side campus closer, said coach Katey Wentworth.

Once a large comprehensive high school, Seward Park is now home to five separate schools that share a building, part of a small schools movement under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The four Seward Park seniors who participated in the parade each attend different schools but play together on the campuswide basketball team.

“This was a really unifying experience for our campus,” said Wentworth, who teaches at New Design High School and has coached the team for a decade.

Wentworth also felt like she had something to prove.

“There’s a lot of conversation about a woman coaching men,” she said. “I felt very validated.”

Along the parade route, the team didn’t meet any current Knicks players. But they spotted Patrick Ewing, a Knicks legend who played on the team for 15 seasons and retired in 2000.

Seniors from the Seward Park varsity boys basketball team and their coach Katey Wentworth pose with their Public Schools Athletic League championship trophy outside of the Education Department's Lower Manhattan headquarters on Thursday.

Seward teammate Lucas Bernstein rushed to FaceTime his dad, a longtime Ewing fan. He didn’t pick up. A selfie would have to suffice.

In the runup to the parade, some New York City public school families pleaded with city officials to reschedule so it wouldn’t fall during school hours and during Regents exams set for Thursday morning — state tests students must pass to graduate high school. (The seniors on the Seward Park team already completed their exams.)

Several schools near the parade route experienced significant logistical headaches. Educators said many families were not allowed to pass through police barricades. At least one campus planned to request a make-up day for students who couldn’t get to class.

Attendance across the city’s public schools dropped on Thursday to about 84.8% down from about 89.3% Wednesday — likely owing to the parade and the start of a long weekend. (Schools are closed Friday for Juneteenth.)

For their part, students from the Seward team felt hopeful that their championship and parade appearance could help bolster their campus’ image as a destination for basketball talent.

“It’s not just the big-name schools that produce good players,” said team member Roy Duran. “Here at Seward Park, we actually hoop.”

They said the experience on Thursday will stick with them for a long time.

“I’m gonna remember this in 60 years, 70 years, 80 years — I’m gonna remember this for the rest of my life,” Bernstein said. “We were in the Knicks parade.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney contributed.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Allegations against Kamar Samuels highlight widespread dysfunction in NYC’s school contract system

2026-06-18T20:51:26+00:00

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On the campaign trail, Mayor Zohran Mamdani pledged to reduce fraud and waste in Education Department contracts, which total nearly $13 billion in spending, about a tenth of the entire New York City budget.

Recent allegations that his chancellor, Kamar Samuels, violated key contracting rules are complicating those efforts and have put the mayor in a delicate position.

The allegations that Samuels skirted the competitive bidding process in his prior role have brought scrutiny from investigators, lawmakers, and the public, while also casting a brighter spotlight on a system that almost all observers say is deeply flawed, even if they disagree about how to fix it.

One member of the City Council, Queens Democrat Phil Wong, has called for Samuels to resign, arguing he is not the right leader to oversee contract reforms. So far, Mamdani has publicly stood by Samuels and has asked allies on the City Council to do the same, according to someone familiar with the outreach.

In interviews with more than a dozen educators, administrators, and elected officials deeply familiar with the Education Department’s procurement system, many of whom were granted anonymity to speak freely about the system, few expressed surprise that someone might go outside the rules. They described a broken contracting and procurement process that can make it difficult, or nearly impossible, to get services for children in a timely fashion.

“At no agency is [the procurement process] more painfully cumbersome, bureaucratic, and slow than in the DOE,” said Brooklyn Council member Lincoln Restler. “Frankly this situation underscores the urgent need for procurement reform.”

The allegations against Samuels, first reported by independent journalist Sue Edelman and The New York Post, stem from his recent tenure leading Manhattan’s District 3, which spans the Upper West Side and parts of Harlem.

The city Special Commissioner of Investigation, or SCI, found last year that Samuels’ former deputy superintendent, Mariela Graham, improperly split a larger contract with a vendor into smaller chunks to avoid a $25,000 competitive bidding threshold, a practice referred to as contract splitting. The vendor hired and placed language teachers in the district.

The investigation began after school officials reported that one of the teachers employed by the vendor was barred from working in city public schools because of past sexual misconduct.

Samuels wasn’t mentioned in SCI’s 2025 report, but City Council testimony from Sean Kreyling, the owner of the vendor, along with emails shared by the vendor with SCI and viewed by Chalkbeat, suggest Samuels approved a similar arrangement with the same company the year before.

Asked to confirm if Samuels is under investigation, SCI spokesperson Anna Correa said the agency is “aware of these new allegations, and will handle them accordingly.”

Several people familiar with the situation said that Samuels and Graham were scrambling to find language teachers to place at schools receiving large numbers of migrant students. Language and bilingual teachers are typically among the most difficult positions to fill for New York City schools.

Graham did not respond to a request for comment.

Samuels, who has declined to answer specific questions about the episode, has defended himself.

“While I regret this lapse in procedure,” he said in a statement, “the actions in question were undertaken in pursuit of educational opportunities for children — not for personal gain or to benefit anyone other than our schoolchildren.”

The $25,000 threshold: A safeguard or bottleneck?

Contracts make up a large and growing share of the city Education Department’s budget, increasing from about $3.2 billion in 2014 to roughly $13 billion, according to the City Council.

Mamdani took aim at the system as a mayoral candidate, pledging to “overhaul procurement infrastructure” across the Education Department and cut contracted spending by 10%.

The $25,000 threshold Samuels is accused of violating is a key safeguard meant to ensure that vendors getting large sums of taxpayer money have been thoroughly vetted and are offering the best prices.

To make a purchase above $25,000, a principal or other official is required to use a vendor that has a contract with the central procurement office.

But the process of getting a central contract can take up to a year, according to city officials. Some vendors don’t even attempt it and others give up, vendors and officials told Chalkbeat. Several principals said they sometimes can’t find the services they need from a contracted vendor, and those are often more expensive than non-contracted vendors.

Kreyling, the owner of the language teacher company involved in the District 3 allegations, said he began the process to get centrally approved and waited months before giving up.

“It’s a pretty arduous process … chaotic and disorganized,” Kreyling told Chalkbeat, noting that in other districts outside of New York City, he can get a fully signed contract within a month.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who is pushing for a more thorough audit of Education Department contracts, said during a hearing last week that she worries the practice of contract splitting may be more common than is known.

“This incident, of course, raises concern that there may be more widespread practice of contracts being broken up to avoid appropriate spending scrutiny,” she said.

A separate 2025 SCI report on the practice of contract splitting pointed to eight past investigations since 2023 that found school officials or vendors skirting the competitive bidding rules, including the one into Graham and Kreyling.

Last year, about $386 million of total contract spending came through purchases of less than $25,000, according to SCI.

Allegations highlight tension between scrutiny and efficiency

The reactions to the allegations against Samuels highlight a key tension Mamdani will face as he seeks to reform the procurement system: balancing the need for stricter oversight with making the process more efficient for schools.

Some lawmakers and advocates have argued that the allegations against Samuels show the need for tightened guardrails.

Lawmakers, including City Council Education Committee Chair Eric Dinowitz, a Bronx Democrat, have argued that if Graham and Samuels had gone through the vendor approval process, it would have prevented the teacher with the past misconduct charges from ending up in a classroom. SCI did not explicitly make that assertion in its report.

Emails between Kreyling and Education Department officials shared with Chalkbeat suggest that vendors with city approval must run their employees through Education Department background checks.

The SCI report noted, however, that principals are required to conduct background checks on any vendor employee who interacts with students — something that didn’t happen in the District 3 case.

Many principals and Education Department officials told Chalkbeat they view the allegations against Samuels as an example of an educator working within a broken system to try to quickly get services for kids.

“Hiring foreign language teachers is an incredibly difficult task,” said a high level Education Department official who requested anonymity. “It sounds like this district was trying desperately to provide services for their students.”

The situation points to the need to make the process speedier and less bureaucratic, school leaders said.

Some suggested raising the $25,000 cap, a threshold that hasn’t changed in years. Others said the process to approve a vendor needs to be faster and less complicated. That could also increase competition and lower prices.

Lindsey Oates, who started this week as the deputy chancellor for the Division of Finance, Administration, & Human Resources and will oversee procurement reform, said she will try to “strike the appropriate balance of appropriate oversight of taxpayer dollars, as well as streamlining our operations.”

Education Department officials have offered few details about how they’re approaching procurement reform. But officials say they’re hoping a reorganization to bring the finance and procurement teams under the same deputy chancellor will streamline the contracting process for schools while helping to strengthen accountability.

SCI made several recommendations in its 2025 report to crack down on contract splitting, including significantly ramping up training for principals and other officials making purchasing decisions, as well as increasing central staff in charge of monitoring non-contracted vendors.

Education Department officials said at last week’s council hearing that many of those recommendations would require financial resources the agency doesn’t have.

In the specific District 3 case, SCI found that Kreyling “conspired” with Graham on the contract splitting and recommended that the Education Department stop working with his companies. Kreyling told Chalkbeat he was following the lead of city officials and didn’t know he was violating any rules.

Investigators said Graham, Samuels’ deputy, displayed “astoundingly poor judgment” and recommended her termination. They referred the case to the Manhattan District Attorney. The District Attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Education Department general counsel Liz Vladeck told lawmakers that the SCI report contained no allegations of illegal activity. The department opted to suspend Graham for two weeks instead of firing her, she said. A source familiar with her current role said Graham was recently promoted to senior director of strategy for Samuels.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Samuels turns to local communities for advice on making NYC schools safe, rigorous, and integrated

2026-06-17T20:47:28+00:00

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Since taking office in January, schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has repeated a refrain that he wants the nation’s largest school system to be safe, academically rigorous, and integrated.

But he has revealed little about his tangible policy goals in each of those areas. Now, he’s signaling that some of those ideas may come from local communities rather than top-down from the Education Department or City Hall.

On Wednesday, education officials announced that five of the city’s 45 superintendents will convene working groups with parents, teachers, principals, and community organizations that will “address structural and instructional inequities in their district,” according to a press release. They are expected to meet monthly.

The groups represent “local solutions for systemic problems,” Samuels said Wednesday morning during a discussion with author Heather McGhee who has written about how racism has broader effects beyond people of color. Officials said all districts will have similar groups within three years.

Samuels suggested that the groups, which will be led by local superintendents, could begin to tackle some of the system’s biggest policy challenges. His conversation with McGhee touched on declining enrollment and the growing number of underenrolled schools; a state mandate to lower class sizes; and segregation of students by race, ability, socioeconomic status, and language.

Officials did not share who was selected by superintendents to serve on each working group, or commit to release each group’s recommendations publicly.

Previous administrations have also set up working groups to tackle thorny policy problems.

Under pressure from parents and advocates to address deep racial segregation in the city’s schools, former Mayor Bill de Blasio created a working group to recommend solutions. Some advocates were frustrated that the city did not embrace some of the group’s most sweeping suggestions. Still, some local districts have taken action to integrate local schools absent a broader citywide mandate, though others have sputtered. (Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that he would adopt some of the recommendations from de Blasio’s diversity advisory group that were not implemented, but he has yet to do so.)

On the campaign trail, Mamdani committed to getting rid of mayoral control — which gives the mayor largely unfettered power to set the school system’s policy direction — in favor of a more democratic system. He reversed his position just before taking office and recently won a two-year extension for it from state lawmakers.

But he has consistently vowed to give families and educators more of a say in policymaking and Samuels signaled the working groups were an effort to make good on that promise.

“When people ask me … ‘You have mayoral control, and are you going to really listen to parents, and are you going to listen to communities?’” Samuels said, “this is one of our main initial first steps.”

The first five districts that will participate are: Manhattan District 3 (Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and parts of Harlem); Bronx District 7 (Mott Haven and Port Morris); Brooklyn District 13 (Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill); Brooklyn’s District 16 (much of Bedford-Stuyvesant); and Queens District 25 (College Point, Whitestone, Hillcrest). Samuels previously led District 3 and 13.

The Wednesday morning event was livestreamed but the Education Department did not invite reporters to attend. Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said members of the working groups were invited and there wasn’t additional room due to the fire code.

The five working groups are expected to share their recommendations with the Education Department by the end of next school year, Brownstein said.

She indicated those reports could take multiple forms and officials plan to wait to release broader policy ideas until they review the recommendations. No funding has been earmarked for the working groups, officials said.

“We have to figure out what is the thing that we are going to do on behalf of our most marginalized young people, oftentimes, but on behalf of every single child in your district,” Samuels said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Teachers unions sue to block Success Academy from transferring charter to Eva Moskowitz’s husband

2026-06-16T21:32:19+00:00

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Teachers union officials filed a lawsuit this week to block Success Academy, New York City’s largest charter network, from handing one of its charters to CEO Eva Moskowitz’s husband.

Eric Grannis, Moskowitz’s spouse, is planning to use that charter to open Strive Charter School, which would offer families year-round programming and a longer school day. It is slated to open this fall in the South Bronx.

But city and state teachers unions contend in a lawsuit filed Monday that the arrangement runs afoul of state law because it effectively creates a new charter school, violating the state’s cap on the number of charters that can operate, which has already been reached. The suit also names the State University of New York, which oversees Success Academy and ultimately approved the arrangement between Success and Strive in January.

“If SUNY is allowed to bypass the law by allowing a transfer of a charter from Success Academy to Strive, it will create no distinction between a revision and a new charter, rendering the statutory cap meaningless,” lawyers for New York State United Teachers and the United Federation of Teachers, wrote in court papers. They called the arrangement “deceptive.”

The suit represents the latest chapter in a long-simmering rivalry between the local unions and the city’s charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed. Union officials argue that charters draw students, and the resources that follow them, from traditional public schools and sued to block charters in other parts of the state earlier this year.

Meanwhile, charter school leaders argue that families should have more options to choose from and their schools often produce superior academic outcomes. Charters are typically not unionized and may operate outside the strictures of the union contract.

Grannis, who has long been involved in the charter sector, noted that Strive is designed to meet working families’ needs. The school is slated to operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., including weekends, throughout the year (the extended hours are voluntary for students). The school plans to draw on Success Academy’s curriculum but would operate as a separate entity with its own board. Grannis indicated in a statement that demand is strong, and the school has received 200 applications.

“It is cruel that the teachers union is trying to deprive families of the opportunity to benefit from this program with this last minute lawsuit,” Grannis wrote.

SUNY officials said they are reviewing the lawsuit and would respond in court. A Success Academy spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is not the first time the arrangement between Strive and Success has raised legal questions. State Education Department staff argued in a January memo that the move represented a “circumvention of the cap” and urged the state’s Board of Regents to reject it.

The board ultimately sent the proposal back to SUNY for reconsideration — a largely symbolic gesture because under state law SUNY does not need the Board of Regents’ signoff for the change to take effect.

The unions’ lawsuit also contends that state law provides no legal mechanism for transferring a charter from one entity to another. State lawmakers have sometimes allowed charters that were surrendered or revoked to be reissued, though union lawyers argue that situation does not apply here. Even if additional charters were available, the suit argues that SUNY did not follow the competitive process typically required for issuing one.

“New York’s students and public schools deserve better than this kind of maneuvering, and NYSUT will not stand by while bad actors try to rewrite the rules to suit themselves,” Melinda Person, the union’s president, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, some charter school backers argued that the suit is without merit.

“I’m confident that the SUNY Board of Trustees acted not just lawfully but in the interest of families,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, an advocacy group.

“If NYSUT and the UFT want to waste their members’ dues on a highly dubious lawsuit just to stop a school whose twin mission is alleviating parents’ child care issues, while also providing students with a first-rate education, well, be my guest.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

What will school look like in a post-Regents world? Officials tease a ‘competency-based’ approach.

2026-06-15T23:20:46+00:00

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For years, New York officials have been talking about what it should take to earn a high school diploma as the state gradually moves away from standardized Regents exams. But they have shared few details about how a new system would work.

On Monday, they touted a new “competency-based” model as part of the state’s broader effort to phase out the Regents, which current ninth and 10th graders do not need to pass to graduate, under the state’s current timeline. The new graduation measures are expected to be fully phased in by the 2029-30 school year.

Under the new framework, the state would overhaul credit requirements that specify the number of hours of instruction students receive in each subject, a change officials said would free students up for projects, work-based learning, and dual-enrollment programs. It could allow schools and local districts to think more creatively about how to assess students using portfolios, performances, and other measures beyond tests and grades.

Angelique Johnson-Dingle, a deputy commissioner in the state Education Department, referred to traditional school schedules, in which students move between classes at set times, as an outdated “factory model” of education during a presentation to the state Board of Regents.

“It is about time for us to rethink this factory model and to provide districts with the support to transform antiquated structures, reimagine the use of time and space, and refocus on deep, authentic, connected learning,” she said.

But state officials have not offered a detailed vision of what the competency-based approach would look like and indicated local districts and schools would have flexibility in how they implement it. Officials have also yet to explain what specific graduation measures will replace the Regents exams.

“I think it’s well-intentioned, ” said Jeff Smink, the deputy director of the advocacy group Ed-Trust New York. He said the state’s explanation of the competency-based approach involved “a hell of a lot of buzzwords, but not a lot of detail on what it would look like in the classroom.”

Many states have adopted competency-based education policies to varying degrees, often because of a belief that students need to be prepared for a changing economy. However, there is limited evidence that the approach boosts student performance and it can be tricky to implement. Officials in Maine wound up rolling back a similar initiative after local districts had trouble defining proficiency and teachers struggled to communicate how students would be assessed.

Board of Regents members unhappy with lack of detailed plans

Several members of the Board of Regents said they were excited by the competency-based approach. But some also expressed frustration that there were few specifics about how it fit with new graduation requirements that will replace Regents exams.

“The teachers are saying to me, ‘I don’t know what this means, and I do not know how to prepare for it,’” said Regent Hasoni Pratts, who represents Brooklyn. “This presentation today, I don’t think gave them a little bit more clarity on that.”

Pratts noted that her own ninth-grade son is confused about whether he needs to pass Regents exams to graduate. “He’s asked me, ‘Do I take the Regents now, or do I not take the Regents?”

State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa acknowledged some questions around the competency-based approach and stressed that more information would eventually be shared by state officials, local districts, and even Regents themselves. Students would still be required to master state learning standards in civics, math, science, and other subjects, officials said.

“Yes, we’re going to have many, many questions as we go through this, but the idea is that we do have to change,” Rosa said. The state is soliciting feedback on the framework over the summer and final changes must be approved by the Board of Regents.

Even without clear guidance on the new competency-based framework, state officials encouraged school districts to begin experimenting with different ways of assessing students and boosting access to work-based learning in the meantime.

Other members of the board raised questions about the workload involved for educators in transitioning to the competency-based approach.

“I think the concept and the idea is wonderful,” said Regent Susan Mittler, who represents several upstate counties. But if a teacher is pursuing more ambitious projects with larger classes, “How do I get everything graded?” Mittler wondered. “How do I make sure that all the students working on a capstone project have access to me when they have a problem?”

Some advocates also raised questions about how the state will make sure that the approach doesn’t lead to uneven expectations in different schools and districts across New York.

“We already have too many districts that are simply passing students — particularly students of color from low-income backgrounds — even though they’re not prepared,” Smink said. “This just raises a lot of both equity and rigor concerns.”

State officials vowed to release “common criteria” for demonstrating each of the competencies and other guardrails to ensure rigor across the state.

“This is not about lowering standards,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young. “This is about redefining how all of our students meet the standard.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Half of NY teacher prep programs fail in reading instruction: report

2026-06-09T04:00:00+00:00

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Half of teacher preparation programs in New York are failing to properly train educators to teach students how to read, despite the state’s push to overhaul literacy instruction, according to a report released Tuesday.

Out of 38 New York teacher preparation programs evaluated by the National Council on Teacher Quality, or NCTQ, just six received A grades, meaning that they teach all five key components of scientifically-based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Nineteen — or half of the state’s prep programs — received failing marks, including many operated by CUNY and SUNY, the city and state university systems. Nationally, just 21% of programs received an F. More than half of New York’s elementary teacher prep programs declined to provide materials for review, among the highest refusal rates of any state. Those programs were not graded.

NCTQ assigns failing grades if a program covers one or none of the five components of reading or teaches debunked practices, such as encouraging students to guess how to pronounce words they don’t know by using pictures.

“New York State has one of the highest number of programs that did not meet our standards,” said Heather Peske, the president of NCTQ. “To me, it means that the state is not leveraging their authority strongly enough by reviewing and holding accountable the programs.”

Nationally, teacher preparation programs have improved dramatically, NCTQ found. Just over half of programs they assessed are using scientifically grounded practices, double the share compared with three years ago. New York has only improved slightly in that timeframe.

Lack of progress could hinder efforts to improve reading proficiency, the report warns, as a growing share of New York students are struggling with reading. About 41% of the state’s fourth graders were reading at the lowest level in 2024, up from 30% in 2013, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is often considered the gold standard in assessment. (Reading proficiency on state exams has ticked up over the past few years, diverging from the federal test.)

New York State Education Department officials disputed the NCTQ report’s findings and emphasized several efforts to improve teacher preparation programs.

“The report fails to include a substantial number of New York State teacher preparation programs, thereby presenting a limited and misleading picture of the work underway across the state,” spokesperson Karen Male wrote in a statement.

Teacher prep programs lag in science of reading

New York leaders in recent years have embraced the science of reading, a longstanding body of evidence about how to teach students to read. But progress has been uneven.

Under legislation Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed to improve reading instruction, the state gave $10 million to the state teachers union to train 20,000 teachers in the science of reading. But the course does not fully align with the science of reading, an investigation from the Hechinger Report found.

A spokesperson for the governor said the training is being reviewed by New York State United Teachers and the State Education Department.

Meanwhile, many of New York’s public teacher prep programs fell short on NCTQ’s scorecard. Eight of SUNY’s 19 programs evaluated by NCTQ received failing grades. Among CUNY programs, 9 of 13 received an F. (Medgar Evers College was the only CUNY program to not provide all teaching materials for review and was not evaluated.)

SUNY spokesperson Holly Liapis said the university system is working to make changes. The university’s board of trustees passed a policy in January that will require every SUNY program to be “fully aligned” with the science of reading by December, she said.

“SUNY is absolutely committed to ensuring our campuses all deliver high-quality Science of Reading preparation,” Liapis said in a statement.

CUNY spokesperson Noah Gardy disputed the NCTQ’s assessment, arguing the report “is not an accurate measure of CUNY’s teacher training work.” He did not explain why.

The university system is spending $3 million in philanthropic dollars to “to align curriculum and support faculty development,” he said. Gardy also pointed to other efforts, including a microcredential in the science of reading available to educators and CUNY students.

State education leaders say improvements are underway

The NCTQ report is nonetheless optimistic that change is on the horizon, pointing to a multi-state effort that New York education leaders joined three years ago to overhaul teacher prep programs.

That effort, organized by The Hunt Institute, a nonprofit affiliated with Duke University, includes an action plan calling for a slew of reforms.

“There’s lots of other work happening on campuses through knowledge sharing, through changes of policy,” said Ruth Genn, the executive director of the Literacy Academy Collective and a leader of New York’s effort. “I do think it’ll be reflected in the next NCTQ report.”

State Education Department officials indicated they are embracing the action plan by releasing a science of reading framework for teacher prep programs, beefing up the state’s review process for those programs, and creating a new teacher certification exam focused on the science of reading.

Experts said it is often difficult to quickly reform teacher prep programs, in part because they are large bureaucracies. In addition faculty may be reluctant to change teaching practices they’ve honed for years, and have strong protections to maintain academic freedom.

“There’s going to be a lag there, and that’s the painful side of bureaucracy — and it’s exhausting and frustrating,” said Javaid Siddiqi, president and CEO of The Hunt Institute. Still, he said, “New York has made progress.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC school budgets won’t face cuts next year (for now) despite falling enrollment

2026-06-07T20:14:13+00:00

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Despite shrinking enrollment, New York City schools will not see their initial budgets take a hit next school year.

New York City principals are soon expected to receive their budgets for the 2026-27 school year, and schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels gave them a heads up that even if they’re projected to have fewer students, their budgets won’t drop.

Though school budgets are typically tied to student head count, the city began its “hold harmless” policy — propping up school budgets despite enrollment losses — during the height of the pandemic. The Education Department’s coffers were flush with billions in one-time federal relief funding, and officials were concerned about catching kids up after prolonged learning disruptions. So they kept budgets steady even as students left the nation’s largest school system.

Over the past six years, the city has spent $1.6 billion to stave off enrollment-related cuts, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group. Meanwhile, K-12 schools have lost nearly 10% of students during that time, dropping below 800,000 students this school year — and declines are expected to continue. The decision from Samuels pushes any eventual financial reckoning further down the road.

“Our hold harmless policy began during the pandemic to provide stability amid a crisis—and while we are no longer in a pandemic, stability and predictability remain critically important for our school communities,” Samuels wrote in a Sunday email to principals.

“To that end,” he continued, “we will be holding schools harmless for their SY26-27 initial budget allocations. This investment will provide stability and predictability for school communities as principals plan staffing, programming, and supports for the upcoming school year.”

Some school funding experts warn against allowing budgets to drift away from schools’ actual enrollment, which disproportionately benefits schools that have lost the most students. But some educators and parent leaders note that many schools have come to rely on the money and abruptly removing it could force them to scale back programs such as music and art and let go of teachers.

Plus, cuts are likely to invite backlash and are politically unpopular, especially as Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed to prioritize funding for public schools on the campaign trail. When former Mayor Eric Adams initially began winding down the program, the blowback ballooned, with families making T-shirts declaring that Adams defunded their schools. Subsequently, Adams decided to keep propping up budgets.

Samuels’ email made no mention of what the city will do midyear, when it will be faced with another inflection point whether to hold schools harmless if their enrollment is lower than anticipated. Again, before the pandemic, the city would claw back money in the middle of the school year if a school’s roster failed to match projections.

But principals this year did not have to give back money despite nearly two-thirds of the city’s roughly 1,600 schools having fewer students than projected. The policy cost the city more than $250 million.

Samuels is expected to testify Monday before City Council on the budget.

“Going forward,” he told principals, “I am committed to engaging with you and your school communities about our school budgets—to ensure both long-term fiscal sustainability and comprehensive school support.”

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

New York teachers union calls for aggressive limits on AI and screens for youngest students

2026-06-01T21:43:05+00:00

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The tide is quickly turning against screens and artificial intelligence in schools — at least in New York state.

The state’s teachers union is the latest to join the grassroots parent efforts to limit screens and AI, passing a resolution this weekend calling for a ban on individual students’ screen use in prekindergarten through second grade, including online assessments.

It also calls for banning student-facing AI for these young learners, as well as prohibiting AI chatbots for students under 16.

Gov. Kathy Hochul also expressed concerns on Monday about screen time in schools.

The resolution from New York State United Teachers, or NYSUT, which is the umbrella union of New York City’s United Federation of Teachers, comes on the heels of a push for a nationwide strategy to curb technology use in schools from its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers. AFT President Randi Weingarten last week called for similar limits in her “devices-down, eyes-up, hands-on” plan.

The resolution from the state teachers union comes as New York City is rethinking its policies on artificial intelligence in schools. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels recently called AI the “most invasive technology that we’ve seen” and signaled the Education Department may create clearer guardrails for the city’s youngest students, after significant criticism of the city’s initial draft policy.

“Educators are not anti-technology. We are pro-child,” NYSUT President Melinda Person said in a statement on Monday. “Every decision made in the name of innovation must actually serve the students in our classrooms.”

Meanwhile, Hochul said Monday that it is “definitely worth looking into” limiting screen time for younger students. She would take a similar approach to studying this as she did before implementing banning cell phones, she said at a press conference celebrating the first year of the state’s school cellphone ban.

“I spent a year going around the state, gathering information, assessing it, analyzing it, and coming up with a really solid policy,” Hochul said, “so I would engage in that before I would give an answer on how I feel about this, but I’m learning a lot as a parent and grandparent.”

Several districts or states are limiting or looking into limiting screens in schools. Los Angeles schools are moving to ban screens until second grade. Iowa recently passed a law limiting screens in schools. Tennessee and other states are considering limits.

How the national backlash to education technology will affect classrooms in the nation’s largest school district remains to be seen. An upper Manhattan superintendent instituted a “screen break” last week at a parent advocate’s request. But the state teachers union is pressing for broader change.

NYSUT’s resolution, for instance, calls for banning online assessments for young children. Since the pandemic, schools across the five boroughs have been giving students assessments in reading and math three times a year to gauge their progress. Many schools use online tools from i-Ready or MAP Growth starting in kindergarten for the math assessments. (The Acadience Reading assessment for K-2 students is not device-based.)

As New York transitions to digital standardized exams for students across the state in grades 3-8, some educators have raised concerns that test preparation will increasingly rely on devices, too. The union’s resolution calls on the state to maintain paper and pencil options.

Students are “spending excessive time preparing for computer-based testing, completing mandated screen-based programs, and engaging in passive technology use that interrupts student-teacher engagement,” the resolution states.

A spokesperson for the state’s Education Department did not respond to a request for comment.

The union’s resolution also calls for requiring that using AI in any grade must be “educator-led” and designed to “promote critical thinking, digital literacy, and civic readiness, rather than replace human instruction, creativity or judgment.”

Teacher unions are also trying to walk a tightrope as they navigate the latest education technology backlash. The AFT and New York City’s teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, launched a partnership last year with OpenAI and Microsoft to help train educators.

“There are conversations at every level about how to scale back screen time for students, especially our youngest,” Mary Vaccaro, the UFT’s vice president for education, said in a statement.

“At the same time, the UFT and its national union, the AFT, are trying to help educators better understand and navigate AI, whether that’s learning how to protect their students or how to harness the tool for their own work.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

NY lawmakers to give Mamdani 2-year extension to comply with NYC class size mandate

2026-06-01T21:09:51+00:00

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A widely anticipated last-minute deal will give New York City two additional years to comply with a state law to shrink classes, according to legislation introduced Monday.

And in a separate agreement between the United Federation of Teachers and the city’s Education Department announced Monday, educators will be eligible for a pay bump if their classes are above the caps, union officials said.

The 2022 state law had required the city to cap 80% of its classrooms by this fall at 20 to 25 students, depending on grade level. By the 2027-28 school year, all classes were expected to meet the mandate. Now, the city will instead have to bring 70% of its classes into compliance this school year with an additional 10% in each of the next three school years, giving the city until the 2029-30 school year to meet the mandate.

Those changes — which state, city, and union officials have been negotiating for months — are a significant part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to balance the city’s budget. City officials banked on the delayed rollout of the law to save hundreds of millions of dollars to help close a multibillion dollar budget gap.

Mamdani’s campaign to convince state officials to give the city more time to comply represented a departure from his campaign pledge to swiftly implement the class size law, which he accused former Mayor Eric Adams of slow-walking. Mamdani voted for the law when he was a member of the state assembly.

“I am proud that our administration is implementing it in good faith,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Extending this timeline gives our schools the opportunity to reduce class sizes in a way that is sustainable and responsible.”

The city’s teachers union acknowledged Monday that the city is unlikely to reach the 70% compliance rate without relying on exemptions allowed under the law. (This school year, the city relied on thousands of exemptions to meet the 60% threshold required by law.)

“If giving this new administration two more years gets us a partner committed to building the necessary seats, then it is the fastest way to turn the law into reality,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said in a statement.

The union secured an “accountability incentive” that will put financial pressure on the city to avoid exemptions in the long run, union officials said. In cases where the city issues exemptions from the law because a building doesn’t have additional space to shrink classes or can’t hire enough staff, teachers will be eligible for additional pay.

Neither the Education Department nor the union provided a copy of the agreement. But in a email to UFT members, union officials said teachers could be eligible for up to $8,500 next school year and $9,500 the following year. The recipients of the pay bumps will be determined each November and “not every teacher whose class is out of compliance with the class size limits will receive the differential,” the email noted.

The deal is likely to renew equity concerns, as more affluent schools tend to be more crowded and stand to benefit the most from the class size law. Union officials said additional pay would be distributed to schools based on their economic need, though it was not immediately clear how that would work.

“We hope a differential will be an incentive to do the recruitment, hiring, and construction needed to fulfill the law,” Mulgrew said.

An Education Department spokesperson did not respond to questions about the incentives.

The legislation extending the deadlines to comply with the class size law was initially expected to be folded into the state budget, which was finalized last week nearly two months past the April 1 deadline, but negotiations dragged on. The legislative session ends Thursday.

Calls for transparency on city’s class size plan

Research suggests smaller class sizes tend to boost student learning and are broadly popular with families and educators. But the law would benefit relatively more affluent schools the most because they tend to be more crowded, multiple analyses have found, sparking concern from the state’s education commissioner.

City officials have argued that reaching 80% compliance this fall would have been difficult without a major influx of funding. They also expressed doubt about whether the city could recruit thousands of additional teachers.

In Mamdani’s February preliminary budget, he earmarked $547 million in new spending to lower class sizes, and officials had previously indicated they would need to hire 6,000 additional teachers. But anticipating a rollback to the class size law, Mamdani’s executive budget plan released this month included just $122 million to hire 1,000 teachers.

The mayor’s budget proposal also added $1.5 billion in capital funding, as many schools need additional space in their current buildings to shrink classes.

The Education Department has so far avoided more contentious measures to reduce classes that could avoid costs associated with building new classrooms, such as capping enrollment at popular campuses and sending students to schools with empty seats or rethinking school zones.

State Sen. John Liu, a Queens lawmaker who championed the class size law and sponsored the changes to it, said he was open to giving the city more time to comply with the law if the Education Department came up with a clear plan. On Monday, Liu said in a statement he was satisfied the city had “clear and accountable teacher recruitment and classroom construction plans.”

But neither Liu nor the city’s Education Department provided copies of those plans, and some advocates for smaller classes demanded transparency.

“Let’s see the city’s class size plan to confirm it’s not all smoke and mirrors,” Leonie Haimson, the executive director of the advocacy group Class Size Matters, said in a statement. “At the very least, the Department of Education should have to present it before the [city] council votes on the education budget and the capital plan.” The city’s budget must be finalized by the end of the month.

Asked about the class size legislation, Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters it will give the city “more breathing room to roll out the cost of it,” according to a transcript.

“This was a budget issue that the city asked the teachers for relief from,” she said.

This story has been updated with additional details about pay bumps that were sent to union members Monday afternoon.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Help us investigate: Where do you see waste in NYC’s $45 billion school budget?

2026-05-29T17:59:28+00:00

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In Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s quest to trim spending from New York City’s massive municipal budget, there’s no bigger target than the Education Department.

The department’s nearly $45 billion budget is the largest of any agency by far, making up roughly a third of the city’s entire budget.

The city schools budget has even become a national talking point for critics of Mamdani. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently said if he ran his company like New York City ran its schools, it would mean charging customers a $100 fee while taking six weeks to deliver a package.

Now, as Mamdani doubles down on his waste-trimming efforts with a new Commission on Government Efficiency, Chalkbeat wants to better understand what the Education Department’s massive budget looks like to the people working in and attending the system every day, and where you see the biggest potential savings.

The size and complexity of the budget is difficult to comprehend. It covers everything from staff and supplies at roughly 1,600 district schools as well as the educations of hundreds of thousands of students in charter and private schools and childcare centers. It spends billions on transportation, food, and maintenance.

So far, Mamdani’s biggest cost-cutting plan for the Education Department comes from hundreds of millions in expected savings from delayed implementation of the state’s class size law. He’s also pledged to trim spending on students with disabilities attending private schools. City officials are counting on $100 million in savings from “improved financial controls” and tens of millions more from consolidating or eliminating unnecessary contracts, according to budget documents.

Chalkbeat wants to hear from you, since where you see the biggest spending inefficiencies could look very different depending on your role in the system.

For parents and students, what are the programs and materials at your school that feel least useful? For teachers and school staff, are boxes of new textbooks or laptops gathering dust? For administrators, are there projects, materials or contracts whose costs seem too high? And if you’re involved in larger contracts or spending decisions, are there instances where the city is paying for duplicate services, or contracting out tasks it could do in-house for cheaper?

By getting a ground-level view of Education Department spending, Chalkbeat hopes to help create a clearer picture of where the city’s money goes, and we need your help in piecing that image together.

Please fill out the form below. If you are having trouble viewing this form, go here.

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Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani launches NYC elementary school math curriculum overhaul, following in Adams’ footsteps

2026-05-22T00:36:42+00:00

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New York City will soon require elementary schools in four local districts to use city-approved math curriculums, one of the first education initiatives under Mayor Zohran Mamdani outside of early childhood.

The announcement Thursday marks the first time elementary school math teachers will be required to shift their instruction as part of the city’s broader curriculum mandate. Schools in Manhattan District 5, Bronx Districts 11 and 12, and Queens District 25 will be required to make the shift by this fall.

Elementary schools across all of the city’s 32 local districts will eventually be required to use approved math curriculums, though officials did not lay out a timeline. Officials also revealed the latest wave of middle schools that will be required to use approved reading and math curriculums.

The new elementary school curriculum mandate will use versions of the same curriculums the city mandated in middle schools.

The $17.3 million effort represents an expansion of a major initiative to overhaul reading and math instruction that began under former Mayor Eric Adams and which Mamdani signaled he would continue on the campaign trail. The mayor has yet to unveil a more detailed education agenda.

School leaders have long been allowed to choose their own materials, leading to variation in instructional approaches from school to school. On some campuses, teachers write their own curriculums. City officials argue that created uneven quality in instruction and complicated efforts to train teachers at scale. Now, Education Department leaders contend they are ensuring schools are using materials that are rigorous.

Chancellor Kamar Samuels, who got his start as a middle school math teacher, has hinted for months that changes were on the horizon to the city’s curriculum overhauls, known as NYC Reads and NYC Solves.

“We absolutely need to get elementary school math teachers into the conversation,” Samuels told educators affiliated with the advocacy group Educators for Excellence, at a meeting in March where they pressed him on expanding the curriculum overhaul. “Undergirding our system is a lot of fear in math.”

The Education Department has previously pointed to standardized test scores as a reason to rethink the way schools teach reading and math. Roughly 57% of New York City public school students were considered proficient in math and 56% in reading in grades 3-8, according to last year’s state tests.

Curriculum overhauls have sparked debate

Some educators and parents have embraced the curriculum changes while others have pushed back, arguing that a one-size-fits-all approach can stifle innovative approaches to instruction that attract families to their schools.

There have also been complaints about the specific curriculums city officials have mandated and concern that there hasn’t been enough public input in selecting them. The city’s most widely used reading program, for instance, favors excerpts over whole books.

The city’s teachers union, which supported the reading curriculum mandate, has been more wary of the math changes and criticized the decision to make changes to elementary school math.

“The DOE has not solved the problems of NYC Solves,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said in a statement. “Changes that educators have called for from the beginning have not been made, and the holes in the curricula have not been filled.”

All middle schools are in the process of transitioning to approved reading and math curriculums, which officials previously said would happen by fall 2027. High schools are already required to use a common Algebra 1 curriculum called Illustrative Mathematics, which has garnered mixed reactions from teachers. Beginning this fall, elementary schools in District 5 will use i-Ready Mathematics Classroom; Districts 11 and 12 will use Illustrative Mathematics; and District 25 will use Amplify Desmos Mathematics.

The decision to approve i-Ready as the primary math curriculum across many elementary and middle schools may raise eyebrows. The private equity-backed education technology platform, widely used in New York City and across the country, has faced criticism from some families and educators amid a wider backlash over tech in schools.

Asked about potential concerns with selecting i-Ready, First Deputy Chancellor Danielle Giunta said that “has not [been] flagged as an implication to the core program and implementation, but should something arise, we will respond accordingly.”

Unlike the elementary school reading changes, which were made in part because hundreds of schools used curriculums that were discredited, Giunta said the math overhaul was prompted by successful rollout of common curriculum materials in other parts of the system. “There is so much energy from our superintendents, our principals,” she said.

Officials are also considering expanding the curriculum mandate to include high school English classes, Giunta said, though there is not yet a timeline for that. For now, city officials are focusing on beefing up targeted instruction for students who are behind in reading in four of the city’s 11 high school districts.

Questions resurface about parent engagement

Some parent leaders said they were unaware elementary school math curriculum changes were in the works, despite promises from Mamdani to incorporate parent and educator feedback in education policy decisions. One member of the community education council in Manhattan’s District 5, which includes Harlem, said they had not been consulted about the elementary school math curriculum changes. (The council member spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional repercussions.)

Jonathan Collins, another District 5 parent and member of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, said he had also not heard community discussion about elementary school math overhaul.

“I think there are questions as to whether or not this engagement process really reached the street level,” Collins said. Still, he said is “cautiously optimistic” about the elementary school math changes.

Advocates who have pushed the city to require more schools to adopt common curriculum materials cheered the move to expand to elementary school math.

Elementary school math instruction is “fractured and fragmented across the system,” said Evan Stone, the CEO of Educators for Excellence. He added: “If we actually want to build coherence in a system, we need to be training teachers on a core set of curriculum materials.”

Thursday’s announcement also included expansions to reading and math mandates at the middle school level in a slew of districts, which have been incrementally rolling out over multiple years. Manhattan District 2 and Brooklyn District 18 will use the Wit & Wisdom reading curriculum.

Middle schools in the following districts will be required to use a city-approved math curriculum: Manhattan District 3; Bronx District 9; Brooklyn Districts 16, 21, 22, and 23; and Queens Districts 24, 27, 28, and 30. Officials did not respond to a question about which curriculums those districts will use.

Educators and families: Let us know what you think of the curriculum changes by emailing us at ny.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Albany budget deal gives Mamdani 2-year mayoral control extension, boosts funding for needy students

2026-05-20T20:04:12+00:00

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani will maintain control of the nation’s largest school system for the next two years under state legislation unveiled on Wednesday.

And the state will boost funding for homeless students, those in foster care, and English language learners, sending $143 million more to New York City’s public schools.

Those measures are part of the state budget, which is seven weeks late. The agreement, reached between Gov. Kathy Hochul and the leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, is expected to win approval from state lawmakers.

Here’s what we know so far about the budget deal.

Extending mayoral control, no strings attached

Mamdani will retain control of New York City’s public schools through June 2028, less than the four-year extension the mayor and Hochul pushed for. The governance system gives the mayor power to pick the majority of the school board, appoint the school system’s leader, and set the policy direction of the district.

The extension did not come with any tweaks to the city’s school board to shift the balance of power away from the mayor — a break from prior budget deals. Previously, state lawmakers added board members who represent parents and limited the mayor’s power to remove his own appointees, among other changes. (The mayor still appoints a majority of the board.)

Extending the status quo is notable because Mamdani campaigned on overhauling mayoral control to give families and educators more power, but he backtracked just before taking office and has since lobbied state lawmakers to keep the system in place.

Mayoral control is often treated as a bargaining chip in negotiations between the mayor and Albany, and the two-year extension means Mamdani will have to persuade state lawmakers to extend his power halfway through his first term. That will give lawmakers an opportunity to examine the mayor’s education agenda, which has yet to come into focus.

“We did not really hear anything on the campaign, and we’re still not hearing anything now” on the mayor’s K-12 education priorities, said NeQuan McLean, the president of the Community Education Council in Brooklyn District 16.

McLean said he hoped for changes to mayoral control, including giving local education councils more of a say in school mergers, closures, and decisions to open new campuses. “This has been one of the most disappointing sessions that I’ve seen,” he said.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the city teachers union and mayoral control critic, hopes the state makes changes to the system in the future.

“Over the next two years, we will continue to work with Mayor Mamdani and the members of the state legislature to try to find ways to bring more parent and educator voices into policy decisions,” he said in a statement.

More money for high-need students

Updates to how the state doles out public school funding will mean more money for districts that enroll children with higher needs. Officials are adding new weights to Foundation Aid, the state’s main school funding formula, that will increase funding based on the number of students who live in temporary housing and are in foster care. It is also boosting an existing weight for English learners.

That is expected to generate the $143 million in additional state funding for New York City public schools, where more than 154,000 children do not have permanent housing and about 1 in 6 are learning English as a new language.

Overall, the state is planning to send New York City nearly $11 billion through the Foundation Aid formula, an increase of 5% or nearly $538 million.

“We appreciate that the education budget includes long overdue updates to the State’s education funding formula, which has remained largely unchanged for almost two decades,” said Maria Odom, executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, which pushed for more funding for students with greater needs.

Still, the budget deal does not include another change advocates hoped for: an update in how state officials calculate costs in New York City, which has not been changed in decades. Tweaks in last year’s budget deal resulted in the city’s public schools receiving $314 million less from the state than it might have, though the city still received more funding overall.

Budget deal includes other education measures

State officials will soon start nudging school districts to adopt “best practices” in elementary school math instruction that will be determined by the state’s education commissioner. By September 2027, school districts will have to verify that their approaches to K-5 math instruction meet those practices and are part of an “aligned plan designed to improve student mathematics outcomes.”

New York City’s Education Department is already in the process of revamping middle school math instruction and has standardized its Algebra 1 high school curriculum, but has yet to make significant changes to elementary school math coursework.

State lawmakers also extended the deadline for a state mandate to transition to electric school buses.

Changes to class size law up in the air

State officials have been considering a delay to a major state mandate that requires New York City to cap class sizes to between 20 to 25 students depending on the grade level.

Mamdani has banked on the timeline change to help save hundreds of millions of dollars in the short term as the city faced a multi-billion dollar budget gap. State officials have yet to formally approve any changes to the class size law, which was passed in 2022 and must be fully phased in over the next two years.

“Negotiations continue and may result in legislation in the next couple of weeks,” state Sen. John Liu, an architect of the class size law, said in a Wednesday press release.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC preschool offers flat despite Mamdani push to expand enrollment

2026-05-19T19:24:25+00:00

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The number of New York City families receiving offers to public preschool programs remained flat this year, despite a major push from Mayor Zohran Mamdani to increase outreach and expand the program.

A total of 99,921 students received an offer for the city’s preschool programs serving 3- and 4-year-olds, Mamdani announced Tuesday, the same day offers were released. That’s 68 fewer than last year.

Early childhood education is a centerpiece of Mamdani’s agenda, and the mayor launched a campaign to persuade families to sign up for the city’s free preschool programs, yet the same percentage of eligible families applied to preschool programs compared with last year.

Mamdani acknowledged Tuesday that the administration struggled to boost applications, which he partly blamed on former Mayor Eric Adams leaving behind a “bare bones” outreach operation. He also cited decreased migration to the city, fear of using city services in immigrant communities, and confusion about the availability of seats.

Still, Mamdani pointed to some bright spots. About 70% of families received their top choice for 3-K, the city’s preschool programs for 3 year olds, up from 65% the year before. About 12% of families were placed in a program they didn’t list on their applications, down from 15% the prior year. And the average distance families will have to travel to reach their program is declining.

“For so many parents, it’s not going to be the ad that you see on a LinkNYC kiosk or in the back of a taxicab,” that will prompt families to apply, Mamdani said. Instead, he’s banking on word of mouth from families who get access to seats closer to home. “That’s how we’re going to start to win people in the years to come,” said the mayor, who was flanked by Gov. Kathy Hochul at a press conference outside a preschool in Jackson Heights, Queens.

The Education Department has struggled for years to meet surging demand in some neighborhoods while facing a glut of empty seats in others. On Monday, city officials announced plans to add 2,000 3-K seats this fall, about double the number previously announced, and have sought to bring several empty facilities online. Roughly 700 of those 2,000 seats were added after the application deadline, and caregivers can join waitlists for those seats using the city’s MySchools portal.

Mamdani won office by emphasizing the city’s high cost of living and his signature promise is a free child care program for 2 year olds, which will begin rolling out this September with 2,000 seats. The latest preschool numbers show that there may be limits to the demand for early childhood programs, especially as the city grapples with falling birth rates and high housing costs.

Hochul said she hopes the state’s investment in early childhood programs can help buck some of those trends.

“When we fully implement our vision for universal childcare across New York City and the state, we are now in a very competitive position to recruit individuals who otherwise might have said, ‘No, I can’t afford to live in New York,’” she said.

Rebecca Bailin, executive director of New Yorkers United for Child Care, said she is already hearing from families who are thrilled to have offers to programs close to home. She’s hopeful Mamdani’s efforts to invest in early childhood programs will prompt more families to apply in future years.

“Anecodtally, this is night and day,” said Bailin, noting her advocacy group formed to resist preschool funding cuts under Adams. “We have an elected leader who has made this one of his top priorities.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC promises new scorecards and more efficient routes for dysfunctional school bus system

2026-05-18T21:10:54+00:00

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New York City’s sprawling school bus system, notorious for no-show buses and hourslong routes, may soon get a software overhaul that has been in the works for years to make routes more efficient.

“We’re pressure testing it to release this September,” Kevin Moran, the deputy chancellor for school operations, told families of children with disabilities at a town hall meeting last month.

And beginning in June, the city plans to release “vendor scorecards” that rate bus companies on a slew of metrics, including driver safety and staffing levels.

Officials say they are finally following through on promises to modernize the bus system, which includes some 9,000 routes operated by about 52 different companies at a cost of more than $2 billion a year — nearly $13,800 per rider.

Any improvements would help some of the city’s most vulnerable students. Of the 145,000 students reliant on yellow bus service, roughly 43% are children with disabilities. When the system falters, students often miss out on instruction and may become chronically absent.

Even as some families are cautiously optimistic that the new administration is taking school bus problems seriously, they are also wary after years of promises that have yet to fully materialize.

“Do I believe this is moving somewhere different than what we’ve seen before? Yes,” said Christi Angel, president of the parent council for District 75, a network of public schools that serve students with more complex disabilities. On the other hand, she is skeptical changes will happen quickly. They are “a day late, a dollar short,” she said.

City officials are also considering a broader overhaul of school bus contracts, many of which have been in place for 46 years, which could help reshape the system. But rebidding the contracts is a complex process that will likely require approval from lawmakers in Albany.

Vendor scorecards could bring more accountability

The new scorecards will include data on crashes, school bus ages, driver staffing levels, breakdowns, and contract violations, such as drivers not logging onto an app that allows families to track the bus location. They will also have a separate safety score based on GPS data.

The scorecards will “actually hold our vendors accountable,” Moran said.

But the list provided by the Education Department does not mention one important metric: how often the buses drop students off at school on time.

NYCSBUS, a nonprofit school bus operator overseen by the city, publishes on-time performance data on its own website, raising questions about why that information won’t be disclosed for all bus companies.

The city already releases some statistics about school bus delays, but they are self-reported by the companies rather than tracked automatically with GPS systems. As a result, official figures may mask the extent of delays, a Gothamist investigation found.

On-time performance figures drawn from GPS data are in the works, officials said. They did not indicate when that would be available.

Carolyn Daly, a spokesperson for several bus companies, said they welcome the scorecards.

“Our contracts require accountability, and accountability is a good thing,” she said.

Sara Catalinotto, the executive director of the advocacy group Parents for Improving School Transportation, believes families will appreciate the data, but she wondered what happens next. Would the city shift more routes to companies that perform better or take action against others at the bottom?

“What are the consequences?” asked Catalinotto.

There are good reasons to wonder how aggressively the Education Department will act based on the scorecards’ information. An audit last year from former Comptroller Brad Lander found the city does not adequately oversee school bus vendors and has failed to collect tens of millions in possible fines when bus drivers did not log into the system that allows families to track their child’s bus.

“The Department of Education has not proactively or systematically used the data that’s available to hold school bus vendors accountable,” said Brooklyn City Council member Lincoln Restler, who recently introduced legislation to require the city to release more information about school bus service. “That needs to change.”

Education Department spokesperson Onika Richards argued the city has always held its bus vendors accountable, including issuing fines for various violations and issuing “corrective action plans” for companies that don’t measure up. That information, Richards indicated, will be included on the scorecard.

After delays, new routing software could finally be coming

The city currently uses two pieces of software to devise routes, one of which launched in 1994 and has not been supported by regular tech upgrades in more than a decade, the comptroller’s office found.

Now, city officials say they are planning to roll out long-delayed routing software from a company called Via Transportation, which has won about $50 million in contracts with the Education Department in recent years to help modernize the bus system’s technology. Officials said the routes should be shorter and more efficient. The comptroller’s report indicated that it should also be able to adapt in real time to traffic conditions.

Still, the city has promised new routing software through Via for years, only to face repeated delays.

Officials first said it would be implemented in 2021 and later rescheduled it for September 2025 citing the pandemic and other setbacks. Last year, the city put out a request for proposals for new vendors to provide the same technology but wound up sticking with Via.

“Since DOE did not hold Via Transportation accountable for implementing technology it was contracted and paid to do, DOE continues to rely on outdated and inefficient routing technology,” the comptroller found.

A spokesperson for the company did not respond to questions.The Education Department did not comment on why the routing software has not yet been implemented.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani expected to secure 2-year mayoral control extension and class-size delay in state budget

2026-05-15T02:14:06+00:00

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to win a two-year extension of mayoral control from state lawmakers as well as a delay in implementing the class size mandate as part of Albany’s final budget, according to multiple media reports Thursday.

Mamdani had been lobbying alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul for a four-year extension of the city’s school governance model — despite declaring his opposition to mayoral control on the campaign trail. Just before his inauguration, he walked back his views on mayoral control, though he still pledged to make the system more democratic and responsive to families and educators.

Lawmakers have often made tweaks to mayoral control when they’ve extended it over the past two decades. It’s not clear yet if or how lawmakers might change the governance structure that empowers the mayor to unilaterally appoint the schools chancellor, select a majority of the city’s school board, and generally set the policy direction of the nation’s largest school district.

Mayoral control is set to sunset on June 30.

Hochul suggested last week at a press conference that a two-year extension was on the table. State Sen. John Liu, of Queens, seemed to confirm the likely deal on mayoral control, which was first reported in Politico.

“A two year extension of mayoral control is the right thing to do, to give this new mayor a chance to deliver results for our public schools, and to pass it as part of the state budget given that there will remain less than two weeks of the legislative session once the budget is finally passed,” Liu said in a statement.

Liu, an architect of the class size law, also has said he’s open to changes to the mandate since Mamdani took office.

“The Mamdani administration also deserves an extended timeframe for reducing class sizes given that despite inheriting a difficult circumstance, the mayor steadfastly committed to achieving full compliance and has presented a clear plan towards that end,” Liu said.

While running for mayor, Mamdani vowed to support the state’s law to reduce the city’s class sizes. Though Mamdani voiced his continued commitment to shrinking classes, he supported changing the timeline from requiring all classes meet the caps of 20 to 25 students, depending on the grade, from the 2027-28 school year to the 2030-31 school year.

Though the state’s budget is delayed, with its 12th extension signed on Thursday, Mamdani previewed his executive budget earlier this week and already anticipated the state will approve a delay implementing the class size law.

Mamdani’s executive budget proposal released this week also anticipates changes to state law, that have not yet been made official, to save money that would have otherwise been spent next school year on class size reductions. His latest budget proposal included $122 million to hire 1,000 educators. That was down from the preliminary budget he unveiled in February that called for $543 million. Officials previously said they would need to hire 6,000 educators to comply with the law.

At the same time, his budget added $1.5 billion in capital funding for the School Construction Authority to help the city comply with the class size mandate.

“Make no mistake: We are fully committed to fulfilling the state mandate in a meaningful way on a realistic timeline that New Yorkers can actually trust,” Mamdani said on Tuesday.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani scales back promise for swifter class size reductions, anticipating state to delay law

2026-05-12T23:53:34+00:00

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After issuing dire warnings about a multi-billion budget gap, Mayor Zohran Mamdani expects to save hundreds of millions from a pending deal to delay a state mandate to reduce New York City’s class sizes.

Mamdani’s preliminary budget in February included $543 million anticipating a hiring spree of about 6,000 teachers. On Tuesday, his executive budget proposal earmarked $122 million to hire 1,000 educators.

“We have asked Albany to extend the deadline to meet this mandate,” Mamdani said. “It will allow us to implement an achievable plan that better serves both our students and our teachers.”

The move marks a major reversal from his pledge on the campaign trail to swiftly reduce class sizes.

The mayor’s latest budget proposal includes other new details about his spending priorities for the nation’s largest school district. He vowed to address the ballooning costs to the Education Department of private special education services “head on.” And he also revealed plans to boost wages of some early childhood education workers.

Still, several education programs are on track to run out of funding this summer that were not included in the mayor’s budget.

Here are four key takeaways from the mayor’s budget proposal, which is subject to negotiations with the City Council. A final deal is expected by July 1.

Plugging the city’s budget deficit hinges on a delay to the class size law

Mamdani has long supported state’s class size law capping classrooms at 20 to 25 students depending on the grade level. Though he plans to slash his initial teacher hiring pot of money, he indicated on Tuesday that he is adding $1.5 billion in capital funding for the School Construction Authority to help the city comply with the class size mandate.

“Make no mistake: We are fully committed to fulfilling the state mandate in a meaningful way on a realistic timeline that New Yorkers can actually trust,” Mamdani said.

But meeting next school year’s goal — of having 80% of classrooms comply with the law — would be a major challenge, education officials previously warned. Many schools don’t have enough space to shrink classes and finding thousands of new teachers remains a hurdle. Officials have been reluctant to pursue other solutions such as restricting enrollment at crowded campuses.

State Sen. John Liu, an architect of the law, said he expects the legislature to tweak the policy as part of the state’s forthcoming budget. Instead of requiring that 80% of classrooms comply, the state would mandate 70%, with the expectation that all classrooms would meet the caps over the next two or three years.

Even that could pose a strain: This year, the city only surpassed its 60% target after issuing exemptions for thousands of classrooms.

“The intent is to see 100% compliance by the end of this mayor’s first term,” Liu told Chalkbeat on Tuesday, noting that he is confident those changes will come in the state budget, now more than a month overdue. “Mayor Mamdani has made clear he’s committed to 100% compliance.”

City officials say they’re getting serious about private special education costs

Mamdani said he would take on the growing cost in the Education Department’s budget of private services for students with disabilities, vowing to beef up public programs and save $149 million in the process.

The city’s Education Department now spends well over $1 billion — or roughly $1 out of every $40 in its budget — on private special education services.

A majority of that cost is private school tuition and support for families who contend the city can’t serve their children in a public school. Those families are overwhelmingly white, a recent Chalkbeat analysis found. Mamdani said the city is investing in more public programs to lure them back into the system. Budget documents show the city is spending $67 million next year in new funding for preschool special education, a chronic shortage area.

Another big chunk comes from families in private schools who never considered a public school but nonetheless have a right to tutoring, speech therapy, and other services financed by the city. The city is planning to spend $86 million to shore up its ability to provide those services directly rather than relying on private providers, budget documents show.

“We are investing in special education services across the five boroughs so that families can get the support they need inside the public school system,” the mayor said. “That means better outcomes for families, fewer unnecessary lawsuits, and long-term savings for our city.”

Previous administrations have made similar promises, and costs have continued to rise.

More money for early childhood education

Mamdani’s budget announcement includes more than $100 million in new early childhood spending. The city is committing $40 million to provide a roughly 2% across-the-board raise for workers at community organizations contracting with the city Education Department for programs like 3-K and prekindergarten.

Those organizations have been locked in the same contract without pay increases since 2021. Their contracts were set to expire this year, but officials announced a two-year extension. The $40 million will ensure workers see a modest pay bump while the new contracts are crafted.

The money will also provide larger pay increases for non-unionized workers to bring them up to par with staffers who are part of a labor union, said Nora Moran, the director of policy and advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses, an umbrella organization for early childhood providers.

“The Mayor has clearly listened to feedback from parents, educators, and advocates,” Moran said in a statement.

The budget also adds $67 million to fund preschool special education seats, an area where the city has historically fallen short. Another $2 million will fund a fledgling free childcare program for municipal workers.

Funding for other education programs is in limbo

The mayor’s latest proposal restored $31 million in funding for Learning to Work, a program that pays for internships, social workers, and guidance counselors for students at risk of dropping out. The program has routinely faced the possibility of budget cuts each year only for funding to be restored at the last minute. Now, City Hall is vowing to guarantee funding in future years.

But other programs remain on the chopping block.

Students and advocates rallied in March outside the Education Department's headquarters to save the Learning to Work program.

Mamdani’s budget does not include $12 million for a wraparound program for students with disabilities who have sensory issues that interfere with school performance. Nor does it include $6 million for restorative justice, a conflict resolution approach that prioritizes talking through problems rather than punitive discipline.

A $5 million mental health initiative that provides students with faster access to counseling and other support at about 50 high-need schools also remains in limbo, though it has been restored in prior years during negotiations with City Council.

“Students, families, educators, and providers want assurance that they can continue relying on these programs in future years,” the Coalition for Equitable Education Funding, which represents over 120 organizations, said in a statement.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul intends to opt into federal tax-credit scholarship

2026-05-08T15:01:12+00:00

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul intends to opt the state into the federal tax-credit scholarship.

The announcement represents a major win for supporters of private school choice who have been lobbying Democratic governors to participate in the program. However, Hochul’s office said she intends to review the details before making the decision official.

The American Federation for Children, a national school choice advocacy group, said Thursday night that Hochul first made the announcement at a private gathering. The meeting was with Agudath Israel, an organization that supports Jewish religious education, according to an Agudath spokesperson.

Emma Wallner, a spokesperson for the governor, confirmed Hochul’s plans to opt in to the tax credit.

“Governor Hochul is supportive of the federal tax credit scholarship and its potential to help New York students and schools,” Wallner wrote in a statement. “Our office awaits information from the federal government on the program and will thoroughly review the details of the policy for poison pills that could harm New York’s education system.”

The Treasury Department is still in the process of developing guidelines for the program, which will clarify, for example, how donated money might benefit public school students or whether states can prevent scholarship-granting organizations from discriminating against certain students.

The tax credit was approved last year as part of the Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It allows taxpayers to get a dollar-for-dollar credit up to $1,700 on their federal taxes if they donate money to an eligible scholarship-granting organization. These organizations could give students money for private school tuition, tutoring, and other educational expenses.

Governors, however, have to opt into the program for students in their state to benefit.

“Finally, school choice is coming to New York, thanks to the courage of Governor Hochul and the tremendous advocacy of countless families, educators, and supporters who have worked for generations to advance options for kids who need them,” American Federation for Children CEO Tommy Schultz said in a press release.

Some New York Democrats, and the city’s teachers union, criticized Hochul’s decision.

“While this tax credit may appear enticing, there will undoubtedly be long-term damage to the ability of states to provide public education,” said state Sen. John Liu, who chairs the New York City Education Committee. “Many governors and legislatures around the country have recognized this tax credit for the Faustian bargain it is and have already opted out, and I sincerely hope that New York will opt out as well.”

According to a tracker maintained by Ballotpedia, 29 states, nearly all of them led by Republicans, have opted into the tax credit. That list does not include New York.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is the only Democratic governor to have officially opted in. Under pressure from Republican lawmakers, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said last year that he intends to do so after the rules are released.

Some Democratic governors have been strongly opposed. In Wisconsin, which launched one of the nation’s earliest voucher programs, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed Republican-backed legislation that would have opted that state in. In a veto statement, he cited the lack of any accountability measures in the federal program.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also vetoed opt-in legislation, as did Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, but Republican-controlled legislatures overrode vetoes in both states.

Other Democratic governors are taking a wait-and-see approach. Democratic backers of expanding school choice argue that families want more options and that states that don’t opt in risk their own taxpayers donating to scholarship groups in other states. Opponents say the program undermines public education and threatens funding, even if indirectly.

Nationally and in New York, supporters of religious education have lobbied for the tax credit as a way to ease the tuition burden for families.

“This is extraordinary news for Jewish families and for every community across our state,” said Sydney Altfield, the CEO of Teach NYS, an organization that lobbies for public funding for Jewish schools. “Blue states across the country will now be watching closely.”

Hochul has courted the Orthodox Jewish community, an influential voting bloc, as she faces reelection in November. Along with state legislative leaders, she previously pushed to weaken oversight of private schools, a measure that would largely benefit certain yeshivas that do not always provide a basic secular education. The state’s education commissioner, Betty Rosa, called the move a “travesty.”

Hochul has backed other efforts to expand school choice since taking office nearly five years ago, drawing pushback from other New York Democrats. In 2023, she proposed to significantly expand the number of charter schools in New York City, even as the publicly funded yet privately managed schools have fallen out of favor among many left-leaning elected officials. State lawmakers rejected Hochul’s sweeping proposal but ultimately approved a more modest expansion.

Hochul has also touted her commitment to funding traditional public schools and has presided over increases in state spending. State officials indicated Thursday that schools should expect at least a 2% bump in the state’s forthcoming budget, which is more than a month overdue and has yet to be finalized.

“I’m proud of the resources we have put into education,” she told reporters Thursday.

This story has been updated with additional details about the private meeting where Hochul announced her support for the tax credit, as well as additional background about Hochul’s approach to private school oversight.

Correction: This story has been updated to accurately reflect how many states have opted into the tax-credit program.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Private schools, public dollars: A staggering racial gap in NYC special education tuition payments

2026-05-06T21:54:26+00:00

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As Mayor Zohran Mamdani scrambles to plug a multi-billion dollar budget gap, his administration is looking more closely at the money New York City spends on private school tuition for students with disabilities.

The payments — which topped $723 million last school year, up more than 300% from a decade earlier, according to the Independent Budget Office — have long generated intense debate about which families are benefitting. Now, according to data the Education Department previously declined to share, officials have revealed a staggering inequity: The vast majority of students who have access to that money are white.

Families may receive funding for private school tuition after going through a legal process to show their children can’t be adequately served in the public school system. Nearly 71% of students who won tuition payments last school year were white, a population that makes up 12.5% of students with disabilities in the city’s public schools, according to Education Department data that the City Council pushed the agency to disclose last year.

Black and Latino children, who make up about 75% of students with disabilities, represented just 24% of children receiving tuition reimbursements. (About 1 in 5 families did not disclose their race.) The families who benefit from those tuition payments are also much more likely to live in wealthier zip codes, the data confirms.

The statistics may add fuel to the debate about how to make the special education system fairer and rein in growing costs, an issue that has drawn scrutiny in recent months. Many families say the tuition payments are a lifeline, helping them secure specialized instruction they couldn’t otherwise get in the public system. Last school year, the city made tuition payments on behalf of nearly 7,600 students, which cost roughly $100,000 per child on average, city officials said.

Those students have disabilities that range from dyslexia to more complex challenges. About one-third of students who benefit from tuition payments have autism; their tuition costs are about $144,000 a year on average, officials said.

Families of color and those who live in higher-poverty neighborhoods are often shut out of the reimbursement process. Caregivers may not know they are eligible for private placements funded by the city, have legal help to file the necessary claim, or secure outside evaluations to bolster their case for a private school placement.

“The people who have the resources can afford better representation and have better opportunities to engage the legal system,” said Nelson Mar, an attorney at Bronx Legal Services, which handles special education cases for low-income families. “This is what plays out in the legal system in America.”

Private schools often expect families to pay for some tuition costs up front while their legal claim plays out, a strain even on more affluent households. Those are known as “Carter cases” named for a U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed the right to those payments.

Low-income families can request that the payments go directly to the private school without the family paying up front, which are known as “Connors cases.” But those opportunities can be limited because “there’s only a few schools that are willing to really take on that type of risk,” Mar said, noting the family may not end up winning their legal case for payments.

In addition to those tuition cases, state law also requires the city to pay for services such as speech therapy and tutoring for students who attend private schools and never considered a public school. Those families aren’t eligible for tuition payments and are excluded from the racial demographic data in this story.

Including the payments for those services, which officials said costs roughly $400 million, the city now pays well over $1 billion a year on tuition and services for students in private schools — roughly $1 in every $40 of the Education Department’s budget.

The city is attempting to tackle the rising cost of services for students in private schools who aren’t seeking tuition payments in part by instituting “fraud controls” to deal with providers who have reportedly billed for services that were unnecessary or weren’t delivered, said Liz Vladeck, the Education Department’s top lawyer. (Many of those services are provided in neighborhoods with large Orthodox Jewish populations where many students attend yeshivas.)

Budget crunch prompts renewed debate about private school payments

The exponentially rising cost of private school special education has attracted attention from City Hall as Mamdani scrambles to fill a projected $5.4 billion gap in the city’s budget.

In a bid to secure more funding from the state to help ease the deficit, city officials have floated private school payments as a potential area for savings, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed.

Vladeck declined to comment on the specifics of those negotiations in an interview with Chalkbeat, but said she is troubled by the racial inequities and growing costs.

“I see it as an urgent problem,” she said, “that’s very challenging for policymakers to get their arms around because it is complicated.”

City officials say they can save money by educating a greater share of students in private placements in the city’s public schools, a promise officials across multiple administrations have made even as tuition costs have continued to grow.

“It used to be a fair critique that special education programs and services in New York City public schools were spotty,” Vladeck said. But she stressed that the city’s compliance with students’ special education learning plans has improved, and the Education Department has incrementally expanded programs for students with disabilities, including those with autism. The city is also overhauling literacy instruction, including for struggling readers.

Vladeck contends the city’s programs can cost dramatically less than what private programs charge and that private schools generally don’t share achievement data, making it difficult to know if they are more effective.

Will the Mamdani administration take action?

It remains to be seen how Mamdani will approach the issue and past mayors have taken radically divergent approaches.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg hired an army of lawyers to fight tuition reimbursement requests, which are adjudicated by administrative judges. The goal was to avoid unnecessary placements and plow more money into the public school system as a whole, but the strategy drew criticism from parents and advocates.

His successor, Bill de Blasio, took a less aggressive stance. In response to pressure from lawmakers, he made it easier for parents to seek reimbursement from the city in part by settling cases and not fighting families over the same school placements year after year. He framed the effort as a matter of equity for parents who may not have the resources to repeatedly mount aggressive legal cases.

“That was well intentioned, but it had some pretty damning consequences,” Vladeck said at a City Council hearing in March. In the years that followed, the number of special education complaints seeking payments for tuition, services, and other special education requests grew significantly and costs exploded.

A February report from the conservative-leaning Manhattan Institute argued the reimbursement system is “financially unsustainable” and urged rolling back some of the de Blasio-era reforms, among other changes.

But not everyone is convinced that bringing more students with disabilities into the school system would be less expensive without reducing the level of services students get in private programs.

“I really disagree when people say that this is an unreasonable cost for the DOE to bear,” Mar said of the Education Department spending on private school tuition.

His clients who have private tuition paid by the city have generally made “significant growth.” Mar said a more equitable system would be less adversarial, noting the city often fights cases even when it’s clear the student isn’t receiving the help they need.

Brooklyn mom Dolores Swirin-Yao said she would have preferred to keep her son Jeremy, who has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities including dyslexia, in the public school system. When it became clear his public school wasn’t successfully teaching him to read, she felt she had no choice but to consider a private placement and file a legal claim for reimbursement.

“People say that this is a way for people to game the system and get their kids in private school,” Swirin-Yao said. But her son’s public school “seemed to believe that he would never read.” Without that skill, she worried he would end up on public assistance.

Swirin-Yao hired a lawyer and fronted tuition payments, straining to take on $125,000 in debt while waiting for the Education Department to reimburse her. She recognized she still had a leg up: access to credit, the ability to make phone calls during the work day, or take leave to attend a legal hearing. Though her son is Black, Swirin-Yao felt she benefited from being middle class and white.

Jeremy ultimately learned how to read. He graduated from The Aaron School in 2024.

Despite the stress and strain of paying tuition up front, it was “the best investment I ever made,” Swirin-Yao said. “My child was able to graduate from high school, go to culinary school, can work in this field, and has a future.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Tech glitches disrupt state math exams across New York

2026-04-29T20:39:23+00:00

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Students across New York were unable to log in to the digital platform for the state’s grades 3-8 math exam Wednesday morning, raising fresh questions about the transition to computer-based assessments.

The New York State Education Department told schools they could pause or delay the math tests, officials confirmed.

The issue affected schools across the state, including some in New York City where schools were expected to administer the exams sometime between April 28 and May 8.

“More than 116,000 students tested without error this morning, with thousands more expected to complete testing later today,” state Education Department spokesperson JP O’Hare wrote in a statement. “Since the testing window opened, more than two million exams have been successfully submitted.”

Officials declined to provide specific numbers of affected students. But O’Hare said it was a “limited number.”

Upon learning of the problem, O’Hare added, “NYSED immediately contacted our vendor, NWEA, to expeditiously address the issue.”

State officials said schools can administer the exams at a later point during the window, which runs through May 15.

The city’s messaging to caregivers struck a somewhat different tone. A letter principals were encouraged to distribute said “many” students were unable to complete the test and “we are pausing the administration of the Math exam and will reschedule once we receive the assurances we need that no additional disruptions will occur.”

A message to principals encouraged them to postpone state testing scheduled for Thursday.

New York’s multi-year transition to computer-based tests has been marred by tech glitches. This year’s problems come amid a growing backlash against the proliferation of technology in schools, including the amount of time students spend on screens.

After a gradual phase-in, the state fully transitioned from paper-and-pencil tests to computer-based tests this spring. The grades 3-8 English language arts exams have already been administered.

Some principals began receiving notifications Wednesday morning from the city’s Education Department about the login problems with Nextera, the state’s testing platform.

“We are receiving a high volume of escalations about students having trouble logging into Nextera,” city officials wrote in an email obtained by Chalkbeat. “It is happening statewide.” The message said schools could continue testing if students had already logged in, but should cancel testing for the day if students continued to have problems.

Officials at NWEA, the state’s testing vendor, said they “have directed all available internal resources” to fixing the problem and hope to have the system running by Thursday.

“The cause of this has not yet been identified, which means the fix is also pending,” Simona Beattie, a company spokesperson, said in a statement.

At one Brooklyn elementary school, students were unable to log in to start their exams for more than an hour but were eventually able to log in and complete the tests, according to the principal who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“I’m sure there are going to be parents who feel like it’s not going to be the best picture of their child’s performance because of the way it happened today,” the principal said. More broadly, the school leader wishes the state would keep paper and pencil tests, especially for younger students who have to “learn a whole other set of skills” to take them digitally.

At another Brooklyn school, a teacher proctoring the exam for a group of sixth graders with disabilities said that one of the seven students was able to log on. The rest spent two hours trying before the school allowed them to take a break and play basketball in the gym.

“They were frustrated but understood there was nothing we could do,” said the teacher, who requested anonymity since she was not authorized to speak. “They were so patient.”

After their gym break, the students were able to log on and take the test, the teacher said, but she questioned the validity of the results.

“Your purpose is to test them, it’s not to test them after two hours of testing their patience,” she said.

City teachers union President Michael Mulgrew blasted the state Education Department in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“Once again, students and educators were left scrambling because the state failed in its responsibility to hold its vendors and consultants accountable,” he said.

How did testing go at your school? Let us know at ny.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

What is your child learning at school? NYC launches new tool to track literacy lessons

2026-04-27T20:34:39+00:00

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Is your child learning about animal behavior, how the 19th Amendment was ratified, or Japanese internment during World War II?

A new tool quietly launched by New York City’s Education Department gives families and the broader public a window into the topics students are learning about in English language arts classes at any given time. It also serves up free digital books connected to the specific unit students are learning about.

The platform, known as the NYC Reads Curriculum Finder, includes a trove of information about what elementary school and some middle school students are learning in English classes down to the school and grade level. It displays questions students are learning about — “what does it take to make a successful invention?” in one third grade unit — as well as the types of materials students are using, such as biographies, films, poems, and opinion pieces.

The curriculum finder is part of a broader push to ensure students are building on their literacy skills outside of school. Officials hope the database will give caregivers, educators, and after-school providers an easy way to boost students’ vocabulary and background knowledge, which research suggests is an important element of reading comprehension.

“We need to democratize this information about what curriculum a school is using and what a student is learning,” said Jennifer Ramos, an official at the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia Law School, the organization that took the lead in creating the tool in partnership with the Education Department. “Everyone can look it up and say, ‘Okay, kindergartners in this district are learning about trees.’”

The tool is tied to the city’s reading curriculum mandate that requires all elementary schools, and eventually all middle schools, to use city-approved reading programs. Educators are expected to follow pacing guides, making it possible to track what topics students are learning about at precise times throughout the year. Schools were previously allowed to pick their own curriculums and hundreds of schools used a program that was discredited by reading experts.

The curriculum finder — which was developed in partnership with the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development and the nonprofit organization ExpandED Schools — is still a work in progress. Many elementary schools appear to have no curriculum information listed, the tool’s search functions do not always work seamlessly or display correct information, and it was out of commission in recent days as officials worked to make updates.

An Education Department spokesperson said the tool is in an “improvement phase” and officials are “improving completeness and accuracy of school listings.” Users can also submit reports of missing information or other feedback directly on the site.

An early target for the tool is after-school providers and community organizations, who have long struggled to sync their programming to what students are learning during the school day in part because reading curriculums were historically not consistent between schools or even from classroom to classroom.

Ashley Jones, who helps supervise free after-school programs operated by the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services, said staffers have sometimes relied on informal hallway conversations with teachers or gleaning clues from students’ homework to get a sense of what’s going on in classrooms.

“Schools are busy — we’re all busy,” Jones said. It can be difficult to find time to coordinate with students’ classroom teachers and the curriculum finder tool could help bridge that gap, she added.

Despite some glitches, Jones said the organization has started to experiment with the tool and is thinking about how to encourage her staff to incorporate it as they plan for next school year. She hopes the next step is more training for after-school staff to support student literacy, even as her program’s goal is not to simply extend the school day.

Other providers have yet to hear about the tool.

Emily Kirven, who runs Read 718, a Brooklyn-based organization that provides tutoring to hundreds of struggling readers, said she is “excited to play around with it.”

To access books that are connected to what students are learning in class, families must log in with their Education Department accounts, which could create a barrier for her staff accessing the materials, Kirven said. But she noted that it would still be useful to know what topics students are learning about because the organization likely has books on hand that tie in to the relevant topic.

“It just would be helpful knowing what they’re doing in different grades of different schools so that we can continue to better align our instruction.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC pulls contentious proposals to open AI-themed high school, close Upper West Side middle schools

2026-04-27T10:30:00+00:00

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In a major reversal, New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels is withdrawing controversial proposals to open the city’s first artificial intelligence-focused high school, close two middle schools, and relocate another.

The plan to open Next Generation Technology High School as a selective school in downtown Manhattan drew fierce community opposition in recent months. The city also saw intense backlash to its proposals for a slew of Upper West Side schools: to close the middle schools of P.S. 191 and Manhattan School for Children, and to relocate The Center School.

All four proposals were scheduled for a vote Wednesday in front of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP. Withdrawing the proposals makes it nearly impossible for them to take effect next school year.

Samuels, who’s entering his fourth month as chancellor under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, said he believes all of the proposals “met multiple goals” but decided it wasn’t fair to advance them so quickly after a major leadership transition. Instead, he hopes to revisit the proposals later on, with a stronger plan for hearing community feedback.

“These proposals were always ambitious,” Samuels told Chalkbeat in an interview Sunday. “I think when you have a transition and you’re hearing simultaneously that families want more time, I want to be a chancellor who listens and engages and understands the complexity of all of the issues.”

The proposals represented an early and personal challenge for the chancellor, who previously served as superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3, where he helped get the ball rolling for the Upper West Side school proposals. As superintendent, Samuels developed a reputation for shepherding complicated school merger proposals to the finish line.

Multiple PEP members expressed serious concerns about the proposals directly to Samuels in recent days, according to several panel members. Chairperson Greg Faulkner penned a letter asking Samuels to withdraw the proposal for Next Generation High School, according to a copy obtained by Chalkbeat. The panel’s main criticism was over the school’s designation as a “screened” school, raising concerns about equity and access.

Samuels said he didn’t withdraw the proposals because of concerns they would not clear the panel’s vote. But losing a high-profile vote could have complicated Mamdani’s campaign pledge to run the school system in a more democratic fashion, especially while pushing to retain control of the school system.

Mamdani is lobbying state lawmakers for a four-year renewal of mayoral control, which expires in June, and an extension of the city’s deadline for complying with the class size law — arguments that hinge in part on his ability to convince them he will be responsive to community needs. (An agreement on mayoral control could be included in the state budget, which is overdue and expected to be finalized soon.)

The Upper West Side proposals were meant to help stabilize flagging enrollment while clearing out space for an overcrowded school to meet the class size requirements, city officials said. But parents and community members from all three schools decried the plans, arguing officials didn’t do enough to engage parents and that the moves would undermine critical support for vulnerable students. Several elected officials planned to hold a press conference Monday morning to oppose the plans.

Meanwhile, the proposal for Next Generation Technology High School, often called “Next Gen,” generated pushback from some families concerned about the role of AI in schools — tapping into a larger debate roiling the city and country.

Education Department officials recently introduced a draft AI playbook that largely sidestepped thorny questions about how to regulate student AI use and drew intense criticism from some parents who feared it encouraged schools to embrace untested technology. Samuels said he wants to focus on finishing that guidance before crafting proposals for schools like Next Gen.

“We have to ensure that any future proposal of a model like Next Gen high school fits the needs of the broader community and aligns with our AI guidance,” he said.

Officials had already solicited applications from eighth graders to Next Gen, though they hadn’t yet offered admission.

Next Gen raises questions about AI, equity

Officials had been moving swiftly to open Next Gen, a selective Lower Manhattan school geared toward preparing students for jobs in cyber security, computer science, robotics, and math. It would also teach students to be “builders as well as ethical users of AI and other modern technologies,” according to the city’s proposal for the school.

Supporters of selective schools, which typically admit students based on their middle school course grades, said the program would allow students to explore an emerging technology and help prepare them for competitive tech jobs.

But critics argued the school’s planning process was rushed, its mission was unclear, and it could enable companies like Google and OpenAI to influence how AI is used in city classrooms. Both companies were part of the school’s planning team, and Manhattan High Schools Superintendent Gary Beidleman said his experience as a Google Education Innovation Fellow in 2024 inspired his decision to push for the new program.

Some panel members raised concerns that the school was slated to admit students based on their academic records rather than being open to anyone and pressed officials about why the campus was planned for Lower Manhattan as opposed to higher-need areas of the city.

“If they’re talking about this technology really being something that is going to become more global … why would we be exclusive in who can have access?” said Faulkner, the chair.

Panel members raised the idea of introducing an AI literacy course that could be used across multiple schools, rather than concentrating on a single standalone school.

Faulkner added that he worries about opening more screened schools “that have historically segregated” students.

Samuels said he believes the city’s current system for deciding admission to selective schools, which groups students into five tiers based on their seventh grade marks, is working.

“I’m not necessarily looking to make major changes to screens in high school,” he said.

Panel members were also frustrated with how top officials handled public discussions about the school. Several pointed out that district officials’ communication about the school seemed to suggest it was already approved, even though it hadn’t yet cleared a panel vote.

Under the city’s original proposal, Next Generation would have taken the place of the Urban Assembly School of Business for Young Women, which currently enrolls just 91 students. The city is still moving forward with plans to close that school.

Families at a middle school on the same campus, Lower Manhattan Community School, had also raised concerns about Next Generation because they have long pushed for space in the building to make the school a program for grades 6-12 rather than 6-8.

District 3 proposals test city’s commitment to parent engagement

The move to withdraw three controversial proposals in District 3 came after months of outcry from families and educators in the district. They argued the process felt rushed and the timing of the decision would force families who planned to enroll in the two middle school programs slated for closure, P.S. 191 and the Manhattan School for Children, to scramble to find new schools for this fall.

Some families at P.S. 191 felt the school, which enrolled many asylum-seeking children, had not been properly supported by the city’s Education Department. The Manhattan School for Children developed a reputation for including students with disabilities in classes alongside their general education peers. Families feared they would not be able to find similarly welcoming campuses elsewhere.

Meanwhile, city officials contended that the middle schools were too small to be sustainable and offer solid academic programming. P.S. 191’s middle school currently enrolls 126 students, while the Manhattan School for Children has about 130, according to state data.

Yet the pushback put Samuels in an awkward position because Mamdani came into office promising to give families and educators a voice in the policy process.

For his part, Samuels said he wanted to give the acting superintendent of District 3, Reginald Higgins, time to develop his own strategy and build public support.

“He and all the superintendents around the city have to engage locally to collectively come up with proposals that will benefit everyone — and I think I want to give him a chance to do that,” Samuels said.

The administration has shown a willingness to back away from controversial proposals — including a fourth one for the district.

Last month, the city withdrew plans to close the Community Action School after a Center School mom made a racist remark caught on a hot mic while a Community Action Student was testifying at a public meeting. That episode drew international attention and prompted Samuels to promise an expansion of the Education Department’s Black studies curriculum and new parent training.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Where is NYC’s 2026-27 public school calendar? Kamar Samuels says it’s coming next week.

2026-04-16T17:26:37+00:00

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New York City public school parents and educators eagerly awaiting to know next year’s first day of school will likely get the answer soon: Chancellor Kamar Samuels expects the school calendar to drop next week.

“Everybody wants to know: When will the school calendar be released?” Randi Garay, the co-chair of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, pressed Samuels Thursday morning.

Samuels responded: “Feel confident saying by the end of next week.”

Families and staff have yet to receive confirmation about the first day of the 2026-27 school year and the timing of holidays, making it difficult to plan summer camps or make child care arrangements. But most are expecting a late start to the school year.

The first day of school for students is typically the Thursday after Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 10 this year. It’s on the later side since Sept. 1 is on a Tuesday, and it could mean many families will struggle with the longer stretch of post-Labor Day child care.

This year’s calendar might bring other quirks that have made planning especially difficult for next school year. Students are unlikely to get off this year for the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the weekend of Sept. 11, just after the start of school. But they will likely have off on Sept. 21 for Yom Kippur, just after what is expected to be the first full week of the school year.

The trickiest thing is that Easter and Passover are far apart in 2027, with Easter Sunday on March 28 and the first night of Passover on April 21.

When these holidays were spread out in the 2023-24 school year, the Education Department ended up going back to the drawing board after releasing a calendar that sparked backlash. After giving Good Friday off, the city added a day after Easter Sunday. And after giving schools a weeklong spring break that coincided with most of Passover, the city ended up adding two more days for the last two days for the eight-day holiday.

The timing of the school calendar’s release has varied widely over the past decade. Officials have often released it in March or April. In recent years, the calendar has come as late as the end of May, prompting loud complaints. Many other school districts, including Newark, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, have already published their 2026-27 calendars.

The city recently experimented with releasing multiple years of calendars at once — after the teachers union fought for that. Samuels, however, said the city will only release one year at time, at least for now.

“The calendar is coming out right on time,” Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein wrote in an email. She called the prior decision to release multiple years at once “an anomaly.”

Many observers will be watching closely to see how many days of class students will have.

Under state rules, the city must offer 180 days of learning. This year, the city is on track to have only 175 days of instruction after the state gave the city permission to cancel a day of school due to a snowstorm on top of having four teacher professional development days that counted toward the state’s limit, as the rules allow. (Before Mayor Zohran Mamdani reinstated a snow day this year, the city’s post-pandemic approach during storms has been to pivot to virtual learning rather than canceling class.)

In general, New York City students have fewer hours of instruction than average, largely because the 6 hour and 20 minute school day is shorter than what many other districts offer.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Trump administration improperly canceled $36 million in school grants over trans policies, judge rules

2026-04-09T22:05:23+00:00

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The Trump administration improperly cut off tens of millions in grant funding from New York City’s public schools, a judge found this week, money that was yanked because of city policies protecting transgender students.

Manhattan federal Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that federal officials sidestepped required procedures that apply when cutting off funding under Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational entities that receive federal funding.

The case is notable because it is the first known attempt by the Trump administration to cancel funding for New York City’s public schools under its contested interpretation of civil rights laws. It also represents a setback in the administration’s efforts to control school policies across the country on major culture war issues, including trans rights. Grants for school districts in Chicago and Fairfax, Virginia, were also discontinued.

The Trump administration held up funding to New York City through the U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet School Assistance Program, citing Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions receiving federal funding. Officials argued city policies that allow transgender students to participate in sports and use bathrooms and other school facilities in line with their gender identity violate those civil rights protections.

“When recipients of Federal funding require schools to treat ‘trans-identifying’ males as if they were ‘females,’ including in intimate traditionally sex-separate facilities, they defeat the very purpose of Title IX: to ensure equal opportunities for women while not jeopardizing their privacy, safety, or other rights,” Trump administration officials wrote to the city’s Education Department in September.

To keep the grant funding, federal officials pressured the city to overhaul their policies on transgender students. The city Education Department sued in October, arguing that revoking the magnet grant funding put “politics before public schools” and had no “valid substantive basis.” At stake is about $36 million in multi-year grants across 19 local public schools.

But in response to the city’s lawsuit, federal officials argued that they have discretion to withhold the funding and were not relying on Title IX. Officials must typically hold a hearing and file written reports with Congress, among other requirements, before withholding money under Title IX.

“It is undisputed both that defendants did not follow these statutory procedures, and that the procedures would apply if they non-continued the grants because of Title IX violations,” Subramanian wrote. The argument that the Trump administration was not relying on Title IX to withhold the money “flies in the face of the record.”

Subramanian’s decision did not address whether New York City’s policies violate Title IX — and it will likely not be the last word in this case. He ordered the Trump administration to make a new determination within 10 days about whether to continue the grants. If federal officials want to rely on Title IX, they must follow the correct procedures, he wrote.

Representatives of the federal Education Department did not respond to a request for comment.

The multi-year magnet grant funding is designed to help spur racial integration on several campuses by launching a range of new programs, including in journalism, math, science, performing arts, and civic activism, according to the city’s lawsuit.

Some legal observers said the favorable ruling for the city could embolden other school districts to push back against federal demands.

“We’ve seen the Trump administration take an ‘act first, ask for forgiveness’ approach, and that’s come back to hurt them,” including with universities, said Christopher Thomas, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Florida.

He noted that aggressive legal action from the Trump administration can create a chilling effect among districts who may be wary of taking on the federal government.

“Hopefully decisions like this can thaw that chill,” he said.

The litigation included a related dispute about whether the Trump administration could claw back unspent magnet grant money from prior years. Federal officials ultimately agreed to allow the city to spend about $11 million in carryover funding, leaving about $36 million in doubt.

New York City Education Department General Counsel Liz Vladeck cheered Subramanian’s ruling.

“As NYCPS has said all along, arbitrarily cutting off critical funding for excellent school programming without providing the required process cannot stand, especially when that cut off is accompanied by an attack on the rights of our transgender and gender non-conforming students,” she wrote in a statement.

Vladeck added that the city “will continue to pursue all legal options” if federal officials decide to keep withholding funds.

The Trump administration has also pursued other avenues to pressure New York City to rethink its policies on transgender students. It launched a civil rights investigation in January into whether the city’s policies on transgender students’ access to sports violates Title IX. (Seventeen other educational institutions with similar policies were also under investigation.)

Federal officials did not respond to questions about the status of that investigation.

While the New York decision does not directly restore funding, it’s significant because Subramanian rejected the administration’s argument that the district court didn’t have jurisdiction and that the case belonged in a separate federal claims court that typically resolves contract disputes.

Following a Supreme Court decision last year involving National Institutes of Health grants, the administration has argued and some judges have agreed that lawsuits related to canceled grants should go through the claims court.

A similar legal argument is playing out in the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the Trump administration withheld money from five northern Virginia school districts that had transgender inclusion policies similar to New York City’s.

“What is happening in these school districts is not a contract question,” said Mary Rohmiller, an attorney and Title IX specialist who previously worked for the federal Education Department. “They are not asking the court to make the Department of Education give them money. They are asking the court to stop the Department of Education from imposing its unlawful interpretation of Title IX on them. And that is a question for a federal court to answer.”

The administration could still try to withhold money from New York City, but they would need to show a plausible reason for not continuing the grants that is not arbitrary and capricious, Rohmiller said.

This story has been updated with a response from the city’s Education Department, which was provided after this story first published.

National editor Erica Meltzer contributed.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC public school suspensions dropped 8% in the first half of the school year

2026-04-08T12:00:00+00:00

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Suspensions across New York City’s public schools plunged in the first half of this school year, according to new city data released this month.

From July to December 2025, schools handed out nearly 9,200 suspensions, 8% fewer than the same period in 2024. The decline included a nearly 22% drop in long-term superintendent suspensions, which run six days or more and are served at outside suspension sites.

Principal suspensions, which last five days or fewer and are typically completed in school, fell about 5% to nearly 7,600.

Suspensions were already on the decline in the runup to the pandemic and cratered when school buildings shut down. They came roaring back after school buildings reopened, and educators raised fears that student behavior was deteriorating.

But the punishments have since steadily declined over the past two school years, falling below pre-pandemic levels. Schools handed out 27% fewer suspensions in the first half of this school year compared with the same period the year before the pandemic forced buildings to shutter. Enrollment in the city’s K-12 schools has declined about 15% over that period (the data do not include charter schools).

It’s unclear what is driving the significant drop in suspensions even as concerns about student mental health grew in the wake of the pandemic. There have not been any major changes to school discipline policies in recent years under former Mayor Eric Adams, though lengthy suspensions have drawn scrutiny. A Chalkbeat investigation found schools have routinely suspended students with disabilities for longer than legally allowed.

The decline could reflect changes in student behavior and broader social trends. (Violent crimes, including murders, shootings, and robberies, have dropped sharply.) Chronic absenteeism remains elevated, meaning students are in school fewer days on average.

Advocates who represent families in suspension proceedings contend that investments in mental health support and restorative justice, which can include peer mediation and other approaches to resolving conflict, are bearing fruit.

“The efforts to introduce alternatives to suspensions and to use restorative practices to help lift the social-emotional well being in schools — that is taking greater root,” said Nelson Mar, an attorney at Bronx Legal Services. Still, he said “it’s really hard to say” whether there has been more subtle pressure on principals to reduce suspensions. (Multiple school leaders said they were unaware of any new districtwide efforts to clamp down on suspensions.)

Some observers feared that a new ban on cellphones in schools, which took effect last fall, could lead to a spike in disciplinary incidents. It does not appear to have caused an uptick in suspensions, at least for now.

Chyann Tull, an Education Department spokesperson echoed that the decline in suspensions reflect that “schools are increasingly using restorative practices, peer mediation, in-school counseling, and referrals to external mental health providers to respond to student needs, helping keep students engaged in their learning while maintaining safe school communities.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not include funding for some of those initiatives in his preliminary budget. He did not extend $6 million in city funding for restorative justice programs. And his budget does not include $5 million to provide access to mental health clinics and other support at 50 high-need schools in the Bronx and Brooklyn, an initiative known as the Mental Health Continuum. In prior years, advocates and local lawmakers have pushed for those programs to be restored in the final city budget that is due by July 1.

Advocates are watching closely, as Mamdani has said little about how his administration intends to approach school discipline policy.

Under Adams, “they had not emphasized these programs but didn’t go out of their way to cut them,” said Mar. “It may be the same song and dance.”

Advocates have also long raised concerns about stark disparities in suspension rates; Black students and those with disabilities remain disproportionately removed from their classrooms even as suspensions have dropped. The mid-year suspension data does not include demographic breakdowns; those statistics should be available when full-year suspension statistics are published in October.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani campaigned on fulfilling NYC’s class size mandate. So why is he pushing for a delay?

2026-04-02T17:21:12+00:00

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On the campaign trail, Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed to take a state mandate to slash class sizes seriously, saying it “will transform our students’ ability to learn.”

“The question of compliance has too often been a negotiation,” Mamdani said on the first day of school in September.

Now, the Mamdani administration is seeking to do just that: negotiate with lawmakers in Albany to give the city more time to comply.

Some of the class size law’s key backers, including its legislative sponsor, seem willing to play ball. State Sen. John Liu, who sponsored the class size law, said he is open to allowing the city to reach full compliance over the next four years instead of the legally required two.

A deal to extend the class size law may come as part of the state budget — and lawmakers could use it as leverage as they simultaneously debate whether to extend Mamdani’s control of the school system, which expires at the end of June. (The state budget, which was due Wednesday, is delayed, and it’s unclear exactly when it will be finalized.)

On the campaign trail, Mamdani said it was “critical” to deliver smaller classes across the system. Here’s why as mayor he’s now pushing for an extension on the class size law.

Next year’s class size reduction target may be all but impossible

Under the law, 80% of the city’s public school classrooms must not exceed 20-25 students (depending on the grade level) by this coming school year. All schools must meet the caps by the 2027-28 school year. That goal may be out of reach: Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels recently told City Council members it would be “very difficult” to hit 80% compliance by September.

The city was only able to hit this year’s 60% benchmark by exempting thousands of classes from the law, despite spending hundreds of millions hiring more teachers and helping schools reconfigure space.

Failing to meet the benchmarks has big consequences. The law includes a provision that calls for hundreds of millions in state funding cuts if the city does not comply. Even the law’s biggest supporters, however, likely want to avoid that outcome.

A delay gives Mamdani some (temporary) budget relief

Mamdani is looking for all the savings he can to close a $5.4 billion budget gap by the city’s July 1 budget deadline. The mayor is banking on a delay of the class size law to help balance the city’s budget, the New York Times reported last week. (A City Hall spokesperson did not respond to questions about the mayor’s push for a delay.)

But having more time to comply with the law might only bring a temporary reprieve. Liu has floated requiring the city to bring 70% of classrooms into compliance this coming September — instead of 80% — with an additional 10% in each of the three following school years.

The state lawmaker pushed back against any move by the Mamdani administration to use the delay to save money.

“Adjustments in the timeline are not meant to provide fiscal relief,” Liu told Chalkbeat, noting that any extension is contingent on the city submitting more detailed plans about how they plan to comply with the law. The Mamdani administration deserves more time to comply because the city is “behind the curve due to the inactions of the previous administration,” Liu added.

The city’s teachers union, a key backer of the class size mandate, said they want to see a clearer plan from the Education Department to build more classroom space before supporting changes to the law. “Only when a real plan and a clear timeline are in place — not the usual School Construction [Authority] smoke and mirrors — would we have the information necessary to consider whether any amendments are needed,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said in a statement.

The mayor’s preliminary budget includes $543 million in additional city funding to reduce class sizes next fiscal year and $943 million in each of the three fiscal years after that — spending that could be pushed back if the legislature changes the timeline for implementing class size reductions. (City officials have previously projected the cost of fully implementing the law could be up to $1.7 billion a year for additional teachers with billions more in school construction costs on top of that.)

In its response to Mamdani’s preliminary budget, City Council indicated the city should convince state lawmakers to pony up for funding to comply with the law, relieving the city of some costs. The state assembly proposed sending the city $600 million to shrink classes, but it’s unclear if that will be included in the final state budget deal.

But in the mayor’s response criticizing the City Council’s plan, he accused them of seeking a delay to the class size law as their sole request from Albany — an ask that does not appear in the council’s budget proposal. Some observers noted that it’s a bizarre critique coming from Mamdani.

“Isn’t [Mamdani] also asking the state for more time to lower class size?” Leonie Haimson, the executive director of the advocacy group Class Size Matters, wrote on X.

A Mamdani spokesperson did not respond to questions about his false characterization of the council’s budget response.

City may want more time to come up with a comprehensive plan to shrink classes

Some of the law’s backers have urged the city to come up with more aggressive plans to build new classrooms for crowded schools that don’t have room to comply with the law.

But there are other solutions the city could use in some cases that would be far less expensive and take advantage of empty seats elsewhere: capping enrollment on crowded campuses or rezonings.

Samuels has also signaled he wants to prioritize using the city’s existing buildings before turning to school construction, though moves to cap enrollment on popular campuses would likely face pushback from families.

“The time in theory gives [Mamdani] the opportunity to get creative about space utilization [and] enrollment,” said Jonathan Collins, a political science and education professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College and a member of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy.

A delay could also give the city more time to grapple with one of the law’s core equity challenges: It requires significant new spending at relatively more affluent schools, where class sizes tend to be bigger, while more high-poverty schools already meet the caps.

A recent report from the Urban Institute, a think tank, found that the city’s lowest-poverty schools have received more funding to reduce class sizes than the city’s highest-poverty schools.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amid ‘massive shortfall’ of school safety officers, NYPD deploys assistant agents as young as 18

2026-03-26T18:53:41+00:00

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Walk into a New York City public school, and you may be greeted by a police official who is not old enough to buy cigarettes or order a drink.

The Police Department has deployed 114 assistant school safety agents as young as 18 and fresh out of high school to patrol the city’s elementary schools, city officials confirmed this week.

The assistant agents are responsible for answering phones, operating recently installed video intercoms, greeting visitors, and helping identify people “violating New York City Public Schools rules and regulations,” according to the job description. The position pays $37,339 a year, about $2,000 more than minimum wage.

First announced in 2023, the program was slow to get off the ground. It has also faced sharp criticism from dozens of education advocates who oppose police presence in schools who tried to convince former Mayor Eric Adams to drop the program.

City officials hope the assistant agents will help replenish the ranks of school safety officers, who wear police uniforms but are unarmed. Including the new crop of assistant school safety agents, there are nearly 3,600 police officials stationed in the city’s schools, down about 28% over the last six years from 5,000. The decline has been fueled by attrition during the pandemic connected to the COVID vaccine mandate, low wages, and moves by Adams not to restaff the division.

School leaders have raised alarms that the drop in school safety agents has compromised safety. It’s also caused delays getting to class since the agents are responsible for operating metal detectors on campuses that require students to be screened before entering the building.

“We are experiencing a massive shortfall,” Mark Rampersant, the education department’s safety chief, said at a City Council hearing this week.

Kevyn Bowles, the principal of New Bridges Elementary School in Brooklyn, initially feared that an assistant safety agent might not have the emotional maturity to respond to conflict or high-stress situations. But after his school was assigned one, he changed his mind.

“Schools are stretched, so any extra help is beneficial and appreciated,” Bowles said.

The assistant agent largely supervises the front desk and buzzes people in, freeing up the other agent to respond to behavioral crises or safety issues. In the past, a school staff member would have to cover the front desk if the school’s sole safety agent was responding to an incident or on a lunch break.

“She’s very calm, professional, respectful — maybe I shouldn’t have doubted the 19-year-olds of the world,” Bowles added.

Still, a range of education advocates and civil rights groups have raised concerns about the new role and argue the city should focus more on staffing up mental health support and using alternative approaches to conflict resolution.

Johanna Miller, director of the education policy center at the New York Civil Liberties Union, emphasized that the assistant agents receive about eight weeks of training, which is less than half of what regular agents receive.

“We’re concerned about poorly trained NYPD officers in elementary schools,” Miller said. “There are a lot of people who could be qualified to watch a door without having a direct line to the NYPD and the potential for children to be arrested.”

A police department spokesperson did not respond to questions about the assistant agents’ training.

Officials noted major crimes in schools have fallen 9% so far this school year compared with last year, and school arrests are down about 10%. As part of a reorganization of the school safety division, staff who previously held administrative positions were deployed to schools.

It remains to be seen whether the assistant agents will make a dent in the city’s efforts to restaff the school safety division. The 114 assistant agents assigned to schools are far below the 400 agents the Police Department was originally approved to hire. (Officials did not respond to a question about what the current target is.)

Rampersant, the Education Department’s safety chief, said officials are visiting high schools and parent association meetings to advertise the program to get more recruits. But he said low wages remain a sticking point for all school safety agent roles and starting salaries for other law enforcement agencies are significantly higher.

“When you are a school safety agent — you rather work in a correctional facility than a school, right? — that’s really telling,” Rampersant said.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani ordered hundreds of millions in cuts to NYC Education Dept. Officials trimmed $58 million so far.

2026-03-25T21:47:46+00:00

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As part of his vow to close a multi-billion dollar budget gap, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Wednesday an initial wave of spending cuts to New York City’s Education Department.

But the reductions represent a tiny fraction of what the mayor ordered the agency, along with others, to trim. Officials said they’re still combing through proposals to determine which cuts to approve.

The Education Department’s central offices are expected to rein in spending on supplies, professional development, and travel — adding up to $27.5 million this school year. Next school year, the city will “terminate underutilized contracts” and “implement spending caps” to save $30.3 million.

Overall, the Education Department is expected to find hundreds of millions in savings across this school year and next school year.

In an executive order issued earlier this year, Mamdani charged city agencies with appointing a chief savings officer to identify 1.5% in spending trims this fiscal year and 2.5% next fiscal year. Each savings officer was supposed to issue a public report March 20 laying out a plan for cuts. Spokespeople for Mamdani and the Education Department declined to release the agency’s plan, which was developed by Michael Cheatham, an acting deputy chancellor who oversees finance and is the department’s current savings officer.

A City Hall spokesperson said the Education Department would be expected to cut from the city’s contribution to the agency’s budget, which includes state, city, and federal funding. In total, that suggests the Education Department could be expected to cut over $800 million. Officials did not confirm an exact dollar amount figure the agency has been asked to cut.

“We’re only getting pieces of information,” said Ana Champeny, the vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group. “They chose to release a very small subset of reductions that they say they’ve vetted so far.”

Education Department spokespeople declined to share which specific contracts are being cut, but said they reflect duplicative technology and software deals, consulting services that are no longer needed or can be offered internally, and certain administrative services.

City Hall announced more than $230 million in cuts across city agencies on Wednesday; officials said they are reviewing agency plans to cut $1.7 billion.

“Government must deliver for working people — and every dollar in our budget must work as hard as they do,” Mamdani said in a statement. “This is just the beginning of our work to improve service delivery and make city government the most efficient it can be.”

As the city’s largest agency, the Education Department is often a target for politicians who want to find efficiencies in city government. But finding cuts that don’t disrupt school programs is often easier said than done. Zeroing out funding for central staff and superintendent offices, for instance, would save about 1.2% of the agency’s budget.

“The mayor is clear that vital services need to be protected,” schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said during a City Council hearing earlier this week. “We are cognizant of not impacting schools.”

On the campaign trail, Mamdani vowed to deploy a DOGE-style program to root out waste in the city’s public schools and “overhaul procurement infrastructure across the DOE.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Will NYC school budgets take a hit next year? Education Department officials are mum.

2026-03-23T22:26:39+00:00

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During a City Council hearing about Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed budget for New York City’s public schools, one question came up again and again: Will school budgets take a hit next year?

It’s a question Education Department officials repeatedly sidestepped — but the answer may influence the fate of Mamdani’s first budget plan.

“There are not many individual issues that we will discuss at any of these hearings that impact our collective vote on the entire $127 billion dollar budget — that’s how important this is,” Brooklyn City Council member Lincoln Restler said during the budget hearing on Monday. “I really want to make sure we’re not in a situation where we’re seeing school budgets a day before the vote.”

As K-12 enrollment in the nation’s largest school system plunged nearly 10% over the past six years, dropping below 800,000, city officials spent $1.6 billion propping up budgets. That money staved off cuts that would typically have been automatic since school funding is typically tied to student headcount. But officials were reluctant to slash budgets while schools were scrambling to catch up students in the wake of the pandemic and the system had billions in one-time federal relief money at its disposal.

As the pandemic receded and federal funding dried up, however, it became difficult to change course. The Education Department kept school budgets relatively stable even as enrollment ticked down. This year, schools received over $388 million in various forms of relief to offset lower enrollment, the largest single-year sum since the pandemic hit.

Whether to keep school budgets steady and hold them “harmless” for enrollment declines is a politically tricky decision as the Mamdani administration has tasked city agencies to find savings to help fill a multi-billion dollar budget gap. When former Mayor Eric Adams initially began winding down the program, the blowback was so intense that City Council members later apologized for approving the city’s spending plan, and families made T-shirts declaring that Adams defunded their schools. Subsequently, Adams decided to keep propping up budgets.

Some school funding experts and budget watchdog groups say that it makes little sense to keep allowing school budgets to drift away from enrollment, disproportionately benefiting schools that have lost the most students. It’s a problem that was top of mind for multiple city lawmakers.

“Are we funding empty seats?” asked Queens City Council member Phil Wong. “And is there a long term plan to phase this out — or this is now a permanent policy?”

But educators and parent leaders have pointed out that many schools have come to rely on the money, and abruptly cutting it could force painful cuts to programs such as after-school, art, and music. Plus, cuts are likely to invite backlash, especially as Mamdani vowed to prioritize funding for public schools on the campaign trail.

At the City Council hearing on Monday, schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels stressed that “no decision has been made on hold harmless.”

“When we think about declining enrollment, we see the impact of that across our schools and specifically many of our schools who serve the most vulnerable populations,” Samuels added. The city should be “making sure those schools are sustainable and can withstand the impact of the declining enrollment.”

The “hold harmless” funding is a small share of the more than $16 billion the Education Department spent on K-12 schools and instruction this year. But on dozens of campuses, the money represents more than 10% of their initial allocations.

Officials said preliminary school budgets would be available later this spring, potentially leaving little time for lawmakers to negotiate the issue before the June 30 deadline to pass the city budget.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Next phase of NYC reading overhaul? Schools chief wants to help struggling middle, high school students

2026-03-19T18:39:41+00:00

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In recent years, New York City’s public school system has made improving elementary school literacy rates the top priority.

That focus, experts have warned, doesn’t address an equally pressing challenge: Many middle and high school students are far below grade level, and their schools are not always equipped to help them catch up.

Now, Chancellor Kamar Samuels is vowing to shift the Education Department’s agenda. Addressing that gap will be the “next stage” of NYC Reads, the city’s plan to improve reading instruction, Samuels said at a recent literacy conference convened by Columbia University’s Center for Public Research and Leadership.

Middle and high school teachers “love books, they are wonderful at comparing themes, they’re wonderful at getting most of our kids … excited about reading,” Samuels said. “But what they’re not necessarily good at is teaching our kids to read.”

He added: “We have to ensure that when our kids are off track at sixth grade, that there are research-based interventions that can help to get them on track.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Samuels have vowed to continue the previous administration’s focus on literacy, including a requirement that elementary schools remove discredited curriculums from their classrooms and adopt city-approved programs. Samuels has indicated that one of his top priorities will be getting older students who did not receive adequate reading instruction back on track.

The stakes of that effort are high. More than 40% of New York City middle school students were not considered proficient readers on last year’s state tests, and just under half of high school freshmen arrived on campus reading below grade level.

Officials have previously acknowledged the city’s approach to catching up students has been scattershot. For the first time this school year, all campuses — including middle and high schools — are required to use city-approved intervention programs for struggling readers. Officials are also requiring all middle schools transition to city-approved reading and math curriculums by fall 2027. Both of those efforts launched under Mayor Eric Adams.

Literacy experts welcomed Samuels’ focus on older students.

“I appreciate his acknowledgement that middle and high school students and teachers haven’t been a priority in this conversation around the shift to evidence-based instruction,” said Katie Pace Miles, a Brooklyn College professor and literacy expert.

The city should roll out training for middle and high school teachers on the latest evidence about how students learn to read, she said, and consider intensive tutoring programs for students who are behind.

The Education Department plans to share more detailed plans in the coming months, said agency spokesperson Onika Richards. She emphasized that schools are focused on using assessment data to identify students who need more help and ensuring dedicated time in the school day to provide extra help. (Officials did not say whether high schools will be required to use city-approved reading curriculums, as middle and elementary schools have.)

When it comes to supporting older students, making the interventions schools deploy more coherent would be a welcome change, some observers said. Teachers have sometimes relied on elementary school reading materials for those who are behind, which can be embarrassing for middle or high school students, said Evan Stone, the CEO of Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group.

A challenge will be finding time during the school day to offer interventions without pulling students out of their regular English language arts classes.

“You don’t want them to miss the ELA block to get their support because then they never catch up,” Stone said. The materials teachers use for students who are behind should be aligned with their school’s regular reading curriculum, he added.

Stephanie Vazquez, a literacy coach at M.S. 101 in the Bronx, said teacher training will be a crucial element of any effort to improve reading outcomes. Her students arrive with a wide range of reading abilities; some are capable of high school level work while others are far behind.

“As a teacher, you’re trying to figure out, ‘How do I help my student gain access and fully comprehend this text without completely modifying the text?’” Vazquez said, noting the city could create more opportunities for teachers from different schools to share best practices.

Vazquez said teachers in upper grades could also use more exposure to a longstanding body of research on how children learn to read, known as the science of reading.

“Oftentimes, when you’re a teacher in middle and high school, your certification program may not have taught you about the science of reading,” she said. “We don’t always feel well-equipped because we don’t walk in with that foundation.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Could NYC get a 2-year extension to meet class size caps? A key architect of the law is open to it.

2026-03-11T12:00:00+00:00

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A key architect of a state law that mandates smaller class sizes in New York City indicated he’s open to giving Mayor Zohran Mamdani more time to comply.

State Sen. John Liu, a sponsor of the class size law, said it would be reasonable to extend the timeline from two years to four years before the nation’s largest school system is expected to fully meet the class size caps.

“Mayor Mamdani has been very clear he wants to reduce class sizes in accordance with the mandate,” Liu said. But “both he and the chancellor have suggested that more time and more money may be needed.”

Under the state’s 2022 law, 80% of city classrooms must include no more than 20-25 students, depending on the grade level, by next school year. All classrooms must fall under those caps by the 2027-28 school year. (The teachers union contract allows class sizes up to 34 students in high school classrooms.)

“It would not be unreasonable for the city to commit to a 70%, 80%, 90%, and then 100% timetable,” said Liu, referring to the percentage of classes that would have to comply with the new class size caps in each of the next four school years.

Liu’s comments signal that state lawmakers and city officials may try to tuck tweaks to the class size law into the state budget, which often includes various policy changes and is due April 1. But any alterations are likely to be contentious since the class size policy was a major priority of the city teachers union, which carries significant political clout in Albany.

In a statement on Tuesday, Liu demanded a “clear plan” to shrink class sizes to comply with state law before lawmakers will agree to extend Mamdani’s control over the school system, which expires at the end of June.

The initial state law did not come with dedicated funding to hire thousands of new teachers required to staff smaller classes, which has been a major sticking point with city officials. In a budget proposal released Monday, lawmakers in the state assembly included $600 million to help New York City reduce class sizes. For his part, Mamdani has proposed an extra $543 million in city dollars next year to comply with the mandate.

A rep for City Hall did not respond to questions about whether the mayor supports the timeline Liu outlined. Mamdani voted for the legislation when he was a state lawmaker.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said the union does not support extending the deadline without a road map from the city to ramp up school construction to create more space for smaller classes.

“Only when a real plan and a clear timeline are in place — not the usual School Construction smoke and mirrors — would we have the information necessary to consider whether any amendments are needed,” Mulgrew said in a statement.

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has previously said he would rather the city more efficiently use existing space, including by merging schools, before investing in new buildings.

City officials have already struggled to meet the mandate’s requirements. This school year, 60% of New York City schools were supposed to meet the new caps — a benchmark that officials met after exempting more than 10,000 classrooms from the class size caps.

Some proponents of reducing class sizes said the city has failed to adequately plan to implement the law and should not be given more time or money without a more detailed proposal.

“I would oppose any additional funding unless the DOE provides an actual, detailed multiyear plan to show how this funding will be used to provide the space and staffing to lower class size and achieve the caps in the law,” said Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters, an advocacy group. “Similarly, I wouldn’t support any extension of the deadlines unless the DOE provides this sort of plan.”

Critics of the law, including State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa, have raised concerns that higher-need schools stand to benefit the least from the new class size caps because those campuses already tend to have smaller classes.

Representatives for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins did not reply to questions about whether they support changes to the class size law.

Gov. Kathy Hochul also did not indicate whether she supports any tweaks.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mayoral control fight? Mamdani’s former Albany colleagues set stage for showdown on who runs NYC schools

2026-03-10T20:40:39+00:00

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s old colleagues in Albany aren’t going to let him maintain control of New York City schools without a fight.

Though the former state assemblyman campaigned on ending mayoral control as a way to give families and educators more of a say over the nation’s largest education system, Mamdani recently reversed course. Now, he faces an uphill battle with lawmakers in Albany to let him hold onto that power. Neither the Senate nor the Assembly proposed extending Mamdani’s control of city schools in separate budget proposals they released this week despite Gov. Kathy Hochul pitching a four-year extension of it in her budget proposal.

The state’s final budget is due April 1.

Albany gave New York City’s mayor control of the education system more than 20 years ago and has extended it ever since. The governance model — which is set to sunset on June 30 — allows the mayor to unilaterally appoint the schools chancellor, select a majority of the city’s school board, and generally set the district’s policy direction.

As Mamdani has moved full steam ahead on his plan to bring free child care to the city’s 2-year-olds and bolster the free program for 3-year-olds, he has come to appreciate having centralized control over the vast system.

“We would not have been able to launch 2-K or begin to fix the issues plaguing 3-K without mayoral control,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Mayoral control is key to delivering our affordability agenda, and I look forward to continuing to work with leaders in Albany to secure its extension.”

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who built the city’s massive prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds in 2014, said he would not have been able to launch that initiative without mayoral control.

“This is something that would really lead the nation” de Blasio told Chalkbeat about Mamdani’s child care push. “He’s not going to be able to do it, especially not quickly, if he doesn’t have sufficient capacity to run the system.”

Hochul had asked for a four-year extension in 2024 as well. Ultimately, state legislators approved a two-year extension with some changes to the school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy. (The board grew to 24 appointees, with the addition of a chair nominated by Albany officials and selected by the mayor.)

Because the mayor appoints a majority of the members, the board has long been considered a rubber stamp for the chief executive. But the panel has increasingly displayed an independent streak, repeatedly bucking City Hall under former Mayor Eric Adams.

Another tweak from Albany lawmakers: Panel members serve one-year terms that run through June. That resulted in Mamdani inheriting Adams’ appointees, putting the new mayor in an awkward position of not fully controlling the school board for his first six months in office.

Adams, at the end of his term, ceded some of his control of the Panel for Educational Policy and left office with two mayoral vacancies. Mamdani has yet to fill those openings.

Still, there have been some new additions to the panel, including Jonathan Collins, an assistant professor of political science and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. He was appointed by Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal.

“It’s an honor to be able to serve the kids of our city,” Collins wrote on LinkedIn on Tuesday, “and in this particular moment, I welcome the opportunity to model what true democratic school governance can look like.”

Advocates have continued to press the mayor to follow through on his promise to make the system more responsive to students, parents, and teachers.

State Sen. John Liu, who chairs the New York City Education Committee, said extending mayoral control would hinge on the city coming up with a plan to shrink class sizes to comply with state law. He also said he is speaking with Mamdani about possible changes to make the system more democratic.

“I’m in discussion with the mayor about what the plan is for class size reduction and what he envisions as a way to increase stakeholder input into how our schools are run,” said Liu, who did not offer more details.

When previously revealing his reversal on mayoral control, Mamdani pledged to incorporate community involvement, restructure parent meetings for community education councils to increase participation and awareness of these elected bodies, and improve the role of parent coordinators to be “meaningful” parent organizers instead of principals’ administrative coordinators.

Hundreds of parent coordinators wrote to Chalkbeat with their ideas for the mayor. They want better pay, more respect, a clearer job description — and they want to be included in decisions made about their jobs.

Albany signals support for Foundation Aid increase

Though lawmakers might not be on board for Mamdani’s plea for extending mayoral control, they do seem aligned with him on changing the formula that makes up the bulk of school budgets, funnelling more money to high-need schools.

The two-decades-old Foundation Aid formula was tweaked last year, but many advocates and politicians said the changes weren’t significant enough. Both houses called to add additional weights to the formula for homeless students,those in foster care, and children learning English as a new language.

High-need districts like New York City — which had about 154,000 students in temporary housing last year — stand to benefit if those weights are added. City schools last year received $314 million less than they would have under the original formula.

Compared to Hochul’s proposal to increase Foundation Aid across the state to $27.1 billion next fiscal year, the Assembly called for $27.8 billion, Speaker Carl Heastie said, while the Senate called for $27.4 billion.

Correction: March 10, 2026: This story initially said that Jonathan Collins was appointed to the Panel for Educational Policy by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In fact, he was appointed by Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

NYC 2025 graduation rate dips, fueled by declines among students with disabilities and English learners

2026-03-09T19:58:25+00:00

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Graduation rates dipped last year across New York City by just over 2 percentage points to 81.2% — the largest year-over-year decline in more than two decades — as officials have reinstated requirements that were loosened during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the graduation rate across the state fell by just under 1 percentage point to 85.5%.

The drops in students graduating on time were most pronounced for some of the city’s most vulnerable children. Just 59% of students with disabilities graduated in four years, a drop of 5.5 percentage points. Nearly 52% of English language learners graduated in four years, down by about 3 percentage points.

The data, which state officials posted quietly online without the customary public announcement or press briefing, reveals the graduation rates for the Class of 2025. Those students began ninth grade in September 2021, the first time all students were required to attend school in person after the pandemic hit.

“They entered high school in a weird place,” said Sarah Part, a senior policy analyst at Advocates for Children, a group that provides support and legal help to low-income families. “It is possible that some students started ninth grade not as prepared as they otherwise would have been.”

Still, the city and state’s overall graduation rate remains higher than before the pandemic, when about 77% of city students graduated in four years and 83% of students statewide did.

City officials contend that last year’s dip was largely driven by resuming graduation standards that had been relaxed during the pandemic to account for disruptions to instruction. Some students received waivers from Regents exams or were allowed to appeal low scores.

Nearly 14% of city students relied on a Regents exam waiver to graduate in the Class of 2025, down from a whopping 53% in the Class of 2024, city officials said. (Nearly 53% of students successfully appealed low scores, a similar number as the year before.)

It is difficult to determine to what extent the graduation policy changes have affected the graduation rate because some students may have still graduated even without the more lenient standards.

Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College who has studied school performance, said it is possible the policy shifts are having a meaningful effect but it’s important to look at longer-term trends. “My perennial claim is don’t make too much of a one-year change,” he said.

Pallas said other factors could be playing a role. Rates of chronic absenteeism remain elevated, for instance, likely affecting students’ academic performance.

Grad rates drop significantly for students with disabilities and English learners

Andrew Wilder, an English as a second language teacher at Brooklyn’s Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, said he was unsurprised that graduation rates for English learners dropped after soaring during the pandemic.

“The fact that students did not have to pass the English Regents — that led to a pretty substantial bump in the graduation rate,” he said. “It’s an English language test more than it is a test of a student’s high school ability.”

Even accounting for this year’s decline, however, graduation rates for that group are up about 11 percentage points since the pandemic hit.

Yet, dropout rates for English learners spiked to 18%, up 4 percentage points, city data show.

The city’s overall dropout rate increased slightly to 5.2%.

One group that bucked the trend: The dropout rate for students with disabilities fell slightly, to 6.7%. That could suggest some students who remain in school but didn’t graduate on time will still eventually earn a diploma.

“It’s possible students are just needing a little bit more time in high school,” said Part, from Advocates for Children.

The data reveal continued disparities in graduation rates between different racial groups. Nearly 92% of Asian American students graduated on time along with 87% of white students. About 77% of Black and Latino students graduated in four years. (Every racial group saw a decline.)

Education Department spokesperson Isla Gething wrote in a statement that the city remains “committed to high-quality instruction and strengthening targeted supports so that every student, especially students with disabilities and English language learners, has equitable access to rigorous instruction and clear pathways to graduation.”

Phasing out Regents offers opportunity to rethink graduation standards

The graduation rate fluctuations during and after the pandemic could hold important lessons for policymakers as they rethink what it should take to earn a diploma.

State officials are in the process of phasing out Regents exams — which have been in place since the mid-1800s — as a graduation requirement. Instead, New York students will need to meet a broader set of criteria demonstrating critical thinking, communication, and other skills known as the “portrait of a graduate.” State officials, however, have not unveiled the specific graduation standards students will be required to meet in the coming years.

Arlen Benjamin-Gomez, the executive director of EdTrust-New York, said the fluctuations for students with disabilities and English learners should prompt a broader conversation about how state officials can set appropriate standards for different groups.

It’s a “real opportunity to think about these two subgroups particularly, because this data really shows us how much they’re impacted by whatever the graduation measures are,” she said. “Having a disability shouldn’t be a reason that you are not able to graduate from high school.”

Still, she noted that officials must be careful to ensure that graduation standards remain rigorous and signify that students are ready for life after high school, including college or the workforce.

Wilder, the English as a second language teacher, was eager for more details and looks forward to spending less time teaching to the Regents exam. The test, he said, is often too far above his students’ level of English proficiency to be a useful measure of their learning.

“They come to believe that their inability to pass the English Regents is somehow a function of them as a student,” he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Kamar Samuels’ cabinet: Your guide to the Education Department’s new leadership team

2026-03-05T19:54:48+00:00

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New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced his top deputies Thursday, replacing some of the system’s top leaders while keeping several others.

Of his 11 cabinet members, all have deep roots in the nation’s largest school system — and six are staying in the roles they assumed under the previous administration.

Samuels named Danielle Giunta as first deputy. She will helm his cabinet and oversee a slew of key areas, ranging from academics to district leadership, including managing two newly created roles of supervising superintendents. One will supervise elementary and middle school superintendents and another will oversee high schools and alternative program superintendents.

“I spent two decades of my career in roles across NYC public schools — from math teacher to principal to superintendent — and I’ve seen many iterations of our organizational chart, iterations that often lacked cohesion, efficiency, and clarity,” Samuels told a packed audience at the Education Department’s Lower Manhattan headquarters. “I needed to make some structural changes.”

The changes Samuels announced on Thursday do not completely overhaul the system’s leadership. Simone Hawkins, the deputy chancellor of early childhood education, will keep her position — a key post as Mayor Zohran Mamdani prioritizes universal child care and shoring up the prekindergarten system. Kenita Lloyd will stay in her role as chief of staff, which she held under former chancellors Melissa Aviles-Ramos and David Banks. She previously worked with Banks to support the Eagle Academy network of public schools, which he helped launch.

Lloyd compared herself to a professional basketball player changing teams.

“The coaching philosophy shifts, culture evolves, and expectations have risen, yet the responsibility remains the same,” she said. “Elevate performance, protect the star, and help the team win.”

It remains to be seen whether Samuels will make other structural changes.

Former Chancellor Richard Carranza added a new layer of executive superintendents. Banks scrapped those positions and required all of the city’s local superintendents to reapply for their jobs.

Here are the new faces in Samuels’ cabinet.

First Deputy Chancellor: Danielle Giunta

As first deputy, Giunta will oversee district planning, enrollment, new school development, and policy as well as academics and instruction, with the two supervising superintendents, one for elementary and middle school, and the other for high school and alternative programs, reporting directly to her.

Giunta most recently served as the chief of school leadership development, tapped by Banks to fill that new role. Prior to that she spent about a decade as the superintendent of District 26, a high-performing and affluent part of Queens that includes Bayside, Douglaston, and Little Neck. She was a principal at P.S. 154 in Flushing.

Supervising Superintendent of Elementary and Middle Schools: Maribel Torres-Hulla

Supervising Superintendent of High Schools and D79: Alan Cheng

In these newly created roles, Torres-Hulla and Cheng will oversee the implementation of the city’s curriculum mandates, NYC Reads for literacy and NYC Solves for math. They will oversee work around career readiness and apprenticeship programs. And as the state is changing graduation requirements, the high school supervising superintendent will have a massive job helping schools figure out how to shift their practices.

Torres-Hulla, born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, rose through the ranks from elementary school teacher to literacy coach, assistant principal, principal, deputy superintendent, and superintendent of the Bronx’s District 10. Most recently, she served as chief of school support, working with superintendents of 18 local school districts across Brooklyn and the Bronx to help them align instruction with citywide initiatives.

Cheng’s career has had a similar trajectory, starting as a math teacher and working his way up as a principal, deputy superintendent, and superintendent. He most recently has served as the superintendent for Outward Bound schools and international schools — serving newcomer immigrants — as well as New York Performance Standards Consortium schools, which require students to do performance-based assessments, such as capstone projects or other presentations rather than Regents exit exams. Consortium schools could potentially serve as a model as the state overhauls graduation requirements.

Former Deputy Chancellor for School Leadership Danika Rux previously oversaw all superintendents; she will no longer have a cabinet position and will advise the office of the general counsel. Samuels, who previously served two tours as local superintendent in Manhattan and Brooklyn, said the new roles are meant to help support superintendents as they navigate reading and math curriculum overhauls and implement a new set of graduation standards in the coming years.

Deputy Chancellor of the Division of Family Partnership & Community Support: Flavia Puello-Perdomo

Attendance, students in temporary housing and foster care, language access, school wellness and counseling programs, and community schools providing wraparound support will be among the areas that Puello-Perdomo will oversee. She will also be in charge of Family and Community Empowerment, or FACE, the office that supports parent leaders on parent-teacher associations, school leadership teams, and Community Education Councils — along with running the elections for these councils, which have been plagued by low turnout.

Puello-Perdomo most recently served as the chief of schools for the office of community supports and wellness where she worked across agencies to support community school programs, students in temporary housing and foster care, after-school, and summer programs. She also focused on attendance initiatives.

Deputy Chancellor of the Division of Finance, Administration, & Human Resources: Michael Cheatham will serve as acting deputy chancellor until June, when Lindsey Oates takes over

This role will be responsible for administrative services, finance, human resources, and procurement.

Cheatham previously served as a senior advisor to the chancellor and chief financial officer and as senior executive director and acting chief of finance and human resources for the Division of School Leadership. He’s currently also the Education Department’s interim chief savings officer, a role Mamdani established to find cost-efficiency strategies.

Oates previously served as the Education Department’s chief financial officer during the de Blasio administration. She’s currently the interim chief financial officer at the Legal Aid Society.

Here’s who is returning to their former post.

Chief of Staff Kenita Lloyd. Lloyd joined the Education Department as a deputy chancellor of family engagement under Banks. She was elevated to the chief of staff role in 2024, and Samuels is keeping her in that role.

Deputy Chancellor of the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning Christina Foti. The division oversees special education, multilingual learners, and District 75, a network of schools that serve students with more significant disabilities.

Deputy Chancellor of the Division of Early Childhood Education Simone Hawkins

Deputy Chancellor of the Division of School Operations Kevin Moran

Chief of Safety and Prevention Partnerships Mark Rampersant

Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel Liz Vladeck

Correction, March 5, 2026: Alan Cheng most recently oversaw Outward Bound schools, the Internationals School Network, and consortium schools.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Kamar Samuels to unveil new Education Department cabinet as old deputies exit

2026-03-05T02:17:12+00:00

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After two months helming New York City schools, Kamar Samuels is expected to announce his cabinet members on Thursday as top Education Department officials say their goodbyes.

Acting First Deputy Chancellor Isabel DiMola, the school system’s second in command, announced plans to retire in a Wednesday evening letter to staff. She was tapped to fill the role by former Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos after a previous top deputy, Dan Weisberg, stepped down.

Also leaving her post: Deputy Chancellor for School Leadership Danika Rux, who supervises 44 superintendents charged with directly managing principals. Rux oversaw the system’s reading and math curriculum overhauls, a major priority under former Mayor Eric Adams.

In a Wednesday letter announcing plans to step down, Rux said she is “excited to see Samuels deepen the work and build his team.” Samuels has previously said he plans to keep the literacy mandate changes in place but has suggested there could be tweaks to the math program.

Cristina Meléndez, the deputy chancellor of family, community, and student empowerment, had previously announced her departure.

The flurry of staff changes is not surprising, as Samuels is expected to assemble his own cabinet to replace the one he inherited from the prior administration. Any new appointees will play an important role implementing Samuels’ priorities. The new administration’s vision for the larger system remains a question mark, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said little about his plans for the city schools.

In a message to principals, Samuels wrote that he is making an announcement Thursday about the system’s “organizational structure” and planned to convene school leaders shortly after the official announcement.

In her letter to school staffers, DiMola reminisced about her 30 years in education. She started at the age of 22 teaching social studies at Abraham Lincoln High School in Coney Island, Brooklyn, working her way through the ranks as an assistant principal, principal, and superintendent. For 16 years, she served as the superintendent of Brooklyn’s District 21, the same district where she attended public schools growing up.

Rux also began her education career 30 years ago, starting as a teacher and working her way up from a school leader to superintendent.

“Each step along this path has strengthened my belief that leadership in education is ultimately about people,” she wrote in her farewell to staffers. “It is about the relationships we cultivate, the trust we build, and the collective responsibility we carry for the success of every student in our care.”

Rux is leaving her post as a deputy chancellor to become a senior advisor to the Education Department’s Office of the General Counsel, she wrote.

Former Chancellor Aviles-Ramos announced a new job of her own this week. She has a senior role at HMH, a curriculum company with strong ties to the school system, a move that has raised eyebrows.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Former Chancellor Aviles-Ramos takes job at firm with ties to NYC schools: ‘It should raise eyebrows’

2026-03-03T20:52:53+00:00

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Former New York City schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos has accepted a senior role at HMH, a major education company at the center of the city’s reading curriculum overhaul.

Aviles-Ramos started at the company on Monday as a senior advisor with the title “executive in residence for innovation and analytics,” company officials said.

“In my new role at HMH, I will spend time engaging with leaders in large districts across the country, listening to their experiences and learning from their challenges to inform how HMH supports districts at scale,” Aviles-Ramos wrote in a statement. “My role will be advisory, forward-looking, and focused on developing insights on best practices for impact and implementation.” Her new job was first reported by the Daily News.

The former schools chief’s decision to work for a firm with millions of dollars in business with the city’s public school system swiftly drew strong reactions from parents, teachers, and experts.

“They’re a provider for one of the most widely used reading curricula in the City of New York,” said Jonathan Collins, a professor of political science and education at Columbia University Teachers College. “At the very least, I think it should raise eyebrows.”

HMH, formerly known as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, gained traction in New York City under former Mayor Eric Adams’ signature initiative to standardize elementary school reading curriculums. Although city officials approved three reading programs, HMH is required in 22 of the city’s 32 local districts — owing in part to a savvy marketing strategy that allowed schools to use some materials at no charge during the pandemic, giving the company a strong foothold.

Aviles-Ramos was not chancellor when that program launched, but she became responsible for supervising the effort when she took the helm in October 2024. The school’s chief hoped to stay on the job, but was passed over by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in favor of Kamar Samuels.

HMH, which is organized as an anthology-style textbook packed with passages specifically designed to teach reading skills, has drawn mixed reactions from parents and educators. Some contend that it relies too heavily on excerpts rather than full books and is not culturally responsive. The company disputes both claims. As the city has expanded the curriculum mandate to middle schools while Aviles-Ramos was chancellor, local superintendents largely steered clear of HMH.

The company did more than $40 million in business with the Education Department last year, according to records maintained by the comptroller’s office, and the city has paid HMH over $28 million so far this fiscal year.

Under city law, Aviles-Ramos may not work with the city’s Education Department on behalf of HMH for two years. The law also prohibits her from seeking or negotiating the terms of the job while she was working for the Education Department.

Aviles-Ramos, who declined an interview request through an HMH spokesperson, said in a statement that she will not work with the city’s public schools “in any capacity” and sought out guidance from the Education Department’s ethics office as well as the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.

“I value this guidance and will continue to abide by all ethical requirements,” she wrote.

Aviles-Ramos is not the first chancellor to decamp to the private sector. Former Chancellor Joel Klein accepted a job running Amplify, a division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, and later served on the board of Juul, an e-cigarette company. And Richard Carranza, who served as schools chief under Mayor Bill de Blasio, joined IXL, an education technology company.

Other schools chiefs have stayed in the public or not-for-profit realms. Dennis Walcott, who was chancellor under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, leads the Queens Public Library system.

“That kind of movement to the private sector is really not unusual,” said Tom Liam Lynch, a former Education Department administrator during the Bloomberg administration who now runs an organization focused on teacher training in New York City.

Lynch said Aviles-Ramos’ experience at all levels of the system — as a parent, teacher, principal, and school system leader — could be an asset in improving their curriculum offerings and help strengthen implementation in big school systems.

“She’s a razor sharp educator,” he said. “I would trust her to navigate the ethics involved.”

Others accused Aviles-Ramos of profiting from her position leading the nation’s largest school system.

“This, to me, is evidence and an example of the corruption that we all expect is there,” said Alina Lewis, a parent at the Brooklyn School of Inquiry who has criticized HMH and pushed the city to give the school an exemption from using the curriculum.

“They’re paying her for the contacts and influence she has at DOE,” she said.

Some teachers took to social media to vent. “We are so tired of this,” one educator wrote on X. “HMH took away the READING OF WHOLE BOOKS.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC reverses Upper West Side middle school closure after mom’s viral racist remark sparks outcry

2026-03-03T12:56:25+00:00

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New York City education officials have reversed plans to close an Upper West Side middle school after a mom’s racist comment during a public meeting thrust the school into the national spotlight.

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels wrote in a letter to families Monday night that the city will not begin phasing out the Community Action School, known as CAS, as originally planned next school year.

The move comes after a mom’s comment, which was made on a hot mic on Zoom while a Black student was speaking during a public meeting, went viral. “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” the mom said. Samuels said he and the local superintendent visited the school to meet with students and school leadership and ultimately were persuaded to scrap the plan.

“First, the CAS community is continuing to process and recover from the racist and unacceptable remarks directed toward a CAS student at a [community education council] meeting in February,” Samuels wrote in the letter obtained by Chalkbeat. “And second, members of the school community shared a strong desire for stability as they move forward.”

Samuels, who recently visited the campus and met with students, added: “What the CAS community needs right now is meaningful and comprehensive support — and that would be difficult to provide authentically in the context of a phase-out proposal.”

The decision represents a remarkable about-face. Samuels helped launch the closure plan in his previous role as the superintendent of District 3, a diverse chunk of Manhattan that spans from the Upper West Side to part of Harlem. The controversy represented an early test for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has vowed to listen to feedback from school communities in decisions that affect their schools.

City officials previously argued CAS was too small to sustain, enrolling just over 170 students this year. They also pointed to standardized test scores that are below the city average. Families and educators pushed back against the plans, noting the school added about 40 students this year and predominantly serves Black and Latino children from low-income families. Some parents said the school is an unusually supportive environment with strong social emotional programming.

But the closure proposal earned more intense scrutiny after a Feb. 10 public meeting in which Allyson Friedman, a mom from The Center School, a more affluent and majority-white school, was caught on a hot mic apparently insulting the intelligence of a Black student from CAS. (Friedman — whose school is part of a separate relocation plan — participated in the meeting on Zoom while the student was in person; multiple people in attendance said the student likely did not immediately hear the comment.)

After making the comment about “dumb” students, Friedman then appeared to misattribute and misquote Black historian Carter G. Woodson. “Apparently Martin Luther King said it: If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore,” Friedman said.

The District 3 interim acting superintendent had quoted from Woodson earlier in the meeting in his remarks on Black History Month.

In the 1933 book, “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” Woodson described how racism in schools can perpetuate inequities. “If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door,” Woodson wrote.

A recording of Friedman’s comments captured international headlines and drew rebukes from Mamdani and Black parent leaders and elected officials. In the aftermath, Hunter College placed Friedman on leave.

In an earlier email to Chalkbeat, Friedman wrote that she inadvertently unmuted herself during the meeting. “As a parent, I was trying to explain the concept of systemic racism by referencing a historical example,” she said. “My remarks were not directed at the student speaker, and they do not reflect my beliefs or values.”

Samuels previously announced that the Education Department would take action in response to the incident, offering support to the CAS community, expanding access across the system to the city’s Black Studies curriculum, launching training for families focused on combating prejudice, and devising a citywide plan to combat anti-Black racism.

The chancellor’s letter to families did not indicate whether two other middle school closure proposals under consideration in District 3 will move forward. One of those schools, the Manhattan School for Children, shares a building with CAS.

The other proposal would close the middle school program at P.S./I.S. 191, which is majority Black and Latino. Meanwhile, The Center School, where Friedman’s child attends, would move into the P.S./I.S. 191 building.

Families at both campuses have raised concerns about the proposal. The parent association at The Center School previously distanced themselves from Friedman’s comments.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC mom’s racist remark spurs schools chief’s push to expand Black Studies, parent training

2026-02-26T20:14:03+00:00

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Amid uproar over a Manhattan mom’s racist comments during a community meeting, New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels vowed to roll out new parent training and grow the number of schools that use the city’s Black Studies curriculum.

“We need to equip our staff to have courageous conversations focused on shifting attitudes and interrupting prejudice, addressing controversial issues, and coalition-building,” Samuels said during Wednesday night’s Panel for Educational Policy meeting.

He promised to launch training next month to provide “our parents with the tools to combat racism” and said the city’s Black Studies curriculum “should be expanded throughout the city in more districts and schools.”

Samuels also said the Education Department is working on a “broader, system-wide plan because we know that this is not an issue that is localized in District 3,” referring to the commenter’s district, a diverse swath of Manhattan that spans from the Upper West Side to part of Harlem.

Samuels’ comments come in response to a District 3 education council meeting earlier this month. On a hot mic, a mom appeared to insult the intelligence of a Black student who was testifying against a plan to close the child’s school, which mostly serves Black and Latino students, before going on to comment about Black people’s place in society.

The schools chief said the episode “has exposed what many in the Black community believe to be ever-present and simmering anti-Blackness in our city.” Samuels’ promises came one day after Black parent leaders and elected officials urged the city to take more decisive action in response to the incident, which has drawn national and international headlines.

The parent’s offensive remarks came during a Feb. 10 District 3 Community Education Council meeting that included discussion of city proposals to close three of the area’s middle school programs. At the hybrid meeting, with people speaking in person and virtually, a Black student at the Community Action School was testifying in person against the plan to close the school when Allyson Friedman, a parent at another local public school, could be heard on a hot mic on Zoom.

“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” said Friedman, a professor at Hunter College.

She then appeared to misattribute and misquote Black historian Carter G. Woodson. “Apparently Martin Luther King said it: If you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore,” Friedman said. (The District 3 interim acting superintendent had quoted from Woodson earlier in the meeting in his remarks on Black History Month.)

Friedman has since been placed on leave from Hunter College, the Daily News reported.

Friedman previously said in an email that she inadvertently unmuted herself on Zoom and did not intend to share her comments publicly. “As a parent, I was trying to explain the concept of systemic racism by referencing a historical example,” she wrote. “My remarks were not directed at the student speaker, and they do not reflect my beliefs or values. Regardless of context, my words were wrong and caused real harm.”

Parent leaders push for more sweeping changes

Education Department officials did not indicate whether schools would be required to use the Black Studies curriculum, which is currently optional. The federal government has taken a hostile stance toward diversity, equity, and inclusion programming and has investigated some school districts for policies that are specifically geared toward Black students.

Nicole Brownstein, an Education Department spokesperson, said the city does not track how many schools use the Black Studies curriculum, but said it is available to all schools. She said more details about the city’s plans would be released soon.

Multiple parent leaders told Chalkbeat that they were glad that Samuels delivered a more forceful statement on Wednesday that specifically called out anti-Blackness, compared with his initial response on social media days earlier.

“I was very elated with the chancellor’s remark last night,” said NeQuan McLean, the president of the local parent council in Bedford-Stuyvesant. “He understands this work.”

McLean noted that Samuels is Black and worked on integration efforts during his previous roles as superintendent in Brooklyn’s District 13 and Manhattan’s District 3. City officials emphasized that Samuels worked to scale up the Black Studies curriculum in District 3, where it is taught in dozens of classrooms.

But McLean and other parent leaders also want the city to go further to equip schools with resources and give community education councils tools for handling racist comments.

Tanesha Grant, the executive director of Parents Supporting Parents NY, which organized a press conference earlier this week calling for broader changes, said the city should require schools to use the Black Studies curriculum. She said she has raised concerns that the city’s most popular elementary school reading curriculum is not culturally responsive.

“We need something in place that says that it is mandatory for every public school to offer Black Studies,” Grant said.

Grant said it was frustrating that Samuels’ more forceful response came after parents began pressuring the city. (Samuels said he regretted not speaking out sooner.)

“If it hadn’t been for the parents getting together and organizing,” Grant said, “I don’t think his response [on Wednesday evening] would have been like that.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Racist comment at NYC parent meeting ignites fury as Black leaders call for accountability

2026-02-25T01:13:38+00:00

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After an Upper West Side parent’s racist comments were caught on a hot mic at a public meeting, Black parent leaders and elected officials say they want to see accountability for her actions and a broader reckoning from the nation’s largest school system.

A student from the Community Action School was testifying in person against a plan to close the middle school at a Feb. 10 local education council meeting when Allyson Friedman, a parent at another local public school, began speaking on Zoom.

“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” said Friedman, who is a professor at Hunter College.

District 3 Interim Acting Superintendent Reginald Higgins cited Woodson earlier in the meeting as part of his reflections on Black History Month. In the 1933 book, “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” Woodson described how racism in schools can perpetuate inequities. “If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door,” Woodson wrote.

Friedman’s comments exploded into public view after a recording was posted online and drew rebukes from an array of elected officials and parent leaders. Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday called the remarks “reprehensible” and “indicative of the exact kind of language that makes students feel as if they don’t belong in our public school system.” A City Hall spokesperson said officials are discussing the incident with CUNY, which oversees Hunter College.

Several Black parent leaders held a press conference Tuesday to condemn Friedman and call on education officials to take action to address inequities in the system. They urged the city’s Education Department to better promote its Black Studies curriculum, deploy the materials more widely, and offer more support for parent leaders grappling with anti-Black racism.

“We are still fighting to be seen as human,” said Tanesha Grant, the executive director of Parents Supporting Parents NY, which organized the press conference. “Our children are still fighting to be seen as human and we will not allow or tolerate anti-Blackness in our school communities.”

Several parents and elected officials said Friedman, a professor in the biological sciences department at Hunter College, should be fired. A Hunter spokesperson said the school is reviewing whether Friedman’s comments violate their policies.

Friedman said in an email that she inadvertently unmuted herself on Zoom and did not intend to share her comments publicly. “As a parent, I was trying to explain the concept of systemic racism by referencing a historical example,” she wrote. “My remarks were not directed at the student speaker, and they do not reflect my beliefs or values. Regardless of context, my words were wrong and caused real harm.”

Comments come at a tricky time for new chancellor

The episode comes at a delicate moment for schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, who was most recently superintendent of District 3. He built a reputation for listening to parent feedback and for his focus on integrating schools in one of the nation’s most segregated systems.

Samuels helped launch the process of closing three middle school programs in the district, including Community Action School, partly due to anemic enrollment. District officials are considering moving The Center School, where Friedman is a parent, to a new building more than a mile away.

The Center School, which is majority white, would share a building with P.S. 191, which is largely Black and Latino and would lose its middle school grades. Separately, the Community Action School, which predominantly enrolls students of color from low-income families, would be closed entirely.

Those proposals have all generated considerable pushback, and Friedman’s comments reopened longstanding questions about equity and access in a stratified school district.

Parent leaders at the Center School distanced themselves from the incident. “We want to be absolutely clear: this parent’s statement does not represent the values of the Center School community,” the school’s PTA wrote in a statement posted to its website. “Yet their words remind us that racism is not distant – it exists in our broader community, and it is our collective responsibility to confront it.”

For his part, Samuels vowed to support students who were affected. “I know that district quite intimately, and we will be really leaning in and working with the school communities to make sure that we repair any harm that was done to our students,” Samuels told reporters Tuesday.

Education Department spokesperson Dominique Ellison did not elaborate on what actions the city plans to take but noted that Friedman is not a department employee or parent council member.

Community Action School parent Nicki Holtzman said the school has done an “incredible job” responding to the incident. “To my understanding, the kids were not told, and they’ve been protected,” she said. (The student who Friedman interrupted may not have heard the comment because they were testifying in person and Friedman was on Zoom.) Still, Holtzman worries the episode will distract from the school community’s push to keep its doors open.

Several parent leaders indicated Tuesday that their frustration is much broader than Friedman’s comments. They pointed to repeated instances of systemic racism and anti-Black attitudes, including from other parent leaders.

“I’ve watched people employ every archaic, toxic, stereotypical red herring they can to try to slow us down and to try to justify why it is okay to underserve a Black child,” said Erika Kendall, the Community Education Council president in Brooklyn’s District 17. “But also why it is okay to ignore and dismiss the concerns of a Black parent.”

NeQuan McLean, the president of the Community Education Council in Bedford-Stuyvesant, proposed one idea for giving parent leaders considerably more power. He said local councils should have the power to sign off on mergers and closures, which usually affect schools that are struggling with enrollment and tend to have a higher proportion of Black and Latino children.

On the campaign trail, Mamdani vowed to end mayoral control of schools — which gives City Hall much of the power over those decisions — but later backtracked.

The councils “are community school boards that have been stripped of their power, and we need that power back,” McLean said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC public schools will reopen for in-person classes on Tuesday after major blizzard, Mamdani says

2026-02-23T19:12:04+00:00

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New York City’s public schools will reopen on Tuesday after a major blizzard dumped over 20 inches of snow on parts of the city, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Monday afternoon.

“I hope our students enjoy their snow day today and stay warm and safe throughout, but I do have some tough news to share: School will be in person tomorrow,” Mamdani said. “You can still pelt me with snowballs when you see me.”

School officials said thousands of Education Department staff have been working around the clock to ensure schools are ready to reopen on Tuesday.

“We will make sure we’re down to asphalt and concrete sidewalks at every school,” said Kevin Moran, the acting deputy chancellor for operations.

It remains to be seen how treacherous travel conditions will be as nearly 900,000 public school students return to class. About 150,000 students rely on yellow buses, which often falter in normal weather. Officials said they are plowing and salting the streets, and school buses are expected to run as usual.

Monday marked the first traditional snow day in years when students and educators were not required to participate in remote instruction. Since the pandemic, schools have switched to virtual learning during extreme weather because the city has added holidays and has no wiggle room to cancel class while meeting a state requirement to offer 180 school days.

New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa offered waivers to districts that canceled classes on Monday. New York City was on break the prior week, complicating efforts to send devices home to students. New York City is now on track to have only 175 days of school. (The city counted four days of teacher training this year to meet the 180-day threshold.)

Many parents and educators cheered the traditional snow day, which gave students time to have fun in the snow. Some research backs up the idea that a small number of snow days are unlikely to harm student learning. Plus, attendance during virtual learning is often spotty, making it difficult for teachers to cover new material.

Still, snow days often pose challenges for working families who must scramble to find child care and may depend on schools to provide meals and other services.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani prioritizes class size mandate and Summer Rising in preliminary budget

2026-02-17T22:30:43+00:00

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s preliminary budget plans to ramp up spending to comply with the state class size mandate and will continue to fund the city’s free summer program that combines academics and enrichment.

Several other education programs were not included. They include a program that focuses on restorative justice — a conflict resolution approach that prioritizes talking through problems rather than punitive discipline — and one that provides intensive mental health support at dozens of Bronx and Brooklyn schools.

The mayor’s preliminary $127 billion budget, released Tuesday, represents his opening salvo in negotiations with City Council over city spending next fiscal year, which begins July 1. It also offers a window into his education priorities.

Mamdani told reporters the city is “firmly within a budget crisis” and pressured Gov. Kathy Hochul to support his proposal to raise taxes on corporations and people making more than $1 million a year.

The city is facing a $5.4 billion gap over the next two fiscal years, an ever-changing figure the mayor indicated was closer to $12 billion earlier this month. Mamdani said without additional revenue, city officials would hike property taxes to plug the gap. He also called on city agencies to find savings of 1.5% this year and 2.5% next fiscal year.

“For those who have watched budget after budget, it is tempting to assume that we are engaging in the same dance as our predecessors,” Mamdani said, blaming former Mayor Eric Adams for leaving behind a big budget gap. “Let me assure you, nothing about this is typical.”

Over the weekend, Mamdani and Hochul announced the state would kick in $1.5 billion more dollars into the city budget over the next two years for operating costs, including about $300 million for youth programming. (Officials have not said what programs that funding will support.)

Here are three takeaways from the mayor’s preliminary budget.

More funding to shrink class sizes

The city is facing a state requirement to cap class sizes at 20 students in elementary school to 25 in high school. Eighty percent of classes must fall below those caps next school year, with all classes expected to meet them by the 2027-28 school year.

Mamdani’s budget includes nearly $543 million in new city spending next school year to reduce class sizes and estimates jumping to nearly $943 million in each of the three fiscal years after that.

An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately say how that money will be spent, though officials have recently said they will need an additional 6,000 teachers at a cost of more than $600 million to meet the mandate.

The Education Department has already struggled to meet the law’s requirements and has issued thousands of exemptions from it. Meeting the mandate will only get more challenging, officials have warned, as the city faces difficult tradeoffs at crowded schools, which must cap the number of students who can attend, find new space, or receive an exemption from the law.

Stabilized funding for summer school and preschool special education

During the pandemic, city officials launched a popular summer program that combines enrichment and academics using one-time federal relief money. Ever since, the Summer Rising program has been funded in one-year increments. The city had not guaranteed funding for this summer.

Mamdani’s preliminary budget includes $106 million for this summer’s program and includes money to keep it going in the three fiscal years after that.

Officials also renewed $70 million in funding for preschool special education services, evaluations, and staff — though, despite that funding, many students still do not receive all of the help to which they’re entitled.

Advocates cheered the mayor for including the funding. But Maria Odom, executive director of the nonprofit Advocates for Children, stressed that “as the City moves forward with its plans for universal child care, it must ensure that young children with disabilities are not left waiting for the support they need and have a right to receive.”

The mayor’s proposed budget also includes nearly $50 million a year to open new classes in District 75, which supports students with more complex disabilities.

Some education programs left out

Several education programs that are at least partially funded with dollars that are set to run out in June were not included in the mayor’s budget, in addition to the $6 million for restorative justice and $5 million for mental health support.

Officials did not include funding for Learning to Work, a $31 million effort that pays for internships, social workers, and guidance counselors for students at risk of dropping out. Also left out: a $12 million wraparound program for students with disabilities who have sensory issues that interfere with school performance.

It will be up to local lawmakers and the mayor to determine if those items are restored, as they have been in previous years.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC spent $1.6 billion shielding schools from enrollment losses. Will Mamdani keep it up?

2026-02-13T22:59:35+00:00

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At the height of the pandemic, as enrollment in New York City’s public schools took a nosedive, officials kept school budgets steady.

City officials, who were flush with billions in one-time federal relief funding, didn’t want to take away resources from schools where students had experienced prolonged learning interruptions, even though budgets typically are tied to headcount.

But as the pandemic receded and federal funds dried up, officials continued to plow hundreds of millions of dollars into school budgets to protect them from cuts as enrollment losses deepened. This school year, the city is spending over $388 million to prop schools up — the largest annual sum since the pandemic hit.

Overall, officials have spent $1.6 billion to stave off enrollment-related cuts over the past six years, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group. Enrollment in the city’s public schools has dropped more than 8% during that time, to 884,000, and is projected to continue sliding.

Now, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani prepares to release his first budget proposal next week — and warns of a $7 billion gap — City Hall must decide whether to continue the so-called “hold harmless” policy. Some budget experts believe the mayor should wind it down, arguing that allowing school budgets to become increasingly detached from enrollment introduces inequities. Some schools may receive significantly more money per student because of enrollment losses rather than student need.

The issue is politically tricky for Mamdani, who vowed to prioritize funding for public education during the campaign. Some parent leaders worry that rolling back the policy would force some schools to cut key staff and programs. When former Mayor Eric Adams proposed bringing school spending in line with enrollment, he faced enormous backlash — prompting city officials to keep propping up school budgets throughout his term.

“Nobody gets points for taking money away,” said Amy Ellen Schwartz, a public policy professor at the University of Delaware who has studied the city’s policy of keeping budgets steady.

Roughly 450 of the city’s more than 1,500 schools received $127 million this year to help keep their budgets from dipping due to enrollment declines year over year. On top of that, city officials offered $262 million worth of mid-year budget relief to more than 1,000 schools because they welcomed fewer students than the city initially projected.

Schwartz said there were good reasons to keep school budgets steady during the pandemic. Schools may have otherwise been forced to cut teachers as their budgets shrank, making it more difficult to meet students’ mounting academic and social needs. But Schwartz said the city must begin to reckon with managing a smaller school system.

“I see no rationale for maintaining resources allocated to serve a population that isn’t there anymore,” she said.

Parent leaders raise concerns about cuts to school programs

Education Department officials have warned that the money may not last forever. Principals should “carefully program these resources while being mindful of long-term program sustainability,” officials said in a June budget memo. Yet on dozens of campuses, the funding represents more than 10% of the budgets they receive before the start of the school year, city data show.

Ana Champeny, the vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, said the city should consider phasing the money out over multiple years. “The shock to some school budgets would be pretty severe” if the funding was yanked all at once. “Enrollment is decreasing and we need to think about what is the right way to manage the school system.”

School officials across the country are grappling with similar questions about how to reconcile enrollment declines in their budgeting decisions, said Jonathan Travers, the president of ERS, a nonprofit organization that advises district leaders.

The policy dilemma only gets more difficult to resolve the longer the hold harmless policy persists, he noted.

“The greater the divergence between a school’s funding and its enrollment, the more disruptive an eventual reconciliation is going to be,” Travers said.

Some parent leaders urged city officials to avoid making abrupt changes without educating school communities about the budget process or taking stock of how schools are using the money.

NeQuan McLean, the community education council president in Brooklyn’s District 16, said most schools in his district are struggling with low enrollment and use the money to help pay for essential programs, like music, art, and after-school. He worries that cuts could force campuses to slash those offerings, potentially making it even more difficult to attract families.

“We’re barely managing with what we have,” said McLean, whose district covers Bedford-Stuyvesant. “I just hope they don’t pull this money without real community engagement.”

He added that the city should consider rethinking the funding system more broadly to ensure schools can fund a range of staff and services regardless of how many students are enrolled.

Losing the hold harmless money could make those campuses more likely to be merged or closed, a strategy Chancellor Kamar Samuels has said may be necessary for campuses that struggle to afford basic programs.

Spokespeople for Mamdani and Samuels did not respond to questions about whether they intend to keep the hold harmless policy.

How Mamdani manages the public school system’s budget remains an open question. Experts expect his preliminary budget, due on Tuesday, to offer clues.

On the campaign trail, Mamdani singled out the Education Department as one area he hoped to find efficiencies and vowed to overhaul its procurement process.

The mayor has ordered each city agency to appoint a “chief savings officer” with an eye toward assessing programs and identifying wasteful spending. An Education Department spokesperson confirmed they have selected someone for the role. They declined to say who it is.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC school board member faces outcry for using R-word in Bad Bunny Super Bowl post

2026-02-09T21:17:01+00:00

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Joe Borelli, a member of New York City’s school board, is facing backlash for using the word retarded in a social media post on Sunday evening.

The post was a response to U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, who shared a photo of himself on the social media site X smiling in front of a television during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance. Thanedar, a Michigan Democrat, captioned the image: “Loving it!!”

Borelli, a member of the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, quoted Thanedar’s post with his own comment: “This was the most retarded thing to happen during the Bad Bunny show.” The post has since been deleted.

A screen grab of a Tweet by Joe Borelli, who then deleted it.

Former Mayor Eric Adams appointed Borelli, a former leader of City Council’s Republican delegation, to the panel in the final weeks of his administration. The panel oversees the nation’s largest school system and votes on major contracts, policy changes, and school closures. More than 1 in 5 New York City public school students has a disability, or over 200,000 children.

Greg Faulkner, who chairs the school board, called on Borelli to apologize Monday morning.

The word is a “harmful slur that carries a long history of marginalization and pain for the disability community,” Faulker wrote in a letter to Borelli. “Such language is fundamentally at odds with the mission of this Panel and the inclusive environment we strive to build for our students and their families.”

Some parent leaders shared similar sentiments with Borelli.

Borelli acknowledged that the language was not appropriate given his role on the panel. “I apologize to the chair and the members of the board,” he told Chalkbeat.

He added: “As stupid as the member of congress taking selfies with his TV was, it’s not as stupid as my comment.”

All of Adams’ appointees to the school board have terms that run through June, which means Mayor Zohran Mamdani will not be able to appoint a majority of the board until then.

But under state law, Mamdani can remove mayoral appointees to the school board for “good cause” if a public explanation for the removal is provided 10 days in advance and the appointee has a chance to refute the claims (they cannot be removed simply for voting against the mayor’s wishes).

A Mamdani spokesperson deferred to the Education Department for comment and did not respond to a question about whether the mayor would consider removing Borelli.

“We are unwavering in our support for all of our students, regardless of background or disability, and we strongly condemn the type of language used by a PEP member yesterday evening,” Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein wrote in a statement.

Use of the word retarded has exploded in recent years on X, spurred in part by Elon Musk’s use of it, researchers have found. Other high-profile conservative figures have used it, too. President Donald Trump used the word in a social media post to refer to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last Thanksgiving. Joe Rogan, whose podcast has topped the charts in recent years, described the trend last April as “one of the great cultural victories.”

The phrase “mental retardation” was once considered a socially acceptable term, though it has fallen out of favor. In 2010, the federal government replaced the phrase in federal legislation and policies with “intellectual disability.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Plans to close Manhattan middle schools test Mamdani’s parent engagement pledge

2026-02-06T22:53:24+00:00

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Before Kamar Samuels took the helm of the nation’s largest school system, he set in motion plans to shutter three small middle school programs and relocate another coveted school in the Manhattan district he supervised.

Now, those nascent plans in District 3 — which includes the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and parts of Harlem — are generating pushback from families who are hoping to persuade Samuels and other top officials to reconsider.

How the Education Department reacts will represent the first stress test of a major campaign promise from Mayor Zohran Mamdani to give communities a greater voice in decisions that affect their schools. It is also a high-stakes moment for Samuels, who indicated he might ramp up mergers and other significant changes, moves that often spark strong reactions.

Education officials argue the plans, which have been discussed with parent leaders but not yet released publicly, would help address broad systemic issues, including the growing number of tiny campuses that are difficult to sustain and the need to reshuffle school space to comply with the state’s class size mandate.

To families, the moves represent grave threats to beloved community institutions, including a campus that is known for welcoming students with disabilities and another with an emphasis on social emotional learning.

“I’m hopeful about the messages that the mayor and chancellor put forward,” said Olivia Greer, a parent who has children at two schools that would be significantly altered by the proposals. But she worries about what will be lost if the current plans go through.

District 3 plans represent broader issues facing the school system

Enrollment in the city’s public schools has been declining for years, with losses accelerating during the pandemic. That’s resulted in a growing number of schools that officials say are too small to sustain.

At the Joan of Arc campus on West 93rd Street, two of the building’s three middle schools welcomed fewer than 200 students this year.

Schools below that threshold may lead district officials to “question the sustainability of offerings for students,” Mariela Graham, the deputy superintendent in District 3, told families at a community meeting this week. Schools are funded on a per-student basis and could struggle to afford basic programs without healthy rosters.

The city is looking to close the campus’ two smallest middle schools: the Community Action School and the middle school grades of the Manhattan School for Children. Officials hope to phase out the programs over three years, according to district officials and families briefed on the plans. The building’s third middle school, Lafayette Academy, had already merged with a school on a different campus in 2023, despite parent opposition.

District officials also are planning to relocate the Center School, a popular grades 5-8 program, from its West 84th Street home shared with P.S. 9. The elementary school needs more space to comply with the state’s class size law. With pressure to shrink all classes by 2028, these kinds of moves could become increasingly common.

The city would relocate the Center School a mile and half south into a building occupied by P.S./I.S. 191, which would then lose its middle school grades, which enrolled 151 students last year.

Samuels has pulled off controversial school moves, but parents are deeply concerned

During his time as a local superintendent in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Samuels built a reputation for successfully completing mergers and relocations, even as some of them proved contentious.

These four proposals will likely face additional scrutiny, as Samuels set them in motion as the District 3 superintendent before Mamdani elevated him to lead the system. Families have launched petitions against the plans and are packing community meetings to voice their opposition.

“We’re not taking this sitting down,” said Tiffany Rodriguez-Noel, a parent at P.S./I.S. 191. She said the school took on many asylum-seeking families and contends the Education Department has not properly supported the program.

Parents at the Center School have also raised strong objections to the move. They contend their school’s flourishing theater program would struggle because their new campus does not have a proper space for it and that the move would require other programmatic changes. The Manhattan School for Children, which enrolled 130 students this fall in the middle school grades, has developed a reputation for including students with disabilities in classes alongside their general education peers. Families worry it would be difficult to find similarly welcoming communities elsewhere.

Meanwhile, at the Community Action School, dozens of parents and educators pleaded with district leaders not to close the school during a virtual community meeting this week. They stressed that the school’s small size has advantages, and it boasts strong social emotional support and restorative justice programs. Plus, enrollment shot up to 171 students this fall up from 131 last year.

When District 3 officials suggested the school’s below average reading and math scores also factored into the closure proposal, families were quick to counter that the vast majority of students come from low-income families and many arrive behind grade level.

Nicki Holtzman, a Bronx parent of a sixth grader who was bullied at his previous school, said the family sought out the program after an extensive search for a campus with the right support. “All of the teachers are highly engaged,” she said. “My child went from having no self-esteem academically to making honor roll twice.”

The closure plan, she added, “feels like a punch to the stomach — it feels rushed.”

District officials told families during the town hall they began deliberations about the district’s changes more than a year ago and included parent leaders and other representatives from each school.

But that argument did not sit well with some who said details about the plans were largely kept to a district-led working group and only trickled out to wider school communities in the last couple months. In some cases, parents heard rumors of the plans just before the December middle school admissions deadline, causing confusion and last-minute application overhauls to avoid listing schools that could soon close.

Andrew Sullivan, the principal of the Community Action School, noted during the town hall meeting that working group meetings took place during the day, making it difficult for parents to attend. (Mamdani has said he wants to rethink when meetings with parent leaders are held so “working parents can actually attend them.”)

Greer, a parent with children at the Center School and Manhattan School for Children, acknowledged that district officials have incorporated some feedback, such as phasing out middle school programs over three years rather than shutting them down outright.

“It’s not that there has been no listening and incorporation of feedback,” she said. But “my sense is that there has been a plan in place from the beginning and a view about what the preferred outcome is.”

Reginald Higgins, the acting superintendent in District 3, acknowledged in the town hall meeting that families felt the process was opaque and frustrating and suggested the process left room for improvement. He stressed that the proposals were formed before he was appointed and vowed to hear school communities out.

“I want to ensure that whatever we do moving forward, that that is a different experience for all of us,” he said.

Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein noted that District 3 has held several meetings with families, parent leaders, and elected officials since December and said the superintendent plans to “schedule additional engagements.”

“Creating space for community voice is critical to this administration,” she wrote.

Fight over school closures comes at an awkward time for Mamdani

How Higgins manages the process could offer an early window into the new administration’s approach to community engagement, and it comes at a politically delicate moment for Mamdani.

On the campaign trail, the mayor vowed to cede his substantial power over the school system to give families and educators more voice. But he recently abandoned that proposal and is now pushing lawmakers to extend mayoral control of the school system, which expires this summer and is dictated by state law.

Mamdani pledged his version of mayoral control will give communities more of a say without giving up his power. That could be an awkward sell while scores of parents from District 3 are protesting decisions to close their middle schools.

Making matters more complicated, Mamdani has not been able to appoint the majority of the members of the Panel for Educational Policy, the board that makes the final decision on school closures and relocations and has historically voted in line with City Hall’s wishes. The terms of the current members, including appointees of former Mayor Eric Adams, don’t end until June. But if the Education Department moves forward with the plans in District 3, they would likely come up for a vote by the panel in April.

Board members are already paying close attention, with several attending community meetings in District 3 to learn more about the plans.

Panel chair Greg Faulker said he expects the board to carefully weigh the Education Department’s proposals, offering no guarantee of their fate. “The DOE has to work harder because they have to convince us,” Faulkner said. “I don’t think the days of ramming things through really exist anymore.”

On the campaign trail, Mamdani’s critique of mayoral control invoked the image of parents protesting plans to upend their children’s schools in hourslong meetings, only for the panel to vote in line with City Hall’s wishes.

In the coming months, the mayor that families might be protesting is Mamdani.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Safety, academic rigor, integration: Kamar Samuels embarks on 5-borough tour to discuss priorities

2026-02-05T22:16:39+00:00

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Before becoming the chancellor of the nation’s largest school system last month, Kamar Samuels was a superintendent, first in Brooklyn and then in Manhattan, where he developed a reputation for his listening skills.

Now Samuels plans to embark on a five-borough tour to hear from students, parents, and educators on how to better include them in the decision-making process, especially when it comes to his main priorities: safety, academic rigor, and integration. Other Education Department staffers will be on hand to answer questions about special education, enrollment, language access, and more, officials said.

Each borough will host two sessions, one on a Tuesday and one on a Saturday. After the 10 sessions wrap up, the Education Department plans to release a report based on the feedback gathered during the events’ roundtable discussions as well as a “long-term roadmap” for the city’s school, officials said. It’s something of a rite of passage for new chancellors, who have previously embarked on similar listening tours and issued reports about what they heard.

“These conversations are about fundamentally changing how we make decisions by ensuring that those closest to our students have a real seat at the table,” Samuels said in a statement.

Several controversial topics will likely come up, including Samuels’ record of merging schools as a way to tackle low enrollment and integrate students from different backgrounds. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has indicated his support for bolstering diversity in New York City schools, which is one of the nation’s most segregated school systems.

Samuel’s approach to gifted and talented programs is also sure to attract heated debate. When he was in charge of Brooklyn’s District 13, he helped several schools move away from gifted programs, responding to a groundswell of support from families who were concerned about the relative lack of Black and Latino students in such classrooms, and he instead encouraged schools to create International Baccalaureate programs, bringing academic enrichment to entire schools rather than just a subset of classes.

Mamdani has also expressed wanting to rethink the city’s gifted programs, particularly the practice of admitting students into the programs in kindergarten. Most programs across the nation start when kids are older, and in recent years, New York City has opened new programs starting in third grade.

Several parents and educators who have worked with Samuels are quick to point out that the chancellor is unlikely to simply take something away without providing other compelling options. In Manhattan’s District 3, which he most recently oversaw, Samuels tried to tackle enrollment declines in Harlem — where a large percentage of families go to charters — through mergers along with bringing new programs.

Michelle Lee, who sits on the parent council for Manhattan’s District 3 and formerly served as PTA president at Anderson, a gifted and talented K-8 school that draws students from across the city, said parents were leery when Samuels took the helm of their district.

But when Samuels held a town hall for the school to discuss bringing back screens for the middle school, families were “pleasantly surprised” that he wanted to engage with them.

“I think he sees the validity of why there is a segment of the student population that needs to have accelerated learning, and he understands that,” Lee said. “He does believe in providing opportunities for children and different types of learners.”

But she also had some suggestions about ending gifted for kindergartners in favor of starting in third grade: Few parents would want to pull their children from their elementary school for a program lasting third to fifth grade, she said. They would, however, potentially consider a third through eighth grade program, allowing them to skip the middle school application process.

It remains to be seen whether Samuels’ can translate his listening approach from a more local level to the system writ large and how he’ll be able to synthesize feedback from families with competing needs from 1,600 schools across the city.

Meghan Dunn, District 13’s superintendent who had been Samuels’ deputy superintendent when they started pursuing the International Baccalaureate, said the idea grew out of conversations with families.

Dunn said Samuels was intentional about cultivating relationships with families — in his capacity as a fellow parent of children in the school system and as a superintendent. “He called it,” Dunn said, “the playground superintendent.”

Here’s the schedule for the chancellor’s listening tour, dubbed, “Our Schools. Our Future: Conversations with the Chancellor:”

Queens, March 17, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Queens Innovation Center, 53-16 Northern Boulevard

Brooklyn, March 24, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

John Dewey High School, 2471 Stillwell Ave.

Bronx, March 28, 10:30 a.m. to noon

Roosevelt Educational Campus, 500 East Fordham Road

Staten Island, April 11, 10:30 a.m. to noon

Curtis High School, 105 Hamilton Ave.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Judge rejects bid to raise burden of proof in NYC school suspension hearings

2026-02-03T19:01:34+00:00

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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit this week that sought to force New York City to use a higher standard of proof before issuing longer-term suspensions.

When students are removed from school for more than five days, families have the right to a hearing where a hearing officer weighs the evidence and makes a discipline recommendation.

In a lawsuit filed in May, Legal Services NYC argued that the standard of proof at those hearings — “substantial and competent” evidence — requires less than a 50% chance a student did what they were accused of and violates their due process rights. The suit pushed for a “preponderance of the evidence” standard, which would require slightly more than 50% certainty.

In his decision dismissing the lawsuit on Monday, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken wrote that the “substantial and competent” evidence standard is constitutionally sufficient. He noted that the lawsuit cites no cases in which a court required the higher standard for student suspensions and contended that the current system already has some safeguards, such as giving families the chance to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses during suspension hearings.

He also raised concerns that the higher standard would “burden the school discipline process with stricter procedures and a more onerous standard of proof.”

Advocates have long raised concerns that schools can suspend students based on flimsy evidence. They also note that Black students and those with disabilities are disproportionately removed from their classrooms.

In response to the ruling, Legal Services NYC attorney Michaela Shuchman said that suspensions can knock students off track and deprive them of school meals, health services provided on many campuses, and special education support. The organization provides free legal help for families going through suspension proceedings.

“We are disappointed by this decision,” Shuchman wrote. “The least New York City can do is ensure that students have constitutionally adequate protections before facing these harms.” She said the organization is considering whether to appeal.

A spokesperson for the city’s Law Department said it is reviewing the decision and declined further comment.

Oetken noted that students who are removed from school for more than five days still have the right to instruction, and that the students involved in the lawsuit all faced suspensions of 17 days or fewer.

“Some experts legitimately point to the serious negative effects of suspensions, while others argue that ‘zero tolerance’ policies are necessary to maintain discipline in schools,” Oetken wrote. “But the Due Process Clause is a blunt instrument, not well suited to such difficult policy choices.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

The downside of ending snow days

2026-01-29T15:45:00+00:00

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In New York City, and some other parts of the country, snow days are turning into a relic of the past. As snow buried New York over the weekend, the country’s largest school system shifted to remote learning on Monday rather than calling off school altogether.

Kate Gutwillig, a fifth grade teacher at P.S. 134 in Manhattan, said about 70% of her students showed up for virtual instruction. It proved challenging to quickly pivot to remote learning.

“You can’t teach these kids all these social norms on Zoom today,” she said. About half the students who logged in to her virtual classroom kept their cameras off. Gutwillig noted it has been years since the pandemic, when students were consistently on Zoom for school.

She largely did not cover new material since attendance was lower than usual. Instead, Gutwillig made time for her students to read independently, then delivered brief review lessons on how to write a conclusion to a literary essay and how to find the area of a rectangle with fractions. All things considered, she said, the day went well.

Research suggests that Gutwillig’s decision not to cover new topics was a wise one. A major 2014 study found that a small number of snow days did not have any noticeable effect on test scores. On the other hand, keeping schools open on snowy days when attendance was low did seem to harm learning.

This research points to the limits of replacing snow days with virtual instruction. At worst, doing so could backfire if teachers spend time covering new material when student engagement is low, as was the case in New York City. At best, it might be an opportunity for teachers to review prior topics, but not move forward with regular instruction.

The New York City Department of Education gave schools discretion over how to approach remote instruction, including introducing new content or focusing on review, according to teachers and principals. A spokesperson for the district said that teachers “thoughtfully adjusted content to meet the needs of their students in a remote environment.”

To study the effects of snow days, Joshua Goodman, now a professor at Boston University, examined a rich set of data on weather, attendance, and test scores in Massachusetts from 2003 to 2010.

Goodman compared test scores in years where there was more or less snow. A year with lots of heavy snow (days with more than 10 inches) had no effect. Yet math scores were lower in years with more days of moderate (4-10 inches) snow.

These counterintuitive results can be explained by how schools responded to different levels of snow. Heavy snow meant more snow days. Moderate snow meant more days when schools stayed open but attendance was sharply down, particularly among low-income students.

In other words, snow days did not seem to set students back much; missing regular school days due to snowy conditions did.

The takeaway is not that schools can close indefinitely without consequence, and Goodman did find some small negative effects of closures for high-poverty schools. But the study suggests that a few snow days won’t be terribly harmful because teachers figure out ways to adapt.

Yet when schools are open and a big chunk of students are missing, teachers are in a tough spot. Some may continue teaching new material, and then try to help students who missed the original lesson catch up. This creates a dual challenge, though: The makeup work isn’t quite as effective, and teachers’ time and energy is diverted from moving everyone else forward.

“Snow days, maybe surprisingly, are less disruptive than other forms of lost instructional time,” said Goodman. “Coordinating everyone being absent at once is actually easier to deal with than the messiness of other kinds of lost instructional time.”

Other studies have broadly backed up these findings. Individual student absences affect achievement more than schoolwide calendar changes. Some research has found that students also learn less when their peers are frequently absent, perhaps because that makes whole-class teaching less effective. (This could help explain some of America’s current achievement challenges at a moment when student absences have spiked.)

Although there doesn’t appear to be much or any research on the relatively new phenomenon of virtual snow days, the pandemic showed that remote learning was challenging for many students.

In New York City, parents, teachers, and students also reported technical glitches and disengagement on Monday. About 1 in 5 students didn’t sign on for virtual instruction at all. (Attendance was similarly low on Tuesday when schools reopened.) Manhattan mom Tiffany Rodriguez-Noel elected not to log her kindergarten twins on for remote learning due to their hyperactivity and speech delays.

“I wish they could just let a snow day be a snow day,” Rodriguez-Noel said. But she noted the experience was relatively smooth for her sixth grade son and she understands the desire to avoid missing an entire day of instruction.

With engagement and attendance sporadic, the research suggests that teachers shouldn’t feel bad about focusing on review during virtual learning days. This also offers guidance to state policymakers as they consider what should count toward instructional-day minimums. Virtual school days may be an opportunity to help a subset of students review old material, but they’re unlikely to move instruction forward in many cases.

Matt Barnum is Chalkbeat’s ideas editor. Reach him at mbarnum@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Eric Dinowitz is City Council’s new education chair. Here’s what he wants to prioritize.

2026-01-28T21:39:07+00:00

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The nation’s largest school system is now under new oversight.

City Council member Eric Dinowitz, whose district spans the northwest Bronx, was recently tapped to chair the council’s education committee. He’s taking over from Rita Joseph, who held the post over the last four years. Joseph will now helm the council’s higher education committee, the post Dinowitz previously held.

Among the committee chair’s most significant powers is to convene oversight hearings that require top Education Department officials to publicly testify on crucial issues facing the city’s schools. Past hearings have drawn attention to flaws with the special education system, school segregation, and a botched attempt to pivot to remote learning during a snowstorm.

Dinowitz’s first oversight hearing next month will focus on mayoral control of the city’s schools, a governance system Mayor Zohran Mamdani criticized during the campaign, but now says he wants to keep.

The new committee chair’s ties to city schools run deep — “K through career” — Dinowitz recently quipped. He grew up attending public schools in the Bronx and graduated from Bronx Science, one of the city’s vaunted specialized high schools. He taught in the public school system for more than 13 years before running for City Council in 2021, following in the footsteps of his father who represents the Bronx in the state assembly.

We caught up with Dinowitz about his experience with the city’s schools, his assessment of the system, and what issues he wants to prioritize. Here are six takeaways from that conversation.

He got his start teaching students with disabilities

Dinowitz launched his career in education through the city’s Teaching Fellows program, a fast track into the classroom for career changers and recent college graduates. The experience was overwhelming. But he wound up in a classroom that included a mix of students with disabilities and general education students, which meant he had a co-teacher to learn from.

“You’re thrown right in,” he said. “I got to experience teaching with another teacher, seeing what they did, what worked, what didn’t work.”

He mostly taught at schools in his home borough, including Bronx Theatre High School, Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, and then briefly at NEST+M, a Manhattan gifted and talented program.

Special education is a perennial focus of the education committee, and Dinowitz indicated he will prioritize it, too. He pointed to the city’s growing costs for special education placements in private schools, the need to better integrate students with disabilities with general education peers, and ensuring student learning plans, known as individualized education programs, or IEPs, reflect the help students actually need rather than being a compliance exercise.

Phaseout of Regents exams is top of mind

The requirement that students must pass Regents exams — standardized tests that students must pass to graduate — has created perverse incentives, Dinowitz contends.

“If a superintendent comes in and says, ‘We’re going to strictly look at your Regents scores and your credit accrual,’ you’re incentivizing principals to take money out of things like the arts,” he said.

Officials are in the process of phasing out Regents exams, and Dinowitz said he will be watching closely as city and state leaders think through new graduation standards and how they will affect teaching and learning.

“We have to make sure that the assessments measure what we want the kids to do and who we want them to be,” he said.

Small schools should be merged

As enrollment declines have accelerated since the pandemic, the city is facing a glut of small schools that are expensive to run and often struggle to offer a full range of programs.

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has indicated mergers may be necessary to tackle the problem, moves that often generate fierce pushback. Dinowitz said he agrees with Samuels, noting some small schools can’t support specialized programs for students with disabilities — or electives that draw in students.

“There typically isn’t critical mass for a lot of those programs,” he said. “I do believe mergers should be on the table.” He noted those decisions should be made carefully with opportunity for community input.

Looking for a clearer vision from City Hall

Mamdani said little about how to improve the city’s public school system on the campaign trail — and Dinowitz said he’s looking for a larger vision.

“We need to be talking a lot more about education,” he said. “It sounds like Mayor Mamdani is still formulating exactly what he wants to do.”

Open to school integration efforts — but don’t touch the SHSAT

Mamdani and Samuels have indicated that they want to pursue school integration efforts, which former Mayor Eric Adams largely ignored, though they have said little about their plans.

On the campaign trail, Mamdani suggested he was open to rethinking admissions to eight specialized high schools that admit students based on a single test and enroll few Black and Latino applicants. He wound up reversing that position, saying the exam should stay.

“I’m glad he backed away from that,” said Dinowitz, who, along with Mamdani, attended Bronx Science.

Still, Dinowitz said he is open to other modes of school integration such as rezonings or merging schools with different racial demographics, something Samuels pursued as a superintendent in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Dinowitz emphasized any changes should include community input.

“People who are going to be affected by policy need to have a seat at the table,” he said.

Creative solutions to class size mandate

One of the biggest challenges facing the Education Department is a state mandate to slash class sizes, which will require hiring thousands of new teachers and cost billions of dollars.

The state should pony up more funding to fulfill that requirement, Dinowitz said. He also encouraged the city to pursue creative solutions like staggering school schedules on campuses that have limited space to shrink classes and avoid capping enrollment.

“I’m not sure there’s any single variable more impactful to student learning than class size,” he said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Zohran Mamdani must work with Eric Adams’ school board, at least for now

2026-01-27T23:37:47+00:00

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A day before taking office, Zohran Mamdani said he wanted to retain sweeping power over New York City’s public schools, abandoning a major promise while campaigning for mayor.

But Mamdani will have to wait at least six months before he gains one of the biggest powers under mayoral control: appointing the majority of the school board. That body, known as the Panel for Educational Policy, votes on major Education Department contracts, changes to agency regulations, and school mergers and closures.

Of the panel’s 24 members, 13 are mayoral appointees. Under tweaks to state law shortly after Mayor Eric Adams took office, panel members serve one-year terms that run through June — meaning for the next six months, Mamdani is mostly stuck with his predecessor’s appointees. He’s the first mayor since the city transitioned to mayoral control in 2002 who cannot immediately appoint the majority of the board.

That sets up an unusual dynamic, as Mamdani must navigate a school board that he does not control. Meanwhile, he’s continuing to get pressure to give up major elements of mayoral control. A group of 43 advocacy organizations called on state lawmakers Tuesday to phase out the mayor’s majority on the board after two years while a commission rethinks the governance system.

“In some ways it’s a good test in terms of what it would look like to have a more independent board,” said Greg Faulkner, the current board chair who was selected by Adams from a list created by state lawmakers and is serving on a term that runs until September. “We want to work cooperatively.”

Experts and Education Department insiders largely agree that the board is unlikely to be a major obstacle to Mamdani until he can choose a full slate of appointees. Adams left behind two vacant mayoral seats, which Mamdani can fill anytime. (Aside from the mayoral appointees, five members are selected by parent leaders and each of the five borough presidents appoint a board member to represent them.)

“There’s a lot of goodwill towards the mayor that could tamp down efforts of the panel to go rogue,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University Teachers College who has studied the city’s public schools. “I’m not expecting there to be a lot of conflict around the mayor’s priorities,” he added, “not least because we don’t have much of a sense of the mayor’s priorities.”

Still, the board has sometimes thrown curveballs at new mayors. Just a few months after Adams took office, the board voted down the city’s school funding formula, creating pressure for the administration to make tweaks later on.

In recent months, the board repeatedly bucked City Hall, voting down millions worth of AI contracts, refusing to approve long-term extensions of school bus contracts, and raising concerns about administrative spending. Kiddom, a company that offers a digital platform for teachers to access curriculum materials and had been previously voted down, is back on the board’s agenda for a vote on Wednesday evening — the first panel meeting under Mamdani.

Kamar Samuels, Mamdani’s schools chancellor, has signaled interest in merging schools to address the growing number of small campuses and to promote integration. Those proposals, which often generate pushback from families and educators, are subject to board approval — though observers said it’s unlikely the new administration will propose many of them right away.

Still, one contentious plan to relocate an Upper West Side campus while eliminating the middle school grades of another Manhattan school is already in the works. Samuels helped launch conversations about that plan in his previous role as the superintendent of District 3, though it has not been formally proposed for a vote.

Mayoral control debate isn’t going anywhere

Questions about how the nation’s largest school system should be governed will be front and center in the coming months.

Mamdani must negotiate with state lawmakers over extending mayoral control, which is set to expire at the end of June. Gov. Kathy Hochul gave Mamdani’s effort a boost last week by proposing a four-year extension of the power.

The new mayor is also under scrutiny from advocates and progressive groups, dozens of whom are pressuring him to make good on his promise to make the system more responsive to students, parents, and teachers. Their Tuesday letter urged Mamdani to create a commission to help think through how to make the school system more democratic.

“Mayor Mamdani must partner with communities to build a governance model with meaningful checks and balances and far greater community leadership,” the letter states.

City Hall did not reply to questions about whether Mamdani is open to changes to the school’s board’s structure or when he plans to fill the remaining vacancies on the board. A Mamdani spokesperson, Jenna Lyle emphasized that the mayor is committed to “clear accountability and genuine community empowerment.”

“Building thoughtful and productive relationships with current and future Panel for Educational Policy members will be a priority,” she added.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

No meltdown, just ‘hiccups’: How NYC schools handled a remote snow day

2026-01-26T22:48:58+00:00

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As Bronx social studies teacher Seth Gilman sipped his coffee and prepared to log on for a day of virtual teaching, he was met with an error message.

At first, he worried it would be a repeat of a disastrous pivot to remote learning during a 2024 snowstorm.

“Oh no, not again,” he thought to himself. But within about 20 minutes, his school had resolved the issue and he logged in to Google Classroom, the platform schools use to share schedules and Zoom links.

“Once we got the classroom up and running, it was fine,” Gilman said.

Unlike two years ago when they pivoted to remote, New York City schools did not see a systemwide meltdown, but pockets of families and educators from across the city shared instances of glitches and snafus. Many of the issues seemed to be resolved quickly. School buildings will reopen for regular instruction on Tuesday, city officials announced Monday afternoon.

The switch to remote learning on Monday in the wake of a major snowstorm represented an early logistical challenge for the nation’s largest school system under Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his schools chief, Kamar Samuels, who took office earlier this month.

About 395,000 students and their families were able to log in for virtual learning, according to preliminary figures city officials provided Monday afternoon. Officials estimated that 79% of students logged on for at least some virtual learning.

About 500,000 of the city’s nearly 900,000 students were required to report to virtual classrooms. High school students and those attending 6-12 schools had a previously scheduled day off for staff training.

“Things have gone very well this morning — it was a smooth start to the day,” Samuels told reporters during a Monday morning press conference.

Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein later acknowledged there were “minor hiccups” as families logged on but emphasized the agency’s technical support line fielded a similar number of complaints as a typical school day.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the 200,000-member United Federation of Teachers, gave the mayor an ‘A’ for his handling of the snow storm. “The one glitch seemed to be Google. They had the same notice as our students, parents, and teachers, so they need to do better.”

As the storm approached, Mamdani seemed to entertain the idea of a traditional snow day, though he later admitted there is no room in the school calendar to do that without running afoul of the state’s mandated number of instructional days.

Schools snapped into gear, distributing devices to students, offering reminders about how to log on to virtual classrooms, and sending home paper worksheets in case families ran into tech problems. Some schools tried to recreate a regular day on Zoom while others emphasized independent work or review lessons.

Attendance was lower than usual in many classrooms, according to teachers and families as well as Education Department figures. Some schools built time into the schedule for students to enjoy the snow.

Gilman, who works at the High School for Teaching and the Professions, said he was impressed with how many students showed up to virtual classes. Still, he stuck to a more “discussion-based lesson” in part to avoid leaving students behind who were absent. (Though most high schools were not in session, Gilman’s school runs on a different calendar through a program that grants exceptions to the teachers union contract.)

Tech problems and tiny victories with remote learning

The Education Department may not have melted down, but some parents did.

Chris Ninman, who has a third grader at P.S. 889 in Brooklyn, tried to help his son log into Google Classroom, but said the server was down. Then he wasn’t able to sign into Zoom from his son’s school-issued Chromebook. Things worked better when he switched from the Chromebook to Ninman’s own computer.

Once he was successfully logged in, Ninman thought his son’s teachers did a good job with remote learning. There was a live, 40-minute reading instruction, with other synchronous lessons scheduled throughout the day.

“I’d rather they just called it a snow day,” Ninman said. “But if you’re going to do school, do it right.”

Liz Groeschen, a mom who took her two sons to Prospect Park Monday morning, said that getting into her second grader’s morning Zoom meeting was just the first challenge. She had to page through multiple websites that were nested in each other.

Groeschen read aloud to a reporter from this morning’s chat in her classroom parent group:

“So you search for FUN HUB inside Google Classroom?” one parent wrote. “No,” another parent replied. “We had to log in through the browser, not the app, and then search for FUN HUB in the search bar.”

“Did you disable the popup blockers?” a third parent asked.

“P.E. is a slide show? The 21st century is crap.”

Tiffany Rodriguez-Noel's sixth grader, who attends P.S. 191 in Manhattan, works on a laptop.

Tiffany Rodriguez-Noel, a Manhattan mother with four children in city public schools, said her sixth-grade son struggled to log into his new school-issued Chromebook for remote instruction. He wound up propping his phone up on a laptop with his PlayStation 5 screen tantalizingly close by.

Despite grumbles from her sixth grader about having to wake up early and log on for school, Rodriguez-Noel said her son’s homeroom teacher at P.S. 191 made it easy, sending out a clear schedule with links. The school also sent home hard copies of assignments, saving him from typing into his phone.

“It’s actually pretty smooth,” Rodriguez-Noel said.

She decided not to log her kindergarten twins on for remote instruction, though, because they are hyperactive and have speech delays, and she felt they wouldn’t get much out of it. Her high school child spent the day working on college applications.

Her sixth-grade son’s school planned a half day of instruction, giving the family time to have fun outside. “I’m taking him to Central Park to sled down this rock we’ve been waiting to do since 2021,” she said.

Some families yearn for traditional snow day

Brooklyn dad Steven Mahoney, refused to log on for his 10-year-old son who is non-verbal and attends a school in District 75, which serves children with significant disabilities.

“The regression that I witnessed in my child during the remote/hybrid learning was heartbreaking,” Mahoney said of virtual instruction during the pandemic.

Since he and his wife had to work on Monday, their son’s sitter took him to a nearby park and then got hot chocolate.

Sledding at Brooklyn's Prospect Park on Monday.

Brooke Young, a Brooklyn mom, said her son’s 3-K teachers told parents their kids didn’t need to log on, and instead they gave families suggestions of snowy day activities. Many of the suggestions, however, like dyeing snow different colors, seemed too labor intensive, she noted.

Young helped her daughter log on from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. for her first grade class and then again from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., while she herself logged onto work meetings. After that, they went to Prospect Park for sledding, with a plan to return to Zoom for an end-of-day meeting for her first grader, who attends P.S. 321.

If her kids were older and had “real attention spans” for Zoom meetings, remote learning could have been more productive, said Young, who struggled to balance her own job with having to mute and unmute her daughter on Zoom. She would have preferred just putting on an educational PBS show.

Ultimately, Young was grateful to spend time with her kids outside.

“I remember the joy myself of having a snow day,” she said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Abigail Kramer is a reporter in New York City. Contact Abigail at akramer@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools pivot to remote learning Monday during snowstorm, Mamdani says

2026-01-25T15:34:11+00:00

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New York City public schools are going remote on Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed on Sunday as the snowfall was predicted to reach 6-10 inches.

All school programs are canceled, including after school and adult education, the mayor said. Charter schools and private schools make their own decisions about whether to close buildings and pivot to remote learning. Students in high schools and schools serving grades 6-12 were already scheduled to be off for professional development.

“As snowfall begins to blanket our city and conditions become hazardous, closing school buildings is a necessary step to keep New Yorkers safe,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Over the past week, my administration has prepared for this moment – ensuring devices are in hand, families are informed and educators are ready to welcome students online.”

The transition to remote learning for roughly 500,000 of the city’s 884,000 students represents the first major operational challenge for the Education Department under the new administration.

The mayor and schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels briefed the city on Friday, letting families know that school buildings would either remain open or classes would pivot to remote learning, but that a traditional snow day was off the table because the city needs to meet a certain number of instructional days under state law.

But Samuels also said that schools could be flexible in how they approached the day.

“No one is asking kids to be on a device for six hours and 20 minutes,” Samuels said on Friday. “Some learning will be synchronous. Some will be asynchronous. You can still have your hot chocolate; you can still go out and enjoy the snow.”

Many schools asked their families and staffers to practice logging into remote learning platforms over the weekend to avoid glitches on Monday. Education Department officials also encouraged school leaders to stagger school start times for each grade level by 15-minute increments “to ensure a smooth login experience,” according to a letter to principals obtained by Chalkbeat.

When in-person classes were canceled because of snow two years ago, a technical meltdown prevented many students and teachers from logging on despite efforts to practice in advance. The Education Department subsequently conducted another drill but it was optional, and many students seemed to have opted out.

Samuels said the city “stress tested” the system for remote learning, most recently in December.

“We’ve increased the capacity to make sure that we can house as many students as possible on that day,” Samuels said. “So we now have the capacity of having a million students logging at the same time within 60 seconds.”

City officials advised families needing technical support to visit selfservice.schools.nyc or contact their school directly.

Tell us how Monday goes for you and your child or students: ny.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

No traditional snow day for NYC: Mamdani says Monday classes will be in-person or remote

2026-01-23T15:44:16+00:00

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Sorry kids, New York City students will still not have a traditional snow day, no matter how many inches fall.

School will be in session on Monday, whether in-person or remote, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Friday as he provided an update on the preparations for a potentially massive winter storm heading to the area over the weekend.

The mayor said he will make the final decision by noon on Sunday whether classes will pivot to remote learning. The city is also canceling Sunday’s Public School Athletic League activities as well as any other Sunday school events.

“I have to apologize to the students that we’re hoping for a different answer for a traditional snow day,” Mamdani said during a press briefing on the storm, acknowledging that the city has no flexibility in its calendar to cancel instructional days.

New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said the city was committed to swiftly sharing information about schools.

“We know that families need timely, clear information to plan their schedules,” Samuels said.

He also said that schools will be flexible in their approach to remote learning.

“No one is asking kids to be on a device for six hours and 20 minutes,” Samuels said. “Some learning will be synchronous. Some will be asynchronous. You can still have your hot chocolate, you can still go out and enjoy the snow.”

Education Department officials are encouraging students and staff to log in to remote learning platforms over the weekend to make sure they can connect and to avoid technical glitches Monday morning, according to a letter to principals obtained by Chalkbeat. School leaders were also encouraged to stagger school start times for each grade level by 15-minute increments “to ensure a smooth login experience,” the email states.

The National Weather Service is predicting up to 14 inches in the metropolitan region, and the city is gearing up. Schools across the five boroughs are reaching out to their students to ensure they have devices and understand how to log on in the event of a remote school day.

This is the first major logistical test for the mayor and his new chancellor. A big chunk of the city’s nearly 900,000 students — all high school students and those attending 6-12 schools — already had the day off for a teacher professional development day. But the day might be complicated for many parents of young children: They might be frustrated with remote learning and prefer that their kids play outside, or they might be scrambling for child care, especially if they must work in-person.

Many families also depend on schools to provide their children breakfast and lunch.

Schools last closed in-person classes because of snow two years ago, and it did not go well: A technical meltdown prevented many students and teachers from logging on, despite efforts to practice in advance. The Education Department subsequently conducted another drill, but it was optional, and many students seemed to have opted out.

“We are preparing for the possibility of remote such that we do not repeat those mistakes of the past,” Mamdani said.

Samuels recalled the 2024 remote snow day as a “day that will live in infamy” and said, “We’ve stress tested the system, both in person with students logging in and as well. We’ve had simulations so we are prepared now.”

The most recent test, Samuels said, was in December.

“We’ve increased the capacity to make sure that we can house as many students as possible on that day,” Samuels added. “So we now have the capacity of having a million students logging at the same time within 60 seconds.”

The mayor and chancellor offered conflicting messages this week about whether closing school altogether, with no remote learning, could be an option. Samuels said on Wednesday that remote learning would be required if school buildings are shuttered, though Mamdani indicated on Thursday that he was mulling a traditional snow day.

Changes to the school calendar make cancelling school difficult, if not impossible.

The city stopped having traditional snow days in 2020, deciding that schools could instead offer remote learning to help meet the mandated 180 instructional days as more holidays have been added to the calendar.

The state allows certain professional development days to count toward that number, and because of that, New York City students are only in class 176 days this year.

Mamdani emphasized the steps the city is taking to prepare for the storm.

More than 2,000 sanitation workers are going to start 12-hour shifts starting Saturday evening as the city issues a hazardous travel advisory for Sunday and Monday. He urged people to take the storm seriously and stay home.

The city’s subway and bus system is expected to be operational, said Janno Lieber, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Snow day or ‘screen’ day? NYC to pivot to remote learning if winter storm hits, chancellor confirms

2026-01-21T23:40:51+00:00

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As forecasters warn that a winter storm could wallop New York City this weekend, the city’s schools will pivot to remote learning rather than cancel classes, if necessary.

With no room in the school calendar for a traditional snow day, schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels confirmed that the nation’s largest school system would go virtual in the event of a big storm — despite lobbying from his 11th grade son.

The National Weather Service is predicting snow on Sunday into Monday — though there is still uncertainty about the effect on the city. Some superintendents have already asked their principals to ensure they’re ready for a remote day and that their students have devices, according to emails obtained by Chalkbeat.

Samuels confirmed that schools would go virtual, if needed — even though the move is unpopular with many students, he told PIX11 on Wednesday.

It could be the first test of Samuels’ ability to manage a major logistical challenge, though he has a bit of a buffer: High school students as well as those attending 6-12 schools were already scheduled to be off for an educator professional development day. Parents of younger kids, however, tend to be the ones scrambling for child care, especially caregivers who must work in person. Many families also depend on schools to provide their children breakfast and lunch.

The last time schools closed in-person classes for a snow day, in February 2024, a technical meltdown prevented many students and teachers from logging on, despite efforts to practice in advance. The Education Department subsequently conducted another drill, but it was optional, and many students seem to have opted out.

Some principals said they felt ready from a device standpoint, but had concerns as to whether their families can or will log on.

“For us, most of the kids do some amount of learning on their devices in school, and we have 1:1 devices, so that part is manageable,” said one Brooklyn elementary school principal, who was not authorized to speak on the record. “Ensuring families and students get online from home and learning when they’ve been out of practice with remote learning for so long may be more of a challenge.”

In 2020, New York City schools stopped having traditional snow days since schools can instead offer virtual learning and need to squeeze in as many instruction days as possible as more holidays have been added to the calendar. The state requires 180 days of instruction, but allows certain professional development days to count toward that number, and because of that, New York City students are only in class 176 days this year.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Mayoral control, school funding boost, and 2-care: What to know about Hochul’s budget proposal

2026-01-20T22:52:03+00:00

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Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed to extend mayoral control of New York City’s public school system, boost funding for public schools across the state, and pay for child care for 2-year-olds in the five boroughs — a major campaign promise of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Those proposals came as part of Hochul’s executive budget plan on Tuesday, which drew some criticism from school funding advocates who raised fresh concerns that the state’s main funding formula is shortchanging New York City.

The governor acknowledged the challenges confronting the state in the face of significant cuts from the federal government and pledged her budget would be responsible but not “austere.” Overall, public schools across the state would get about $39.3 billion of the proposed $260 billion budget. The governor plans to increase school funding by $1.6 billion, or 4.3%.

“This budget invests in the next generation with nearly $40 billion in school aid, and we’re continuing to ensure that high need districts are funded appropriately,” Hochul said during her Tuesday budget address.

The governor’s proposal kicks off negotiations with lawmakers about how the state will allocate its budget for the next fiscal year, which begins in April.

Mamdani said in a statement that the governor’s proposal “makes meaningful investments that move us closer to an affordable and livable New York — especially through critical advancements in early childhood education.”

And while he noted that the state may be on “solid financial footing,” the city is not, he said, pointing a finger at his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams. Mamdani is expected to release the city’s executive budget in April.

Here’s what you should know about the governor’s budget proposal and the reaction to it.

New York City schools stand to get more money, but no big changes to ‘sorely outdated’ formula

The Foundation Aid formula, which represents the bulk of state education spending, would send $15.1 billion to New York City under the governor’s plan. That’s 2.5% more than last year — or about $371 million — according to state budget documents.

The formula is designed to funnel more money to high-need districts, and Hochul tweaked it last year by updating a metric for student poverty. As a result of the governor’s changes, New York City schools last year received $314 million less than they would have under the original formula.

Experts, advocates, and state lawmakers are pushing for further changes to the two-decade-old formula to account for differences in costs like salaries in different parts of the state and adding additional weights for homeless students and those in foster care.

The formula “relies on outdated and incomplete measures of student need, and has not evolved to reflect rising costs, particularly in large urban districts,” the Coalition for Equitable Education Funding, a constellation of more than 100 education groups, wrote in a statement. “We are concerned that the budget proposal released today fails to address these shortcomings.”

A Hochul spokesperson noted that funding for the city’s schools has increased on the governor’s watch and blamed some of the funding fluctuations on enrollment declines.

Expanding access to child care

As the governor has pledged in recent months, her budget plan includes a push to significantly expand access to free and affordable child care and early education. Hochul proposed to increase state child care spending by $1.7 billion, bringing the total to $4.5 billion.

That spending would include $73 million this year for New York City to roll out a new 2-Care program, with a commitment to invest $500 million over two years. 2-Care is expected to create 2,000 new child care seats for 2-year-olds in high-need areas of the city in the fall, and then grow to 8,000 seats next year. Mamdani said he will make the program available to all of the city’s 2-year-olds by the end of his first term.

However, many early childhood teachers and advocates say that the expansion will fail unless the city fixes problems in its existing early education system. Currently, large disparities in teacher pay make it difficult for community-based child care centers to hire and keep staff, and there is a severe shortage of seats for kids with developmental delays and disabilities.

Both Hochul and Mamdani have promised to make programs available to students with disabilities, “but past expansions of early childhood education have shown that good intentions are no guarantee of equity,” wrote Maria Odom, the executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, in a statement.

“3-K is not ‘for all’ if three-year-olds with autism are sitting at home because there are no classes that can meet their needs,” Odom continued.

Statewide, Hochul has said she wants to make Pre-K available to every 4-year-old in the state by the 2028-29 school year. To that end, her budget proposes increasing per-seat funding to a minimum of $10,000 this year.

The executive budget also proposes a 40% increase to funding for child care vouchers, which are available to families below earning 85%of the state median income. Total funding this year would come to $3 billion.

A 4-year extension of mayoral control

Hochul is pushing for a four-year extension of mayoral control, which would give Mamdani authority over the nation’s largest school system for his entire first term, Blake Washington, the governor’s budget director, told reporters in a Tuesday briefing.

In 2024, Hochul proposed a four-year extension of mayoral control, which grants the mayor power to appoint a majority of the city’s school board, appoint the schools chancellor, and generally set the district’s policy direction. The final budget included a two-year extension.

Mamdani campaigned on ending mayoral control to give families and educators more of a say over the education system, but he recently reversed course. He must now persuade lawmakers in Albany to extend that power to him.

Overhauling math, training teachers, and tutoring students

The budget proposal includes $4 million to train teachers in evidence-based math instruction and support districts that perform poorly in math — both part of Hochul’s initiative to get “back to basics” in math instruction — and $9 million to support individualized tutoring in high-need schools.

In an effort to recruit and retain teachers, Hochul also proposed $2 million for an accelerated teacher preparation program and $2 million for high school students interested in entering the teaching profession to earn college credit in relevant subjects.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Abigail Kramer is a reporter in New York City. Contact Abigail atakramer@chalkbeat.org.

Who is Kamar Samuels? Meet Zohran Mamdani’s schools chancellor.

2026-01-15T16:23:05+00:00

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Shortly after Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped Kamar Samuels to run New York City’s public schools, the two visited a Brooklyn campus where they were swarmed by students jockeying for selfies.

Mamdani soon peeled away, but Samuels toured the school, Arts & Letters 305 United, where he ducked into a room of third graders and began counting students.

As a local superintendent overseeing dozens of campuses, first in Brooklyn and then in Manhattan, Samuels often informally surveyed classroom headcounts on his visits. He’d later check official registers to see how many students were missing that day, a key measure of whether students are engaged at school.

“I really don’t have to do this,” Samuels said with a laugh after leaving the room of 21 third graders. “It’s kind of like muscle memory.”

Mamdani told Chalkbeat he selected Samuels, 48, because of his granular knowledge of the city’s classrooms, learned during more than two decades as a teacher, principal, and superintendent. The mayor also cited Samuels’ track record of pursuing ambitious change.

In both of the racially diverse New York City local districts he oversaw, Samuels used school mergers to address declining enrollment and persistent segregation. He led a transition away from gifted programs, replacing them with International Baccalaureate offerings available to all students. And he helped guide a plan to diversify several Brooklyn middle schools by setting aside a portion of seats for low-income students.

Those moves sometimes generated pushback. But Education Department colleagues saw him as a leader who doesn’t shy away from thorny problems and crafts solutions based on input from schools and families. In nearly 20 interviews with educators, parents, and former and current city officials, Samuels was described as someone who builds deep community ties, listens to critics, and focuses on student outcomes.

“He has not been afraid to touch the third rail and have difficult conversations — be it around equity, low enrollment, the concept of rigor, and the disparities in test scores throughout our district,” said Jill Rackmill, co-president of the parent council in District 3 in Manhattan, which Samuels supervised as superintendent. “Ultimately, he makes the hard decisions and does the tough things.”

In his first week on the job, Samuels told principals that he will build on some of the prior administration’s biggest initiatives, including new career education programs and an overhaul of elementary school reading.

And the new schools chief has pointed to other big problems facing the system, including cratering enrollment and alarming rates of chronic absenteeism, in which 1 in 3 students now miss more than 10% of the school year. He recently gave the system’s overall performance a “C” grade.

Shael Polakow-Suransky, the president of the Bank Street College of Education and a former top Education Department official, said he believes Samuels is up to the challenge.

“He’s politically gifted in a way that’s similar to the mayor,” Polakow-Suransky said. “He’s someone who inspires people and really gets them excited about his vision and supporting change.”

Samuels’ built a reputation for listening early on

Samuels, who moved to New York from Jamaica at age 15, originally pursued a career in finance, landing an accounting job at the National Basketball Association. He hated it.

He saw a subway ad for the city’s Teaching Fellows Program, a fast-track initiative that funnels career-changers into city classrooms. Within a few months, he was teaching sixth grade math at P.S./M.S. 194 in the Bronx.

Over the next two decades, Samuels rose through the ranks at the Education Department, earning a reputation for his strong rapport with community members.

Page Best-Hardy, a retired family leadership coordinator in District 23, which includes Brownsville and Ocean Hill, recalled that when Samuels was a deputy superintendent there nearly a decade ago an attendee at a back-to-school event confronted him about the poor performance of local schools. Samuels wasn’t defensive and won over the crowd by saying he needed their help to improve student outcomes.

“He didn’t say things were all rosy,” Best-Hardy recounted. “They didn’t expect that.”

As the superintendent of District 13, which runs from Brooklyn Heights to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Samuels not only cared about getting to know nearly everyone at the schools he oversaw, but he also was laser-focused on assessment data, said Emily Paige, principal of The Urban Assembly Unison School in Clinton Hill.

During one visit to the school, when he had come to evaluate Paige, she found him in the cafeteria introducing himself to the kitchen staff and sampling the food. He also spent time with Paige reviewing students’ scores on citywide reading assessments.

Samuels took a look at a chart of test scores Paige had prepared and homed in on a single student. “‘What is that telling you about this one child? What does that score mean?’” Paige recalled Samuels asking her. The conversation prompted Paige to think more carefully about how teachers should use the assessment data to tweak their instruction for students who are behind in reading.

That was a “really important moment for us as a school,” Paige said.

Mergers have tested Samuels’ leadership

As superintendent of District 13 and District 3 in Manhattan — a diverse district that includes the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and parts of Harlem — Samuels became known for carefully crafting mergers.

In both districts, he combined schools with different demographic profiles to foster integration while addressing declining enrollment. The proposals sparked fraught conversations about school resources and race. But Samuels stuck to his plans, drawing on the relationships he had forged with community members.

In his first full week as chancellor, Samuels highlighted that record by hosting Mamdani at Arts & Letters 305 United in District 13. The school is the result of a merger between Arts & Letters, a more affluent and overenrolled Fort Greene school that served a disproportionate share of white students, and P.S. 305, an underenrolled majority-Black campus in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

“I see a model and an example for the rest of the city,” Samuels declared to a group of parent leaders, school staff, and elected officials.

Samuels told Chalkbeat that mergers may become increasingly necessary, as K-12 enrollment has plunged in recent years. About 793,000 students attend the city’s public schools this year according to preliminary figures, a loss of well over 100,000 children since 2020. As schools shrink, they often struggle to afford basic programs because funding is tied to headcount.

P.S. 305 had slipped below 100 students, making it a prime target. But the merger, finalized in 2020, was at times contentious. Several P.S. 305 families feared it was a takeover of their school. Meanwhile, some Arts & Letters families worried about moving to Bed-Stuy — concerns that had racial undertones connected to neighborhood crime and the school’s concentration of homeless students, according to a case study on the merger released by the city comptroller’s office.

Education Department officials involved in the process were impressed with how Samuels engaged the school communities to build support and diffuse conflict — a sharp contrast with many other consolidations.

“By the time we got to the vote, there was broad consensus,” said Karin Goldmark, a former deputy chancellor who led a public hearing with Samuels about the merger. “It’s a testament to the depth of engagement that he did.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels visit students and staff at Arts & Letters 305 United, a campus Samuels helped merge in 2020.

Samuels’ track record of building community support was likely a selling point for Mamdani. On the campaign trail, the mayor vowed to give educators and families more input in Education Department decisions, though he backtracked from a promise to end mayoral control of the system. Samuels’ experience shifting schools away from gifted programs also lines up with another Mamdani campaign pledge.

Still, not everyone has been impressed with Samuels’ approach to community engagement.

Morana Mesic, a former parent at West Side Collaborative, an Upper West Side middle school, was devastated when the school merged into Lafayette Academy in 2023 — a proposal from Samuels that drew considerable backlash in District 3.

“We will always consider it the closure of our school,” said Mesic, who was the PTA president at West Side Collaborative at the time. The merger disrupted her son’s education. Mesic declined to send him to the newly merged school and struggled to find a campus that was a good fit, ultimately transferring her son to two different middle schools.

Mesic felt some details were left out of initial conversations, including that the school would lose its longtime principal and parent coordinator. She acknowledged that Samuels set up many community meetings to hash out the details but they felt performative to her. “They put a lot of dates on the calendar so they could say to reporters and the media, ‘Look how much effort was put into the process,’” she said.

Still, Mesic is a fan of Mamdani and is willing to give Samuels time to prove himself as chancellor.

The new schools chief has wasted little time trying to earn that trust. His first order of business was to launch a whirlwind tour to visit schools in each of the city’s 45 districts during his first two months in office.

Many of those early visits have included informal roundtable discussions with students, parent leaders, staff, and local elected officials. At Arts & Letters, Samuels gave a short overview of his background and high-level priorities around rigor, safety, and integration before taking questions on the tiny number of school librarians and how he would support parent leaders.

Unlike some of his predecessors, Samuels has avoided making waves in his first days in office.

Before he lays out how he thinks the system should change, Samuels said he needs input. The goal isn’t to get everyone to like him, he said. It’s to generate buy-in for the solutions he ultimately proposes.

“It’s not just about, ‘Do parents like you?” Samuels said during his first meeting with the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council. “It’s about: What are we achieving when we work together? And are we solving the biggest problems together?”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Trump administration launches investigation into NYC schools over trans sports policies

2026-01-14T22:14:29+00:00

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Federal officials launched an investigation Wednesday into New York City’s Education Department, targeting a policy that allows transgender students to play on sports teams in line with their gender identity.

The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights contends that the city’s rules violate Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at educational entities that receive federal funding.

The Trump administration launched investigations into 18 educational institutions on Wednesday that all have similar policies on trangender students’ participation in sports, including 14 school districts, three colleges, and Hawaii’s state education department.

“Time and again, the Trump Administration has made its position clear: violations of women’s rights, dignity, and fairness are unacceptable,” Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote in a statement.

Federal officials did not respond to a question about whether their investigation was motivated by any specific examples of how New York City’s policy is being applied. A spokesperson said the investigation is in response to city policies that allow transgender girls to play on girls’ sports teams. They are also investigating transgender students’ access to other facilities.

The city’s Education Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has invoked its contested interpretation of federal civil rights laws to target the nation’s largest school system.

Last year, federal officials announced plans to withhold tens of millions in grant funding for several New York City magnet school programs because of city policies allowing transgender students to play on sports teams and use bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity. Former Mayor Eric Adams indicated he was open to changing the policies, though he had little power to do so and the city ultimately sued to block the cuts. That case has not been resolved.

The Trump administration announced the investigations the same week that the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two lawsuits seeking to overturn state-level bans on transgender athletes participating in girls’ sports. The court’s conservative majority is expected to uphold those bans — but not to rule on whether allowing such participation violates Title IX.

National editor Erica Meltzer contributed.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz seeks to transfer a NYC charter school to her husband

2026-01-13T00:55:50+00:00

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Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz, who runs New York City’s largest charter school network, wants to give up one of her schools.

Moskowitz has proposed turning over a school in the Bronx to her husband, Eric Grannis, who has long been involved in the charter sector.

The move was approved by the State University of New York, the charter’s authorizer, in October but has raised eyebrows among state officials, who questioned its legality.

With a strict cap on charter schools in New York City enshrined in state law, no new charters can be issued without action by lawmakers in Albany. Success submitted its proposal as a revision to an existing charter. But State Education Department staffers wrote in a January memo to the Board of Regents that such a move was a “circumvention of the cap.”

The Education Department recommended that the Board send the proposal back to SUNY without approving it.

At a public meeting Monday, the regents did just that. “I think the larger issue is that SUNY doesn’t have any accountability for this at all,” said member at large Brian Krist, of Manhattan. “This is a joke.”

The regents’ vote may be symbolic, however. The proposal will now go back to the SUNY Board of Trustees, who do not need regents’ approval to move forward. SUNY can send the transfer proposal back unchanged and, short of legal action, it will happen.

Under the proposal, Success Academy, which runs 59 schools in New York City, would transfer an elementary school in Mott Haven to a new entity called Strive Charter Network. Grannis, who has founded and sat on the boards of several charter schools as well as running a charter school incubator, would be the founding executive director.

Moskowitz is a fierce advocate for expanding the charter sector, often pointing to demand at her own schools. But enrollment at several charter networks, including Success Academy, has fallen in recent years, which may give the network room to transfer a charter without diminishing its own headcount. Moskowitz has also eyed expansions elsewhere and begun laying the groundwork to open schools in Florida.

Strive would receive a newly renovated school building and have access to Success Academy curriculum “at minimal ongoing costs,” according to a description of the school that Grannis circulated among charter supporters.

Both Grannis and Success Academy declined to comment on the record, referring Chalkbeat to SUNY.

Strive’s new model would add before-school, after-school, weekend, and summer programs that would result in the school being open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, all year round. The extra hours would be optional for students but could represent a major draw for families that need child care beyond the traditional school day.

More than half of the staff would consist of teaching assistants, including college students and community members, who would assist with reading, tutoring, and math support, and be able to enroll their own kids at the school. Strive also plans to use “AI tools to streamline operations, cut administrative costs, and eliminate much of the mid-level bureaucracy common in schools,” according to the description Grannis circulated.

The SUNY Trustees voted to approve the charter revision on Oct. 15. Combining Success Academy’s “highly effective academic program with an extended-day, year-round model” is “the type of innovation that SUNY seeks to cultivate,” wrote Mike Lesczinski, director of strategy and communications at the SUNY Charter School Institute, in an email to Chalkbeat.

In response to the Board of Regents decision, Lesczinski wrote, “We are aware of the Board of Regents’ action. SUNY will review it and consider the appropriate next steps.”

The New York City Charter School Center, an advocacy organization, defended Success Academy’s effort to hand off one of its schools.

The move “is entirely consistent with state law, and the Board of Regents should approve it,” James Merriman, the organization’s CEO, wrote in a statement.

“If we didn’t have nonsensical rules and caps preventing high-quality charter schools from opening and serving children,” he added, “we wouldn’t be wasting precious time with fights over technicalities that distract from the major issues impacting NYC students and families.”

Abigail Kramer is a reporter in New York City. Contact Abigail at akramer@chalkbeat.org

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Exclusive: NYC schools chancellor Kamar Samuels on mergers, integration, and screened schools

2026-01-08T23:32:01+00:00

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On Kamar Samuels’ fourth school day as chancellor, he brought Mayor Zohran Mamdani to a Brooklyn school he views as a blueprint for tackling two major problems: segregation and sagging enrollment.

Samuels played a leading role merging two different school communities into Arts & Letters 305 United five years ago. The move combined P.S. 305, an underenrolled majority Black campus in Bedford-Stuyvesant, with Arts & Letters, a highly coveted more affluent school in Fort Greene serving one of the district’s largest shares of white students.

“I see a model and an example for the rest of the city,” Samuels told a group of parent leaders, educators, and elected officials, vowing not to “ugly cry” during Thursday’s visit. “It’s beyond what I had dreamt about.”

Deploying school mergers with an eye toward integration has been a hallmark of Samuels’ leadership. He used the strategy from his time overseeing schools in Brooklyn’s District 13 and brought it to his next role as superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3.

In an exclusive interview with Chalkbeat, Mamdani said he selected Samuels because of his deep knowledge of the city’s public schools and his track record taking on thorny problems.

“I told him that we needed a leader who was fluent in the system,” Mamdani said. “In him, I have seen someone who has been able to tackle the challenges that we have become used to as well as deliver the results that we haven’t always seen.”

Before the opening bell, Mamdani greeted dozens of families who circled him in the schoolyard. Some parents snapped selfies while students rushed into the scrum to shake the mayor’s hand. “Have a great day at school,” Mamdani scribbled in fifth grader Rafi’s notebook before offering his autograph. “Yo, I’m crashing out,” a student shouted after recognizing the new mayor.

After Samuels toured the school, Chalkbeat caught up with the schools chief to ask how he hopes to address school segregation, boost results for students who are struggling academically in the wake of the pandemic, and whether he agrees with the mayor’s assessment that charter schools siphon resources from district schools.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You moved here when you were 15 from Jamaica. I’m curious what your schooling was like both in Jamaica and when you moved here.

I started out in school in Jamaica — in a school that was one of the first schools that integrated physically disabled students with able-bodied students.

It was an experiment that they were doing in Jamaica. There was a lot of stigma associated with physically disabled students. And my parents signed up. They believed in having an inclusive environment. It was called The Hope Valley Experimental School.

And then after that, in Jamaica, you can take a test, or you could, at the time in fifth grade, it was called the common entrance test. And then you could go to what we call high school, which essentially is from seventh grade to 12th.

I went to this high school, Jamaica College, and then I ended up graduating high school in Jamaica when I was 15 and I moved here. It was too late to apply to college, and my mom was like, ‘You’re too young to do any of that.’ So for the first semester, she sent me to Evander Childs High School in the Bronx. I was there for probably a semester after which we applied to the CUNY system. Bronx Community College was close to me. So I went there for a little bit, and then I transferred to Baruch College. I graduated college when I was 20.

My mom said, ‘You are good at math, you should go do accounting.’ So I did accounting. I absolutely hated it. I hated it so much. I said to myself, ‘If I try to get a job in sports, just to be an accountant in sports.’ I worked for the National Basketball Association for a little bit, and I said, ‘If I can’t love accounting doing this, I’m never gonna love it.’

I had tutored students with disabilities at Bronx Community College, and I really liked the connection [we had]. And so I’m going home on the train one day, and I saw [a sign] that said, ‘Do you remember your first grade teacher’s name? Who will remember yours?’ It was the New York City Teaching Fellows Program. I went home, applied the same day, and I was in the classroom probably three months or four months later.

One of the biggest challenges facing the education department right now is declining enrollment and the growing number of really small schools. You obviously have some experience as a superintendent pursuing school mergers, so I’m wondering how you’re starting to think about that systemwide. Is there a threshold below which you think a school is too small to be sustainable?

What decides for me whether a school is too small is the resources that it’s able to garner for kids. And there are schools across the city that aren’t able to have the best enrichment programs. An eighth grader might not be exposed to Algebra because they don’t have the resources. That is something we have to take a look at across the city, especially when we think about our class size mandates.

And I don’t think of class size as a mandate. I think of class size as an opportunity to meet the needs of every student in the classroom. We have to use the fact that we’re in this cycle of lower enrollment as an opportunity to think about how we utilize different spaces.

You’ve also talked about wanting to prioritize school integration. What kinds of integration efforts might you be interested in pursuing?

I really believe that a school that’s socioeconomically integrated — especially as we think about our city and the diversity that it brings culturally — is a school that I want my own children, who are in the public school system, to be a part of.

I remember my first parent-teacher conference when I realized I had the cab driver’s kids, the police detective’s kids, the home health aide’s kids. It hit me that all these people want the best for their kids, and it was my job to really make sure that their kids were seen and heard. And I think that’s the part of school integration that people often miss: We want to make sure that we have high expectations for all kids, and we want to make sure that they feel affirmed in school.

A larger share of New York City middle and high schools screen students for admission than almost any other school system in the country. Will you be looking at ways to reduce screening?

There are fewer screened schools today than they were prior to the pandemic — and the way that we’re doing screens today is different. Instead of focusing on test scores, like we used to do, we’re now focused on academic report card grades. If we’re going to do screens, [course grades are] more aligned to what I would want to support.

When we look at [District 3] where I was a superintendent, we didn’t bring screens back wholesale, except for our citywide [gifted] program under the Anderson School. It was because that was a community-driven process that I listened to folks. Not everybody was in favor of it, but certainly there was a majority of parents in favor of that, and we moved in that direction.

We’re going to continue to listen to parents. If there are places where people don’t necessarily want to do that, then we’ll listen.

New York City’s lowest performing students have been struggling to recover from the pandemic. Do you have ideas about how specifically the system should better support those students? What about schools serving mostly students below grade level?

We have invested incredibly in New York City Reads. And a part of New York City Reads is this idea of MTSS [multi-tiered system of supports], which I know is confusing for folks. What is that? It’s essentially a structure that makes sure every child gets what they need when it’s implemented well, and that during the school day. So during the school day we’ve been clearer than ever on what interventions mean, when we do them, how we create time to do them.

We’ve done so much work around that during the school day. Some schools do great work with high dosage tutoring and we’re going to have to continue that. The one thing I do think gets in the way of all of this is chronic absenteeism.

And so since the pandemic, no matter your demographics, what we’ve noticed is that you’re likely to come into school fewer days than before. And folks need to understand that if we’re not in school your child is going to miss work. I’m doing a lot of thinking about different ways to address chronic absenteeism.

During the campaign, Mayor Mamdani indicated that charter schools siphon resources away from traditional public schools, shouldn’t have space in city buildings, and also should be audited. Do you agree with that position?

Kamar Samuels believes in a great school, no matter what kind of school it is. I know there are some charter schools that do really, really good work. I think charter schools will continue to do that work, and I know that they can do that work within the cap that they have.

And I do believe that there are charter schools, like some district schools, that may not be doing as well as we want them to do, and I think those schools should be held accountable.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Kamar Samuels says NYC will double down on literacy mandate — but signals changes to math overhaul

2026-01-06T22:05:29+00:00

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A reading curriculum overhaul launched by Mayor Eric Adams isn’t going anywhere, schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels told principals Tuesday. But he signaled changes could be coming to the prior administration’s math mandate.

“I completely believe in academic rigor and excellence — that’s why we are doubling down on what we’re doing with New York City Reads,” Samuels told principals during a Tuesday morning webinar, according to a recording obtained by Chalkbeat.

“We’re going to probably take a little bit of a different approach to New York City Solves, so you might see some shifts there,” Samuels said of the math mandate. Neither Samuels nor an Education Department spokesperson elaborated on what changes he is considering.

Under Adams, the city required all elementary schools to adopt one of three approved literacy curriculums. The program, known as NYC Reads, marked a major shakeup for a system that has long given principals freedom to choose what materials their schools use. Meanwhile, high schools had to adopt a standardized Algebra 1 curriculum, and a growing number of middle schools have been required to use new math programs, too.

Samuels’ comments indicate that key pieces of Adams’ education agenda will continue despite the transition between mayoral administrations — echoing sentiments shared by Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the campaign trail. The new schools chief also told high school principals “not to worry” about the fate of another key Adams initiative that created new career education pathways at over 130 schools, known as FutureReadyNYC.

That may be a relief to some school leaders who often fear promising programs could be discarded when the city’s political leadership changes. Still, Samuels indicated he is willing to make changes to the city’s math mandate, which has proved less popular with many educators and school leaders.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said he is encouraged that Samuels is taking a closer look at the math program. Some educators have raised concerns that the Illustrative Math curriculum, which emphasizes open-ended activities and discussion, is not in sync with the state’s exit exams that are currently required for graduation. The program’s critics say it can be a struggle for students who are behind or don’t have enough background knowledge in the subject.

The union leader said many teachers appreciate the curriculum’s approach but are frustrated with some of the implementation challenges. Mulgrew praised Samuels as a “practical” leader who could help troubleshoot. “He’s an educator — he gets the fact that you can’t start the first unit with something children have no baseline knowledge of,” Mulgrew said.

Samuels also praised some of the prior administration’s efforts to ramp up assessments to identify children who are struggling and standardize how schools help them catch up. For the first time this school year, all of the city’s public schools must pick from a list of approved programs to help students who are behind.

“Our most vulnerable students need to learn how to read,” Samuels said. “That is our number one goal.”

Samuels has also recently touted his own record on literacy. As superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3, Samuels presided over an increase in reading scores. Scores in his district climbed just over 3 percentage points last year, to 67.4% proficiency, after implementing a new reading curriculum. Citywide, about 56% of students were considered proficient last year, a roughly 7 percentage point increase, matching the gains statewide.

In his address to principals, Samuels reiterated his commitment to school safety and integration, an idea he said should go beyond shifting classroom demographics and focus on culturally responsive teaching.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools chief Kamar Samuels signals integration, culturally responsive education as priorities

2026-01-05T22:26:25+00:00

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In a letter to Education Department staff on Monday, New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels began sketching out some of his priorities, including school integration and lessons that reflect the system’s diversity.

“I believe that every student — starting in early childhood and continuing through graduation — deserves a school that is academically rigorous, safe, and truly integrated,” Samuels wrote in the letter obtained by Chalkbeat.

Families, he added, “should be able to expect that our system reflects New York City’s rich multiculturalism, both through the diversity of our schools and through culturally responsive curriculum and practice.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not campaign on a detailed education agenda, but he cited school integration as one of his goals — an issue former Mayor Eric Adams largely sidestepped. It remains to be seen how Samuels may approach diversifying one of the nation’s most segregated school systems. As a local superintendent, he pursued mergers and admissions policy changes with an eye toward integration.

In recent years, city officials have rolled out lessons that focus on historically marginalized groups — from the global African diaspora to LGBTQ communities. Samuels’ letter suggests he is interested in building on that work.

When Samuels led Brooklyn’s District 13, he worked with school communities to phase out gifted and talented programs and led an effort to bring the International Baccalaureate curriculum to schools across the district. Mamdani has also pledged to scale back gifted programming for the city’s youngest students.

In his Monday letter to school staffers, Samuels emphasized the importance of having “high expectations” and “high-quality learning,” while also noting the importance of foundational literacy skills and “class sizes that allow educators to meet students’ needs.”

Samuels indicated he will take community input seriously. On the campaign trail, Mamdani promised to end mayoral control of the city’s schools, arguing the system has not been responsive enough to community voices. He reversed that position last week, though the mayor has promised to come up with new ways to strengthen community input.

“I also believe deeply in transparency, accountability, and meaningful engagement,” Samuels wrote. “Our work will be strongest when educators, families, and students know their voices are heard — not symbolically, but in practice.”

The new schools chancellor began his first official school day at P.S./M.S. 194 in the Bronx, the campus where he got his start in the city’s school system in 2001 as a sixth grade math teacher. He met with educators, students, and parent leaders, according to an Education Department spokesperson. (The visit was not open to the press.)

Samuels also emphasized in his letter that he has a personal stake in the system. Two of his children — a first grader and an 11th grader — are New York City public school students, while his youngest is not yet school-age.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Zohran Mamdani to tap Superintendent Kamar Samuels as NYC schools chancellor

2025-12-31T01:51:01+00:00

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Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is expected to tap Kamar Samuels, a Manhattan superintendent, to run New York City’s public school system, according to a transition committee member briefed by administration officials.

As the superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3, Samuels supervises schools with widely varying demographic profiles across the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and parts of Harlem. Samuels has led school integration plans and played a role in a previous effort to scale back gifted programs, initiatives that Mamdani has vowed to revive.

Samuels also has experience executing school mergers — a task that is often complex and controversial — which could be valuable as the city grapples with a growing number of tiny campuses. Those mergers, however, have tended to have an explicit integration focus in what is one of the nation’s most segregated school systems.

Before his tenure in District 3, where he oversaw several mergers, Samuels was the superintendent in Brooklyn’s District 13, which spans from Brooklyn Heights to Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant. While there, he oversaw the move of Arts & Letters, a coveted pre-K-8 school, from its home in Clinton Hill to an underenrolled school building in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

He also spearheaded that district’s move away from gifted and talented programs — amid growing concerns from parents about racial disparities — and laid the groundwork to move toward implementing International Baccalaureate programs districtwide. The International Baccalaureate is recognized globally as a rigorous program, and District 13 aimed to use it to create a more inclusive schoolwide approach to enrichment as an alternative to gifted education, serving only a select group of students.

Samuels started out as a teacher in the Bronx nearly two decades ago before becoming a principal at the Bronx Writing Academy, or P.S. 323, where he took advantage of a teachers union program allowing schools to experiment beyond the confines of the contract: he staggered start times for teachers, adjusted class lengths, and incorporated online learning through a city program known as iZone, which paid for the school’s new computers.

His expected appointment was first reported by City & State.

He will face a series of challenges as New York City’s schools chief. As enrollment in public schools has plunged, the incoming administration will have to answer difficult questions about whether to close or merge more schools. Rates of chronic absenteeism, which skyrocketed during the pandemic, remain elevated. A state class size mandate will require finding thousands of new teachers and billions of dollars. Though reading and math scores have ticked up on state assessments, the city’s performance is widely considered middling given the agency’s nearly $43 billion budget — and there are wide gaps that cleave along lines of race and class.

Perhaps the trickiest task for the incoming chancellor will be managing one of Mamdani’s most significant education promises: to end mayoral control of the nation’s largest school system and give families and educators more of a say.

Mamdani has yet to outline how he would give up some of his own power over the school system, but it’s possible those moves would dilute the schools chief’s authority.

Some education observers were quick to praise Mamdani’s decision to elevate Samuels.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a journalist who has written extensively about inequity in New York City schools, praised the move on social media as “outstanding news for those who still care about school integration and equality.” She added: “In the face of the national attacks on civil rights and dismantling of enforcement at the U.S. DOE this pick by Mamdani sends a powerful message.”

Others who have worked directly with Samuels said he is known for navigating thorny debates about inequity in the system and incorporating feedback from parents and other community members.

“He is savvy and respected,” said David Adams, the CEO of Urban Assembly, which supports a network of New York City public schools. The decision “reflects a mayor who is looking for a chancellor who knows how to operate within the system.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Pay teachers more, 311 for parents, move district boundaries: How Mamdani could improve NYC schools

2025-12-22T19:45:10+00:00

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Zohran Mamdani will take the reins of the nation’s largest school system on Jan. 1, inheriting some big challenges facing the $43 billion agency with roughly 150,000 staff and nearly 900,000 students.

Chronic absenteeism remains high, major gaps persist in reading and math proficiency, and enrollment continues to shrink.

On the campaign trail, Mamdani did not focus intently on schools, but he made one big education promise: to govern the city’s public schools with more input from New Yorkers and reduce his own power over the system.

Chalkbeat asked dozens of experts, students, parents, educators, and nonprofit leaders to share bold ideas for the incoming mayor to consider as he crafts an agenda for New York City’s public schools. This is the second installment of a two-part series. Check out Part 1.

Here are some of the most thought-provoking responses we received. They have been edited for length and clarity.

NeQuan C. McLean

Community Education Council president, District 16, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

Redraw local school district boundaries

NeQuan McLean

New York City cannot solve its enrollment crisis with school maps drawn for a different era. City Council districts are redrawn every 10 years, but our community school district lines have not had a true citywide review since the 1970s. Some districts now sprawl across dozens of schools, while others are too small to sustain strong programs. I propose a mayor-backed School District Redistricting Commission, with real community voice, to design a fairer map that stabilizes enrollment, expands access to programs, and keeps neighborhood schools viable.

Evan Stone

CEO, Educators for Excellence

Launch 311 service to answer parent questions

Evan Stone, CEO, Educators for Excellence

There is an opportunity to rethink the relationships with families across the system by increasing decision making, engagement, and transparency.

First, I think the system should rethink and relaunch the parent university to tie into the work of parent ambassadors. Use the program to engage families in the massive curriculum shifts that are underway and set them up to support their students at home (trainings run by teachers). Launch a 311 for schools to answer parent questions (especially around enrollment). Next, I think they should move to mobile voting to increase parent engagement in Community Education Council elections and have the parent representatives on the Panel for Educational Policy elected through a direct election. And finally, I think they should give local parent councils a real budget to run participatory processes to invest in their districts aligned with citywide priorities.

Crystal Lane

Chief education officer, DREAM Charter Schools

Extend student advising after graduation

Crystal Lane, Chief education officer of DREAM Charter Schools.

Measure success by who our alumni become at 24, not test scores at 10. High school graduation shouldn’t mean goodbye. Assign every graduate a dedicated advisor who checks in monthly through age 24, helping navigate financial aid renewals, job applications, housing issues, or just life in New York. Think Big Brothers Big Sisters, but citywide and mandatory.

Today, schools are buried in annual metrics instead of preparing young people to thrive in college, career, and life.

Rebecca Bailin

Executive director of New Yorkers United for Child Care

Rebecca Bailin

Universal child care for NYC’s 2-year-olds

The first step toward making our city an affordable place for families is 2-Care for All, aging down 3-K and Pre-K to 2 year-olds and saving parents $20,000 a year. 2-Care must start with neighborhoods with the highest rates of child poverty and scale up from there to provide full-day, year-round care across the city. We are thrilled that Mayor-elect Mamdani has committed to implementing universal child care, and look forward to working with his Administration to make 2-Care for All a reality as soon as possible. Families cannot afford to wait any longer.

Mashfiq Ahmed

Teacher, John Dewey High School

Pay teachers more

Mashfiq Ahmed

New York City needs to confront teacher burnout and end its reliance on their unpaid labor. Many teachers are taking their work home with them or staying late at school lesson planning, designing curriculum, and doing family outreach. Our underpaid and overworked educators are holding up an underfunded system, especially in schools that serve marginalized communities. Real equity under our city’s new administration requires reinvesting public money directly back into the workers who make public education possible. The next administration should help fund more prep time, reduce class sizes, and provide salaries that accurately reflect the value of teacher’s labor. For a starting salary, teachers should earn about $90,000 a year.

Yiatin Chu

Co-president of Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education and Stuyvesant High School parent

Create classroom dashboard for parents

Yiatin Chu

Empower every public school parent by giving us a dashboard displaying class-specific information like teacher resume, average funding per student, class size, textbooks/curriculum, standardized scores of students from previous years, cohort data (e.g., suspensions, attendance, iReady results). True partnership requires transparency — an informed parent is the most powerful advocate for their child.

Adam Schwartz

English as a new language teacher, Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School

Equip schools with a basic English curriculum for newcomers

Adam Schwartz

NYC is a city of immigrants. The city created the We Speak NYC curriculum to help adult newcomer immigrants learn to communicate in basic English. New York City Public Schools should do the same for their children. Academic English development is central to city and state education policy. But newcomer English language learners need to learn to communicate in basic English. Schools are on their own to purchase or create these curricula, with little guidance or support. This hidden burden falls on teachers. Newcomer ELLs deserve a basic English curriculum centered around their lives in a city of immigrants, as do their hardworking teachers.

Nyah Berg

Executive director, New York Appleseed

Establish a deputy chancellor for school integration

Nyah Berg

Such a role would provide the leadership and accountability needed to implement and evaluate the nearly 100 existing School Diversity Advisory Group recommendations for creating equitable, integrated, and inclusive schools. Continuous segregation is costly for students and families, economically and socially, while integration is a proven affordability strategy that expands opportunity and strengthens school communities. A dedicated senior leadership post ensures that addressing school segregation is not an afterthought but a guiding goal across the public school system.

David Banks

Former chancellor, New York City Department of Education

Double down on reading curriculum overhaul

New York Chancellor, David C. Banks, poses for a portrait.

I think [Mamdani] needs to be on the record as he’s going to double, triple down on NYC Reads. We have we re-engineered the school system, re-trained all the teachers. We did it in close partnership with the UFT [teachers union] and the CSA [principals union]. It checks all the boxes. I think NYC Solves needs a bit more work, but NYC Reads is absolutely on the right track.

Camilla Spillmann

Student, West End Secondary School

End the funding boost for specialized high schools

Camilla Spillmann, student at West End Secondary School

Specialized high schools have huge alumni donor pools, and they also get extra funding due to the Fair Student Funding formula. These schools may have unique needs for their programs, and it’s undeniable that the students who are there have worked hard to be there, but it feels unfair to give the extra to schools that would have easier avenues to getting outside funds. We should address this discrepancy.

Joel Rose

CEO, New Classrooms Innovation Partners

Rethink how classrooms fundamentally operate

Joel Rose

New York City should position itself as a global leader in designing the classroom of the future. Today’s classrooms were built for a different era — fixed schedules, one-size-fits-all pacing, and disconnected tools that make it hard for teachers to meet the wide range of student needs. The next mayor should launch a major R&D effort within the DOE to pilot new models that integrate modern technology, flexible time structures, real-time diagnostics, and personalized learning tools. By treating innovation as a core function — not an afterthought — NYC can build classrooms that reflect how students actually learn and how teachers can most effectively teach.

Keri Goldberg

Kindergarten and first grade teacher, P.S. 321 Brooklyn

Create new apprenticeship programs for teachers

Keri Goldberg

It takes time to learn the craft of teaching but it’s nearly impossible to be a student teacher in New York City. Develop a paid apprenticeship program (in collaboration with teacher colleges) that supports aspiring teachers by partnering them with master teachers for two years. In the first year, the apprentice teacher works full-time in the master teacher’s classroom and in the second year the master teacher continues to serve as a mentor and collaborator. These partnerships would help lower teacher-student ratios without a need for additional space or admissions caps to comply with the reduced class size mandate; put new teachers on a path to success; and tap the knowledge of accomplished practitioners. Offer apprentice teachers subsidized housing, too!

Mateo Tang Oreilly

Student, Central Park East High School

Prioritize cultural studies

Mateo Tang Oreilly, student at Central Park East High School

I feel like there is not enough in place in our schools that either keep students connected to their culture, or connect students to new cultures. Our city is a melting pot of all different kinds of people, but I have seen our education system become the cause of assimilation, and loss of cultural knowledge and identity.

Nancy Bedard

Education senior staff attorney, Brooklyn Legal Services

Guarantee access to arts education

Nancy Bedard

I was born and raised in NYC, and my two older sisters had access to arts education. They had sewing machines, pottery wheels, musical instruments. By the time I entered school, these resources were removed. Mamdani should guarantee that the Education Department fully and equitably funds arts education to meet state-mandated requirements in every local school district. Recent figures show 69% of NYC eighth grade students could not meet the state Education Department’s arts requirements due to inadequate arts education resources. The majority of these students are children of color in low-income districts. Arts education motivates children to attend school, improves grades, reduces suspensions, and is therapeutic.

Arthur Samuels

Founder & executive director, MESA Charter High Schools

Rethink teacher certification rules

Arthur Samuels

If you’re trying to attract young teachers from other states, which we should want to do, we need to streamline the process of granting certification for teachers who cross state lines. With the class-size law now in force, Mayor Mamdani should partner with the State Education Department to remove unnecessary barriers. In general, New York’s byzantine teacher-certification rules block many aspiring teachers — especially lower-income candidates and people of color — without clear evidence that those rules improve teacher quality. For a district where most students are kids of color, that means missing out on the diverse educators that research shows strengthens student outcomes.

Liz Accles

Executive director, Community Food Advocates

Better wages for school cafeteria workers

Liz Accles

Elevate school meals as a highly valued part of public education by investing in the workforce to fully reflect their vital role in school communities.

NYC’s program serves 850,000 culturally affirming, high-quality meals daily — an extraordinary effort. These nutritious meals are essential to student well-being and learning. To sustain and advance this progress, NYC must treat school food professionals as key educational partners, with competitive wages, clear career paths, and robust professional development. Strengthening recruitment and retention will improve food quality, dining environments, and menu innovation, ensuring school meals are valued as foundational to learning and healthy school communities.

Vanessa Leung

Co-executive director, Coalition for Asian American Children and Families

Collect better ethnicity and language data

Vanessa Leung

Mamdani must commit to collecting detailed, disaggregated ethnicity and language data on students so that every student is seen and supported. Students who hail from places as different as Bangladesh and Vietnam are currently grouped under the same “Asian and Pacific Islander” umbrella by the Department of Education. Data that treats our communities — nearly 1 in 5 students — as a monolith erases our diversity and renders our differing challenges invisible. Better data can help align communities facing similar challenges to inform consistent policies towards integration and more inclusive admissions practices.

Rafiq R. Kalam Id-Din II

Founder and managing partner, Ember Charter School for Mindful Education, Innovation and Transformation

Lift the cap on charter schools

Rafiq R. Kalam

We must end the divisive narrative that pits charter vs. traditional public schools. Instead, we need to double down on offering families a wide variety of public choices, particularly high-quality and equity-focused charter schools, some of the most successful and innovative public schools in the country. We should equalize funding and double the number of these public schools — expanding their reach to help meet the demand for universal child care.

Abby Loomis

Second grade teacher, Brooklyn Arbor Elementary School

Make schools greener — and healthier

Abby Loomis

I can’t wait to see Mayor Mamdani follow up on his plan for green and healthy schools. This means upgrading school buildings by improving ventilation (which will improve student health and attendance), installing rooftop or school yard solar, and investing in green spaces that will mitigate flooding and rising temperatures, while also allowing kids to play and move! Also, let’s chill on the AI, please.

Christopher Emdin

Professor of science education, Teachers College

Focus on culture and community

Christopher Emdin

Learning should be rooted in neighborhoods and driven by real projects that matter to young people and communities. Culture is not an add on. Hip hop has to be centered as a core literacy, a science practice, and a civic language. Schools should partner with artists, libraries, museums, parks, and maker spaces. Teachers should be supported as researchers with time to build alongside students. End test centered schooling and zero tolerance discipline. Invest in restorative justice, wellness, and joy. Measure success by relevance, creativity, and community impact. When schools reflect the culture of the city, young people do not just succeed, they lead.

Cheri Fancsali

Executive director, Research Alliance for NYC Schools at NYU

Invest in programs that already work

Cheri Fanscali

The boldest move? Commit to the long game — and change course when necessary. It is easy to fall into the trap of chasing the next shiny thing. Instead, city leaders should sustain what works: high-dosage tutoring, career-connected learning, small learning communities, community schools, evidence-based literacy and math instruction, culturally responsive pedagogy, leveraging robust cross-agency collaboration, and professional learning communities for educators. Too often, effective or promising programs are abandoned before they can reach scale or show impact.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Tutoring, campus mergers, affordable housing for teachers: How Mamdani could improve NYC schools

2025-12-19T19:36:28+00:00

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Chronic absenteeism remains high, major gaps persist in reading and math proficiency, and enrollment continues to shrink.

Chalkbeat asked dozens of experts, students, parents, educators, and nonprofit leaders to share bold ideas for the incoming mayor to consider as he crafts an agenda for New York City’s public schools. This is the first installment of a two-part series. Check out Part 2.

Here are some of the most thought-provoking responses we received. They have been edited for length and clarity.

Shael Polakow-Suransky

President, Bank Street College of Education

Reimagine high school with yearlong capstone project

Shael Polakow-Suransky

The sunsetting of Regents exams is a once-in-a-generation chance to reimagine high school. Instead of wasting months on test prep, let’s replace 12th-grade seat time with a yearlong “city capstone.” All seniors would pursue either deep civic action projects or apprenticeships in high-growth sectors like green energy and health care. This is a long-term affordability strategy: By connecting students to professional networks and skilled careers, we arm them with the future earning power to pay rent and remain in the boroughs they call home. Let’s stop asking our youth to bubble in answers, and empower them to build the city they deserve.

Rashid Ferrod Davis

Founding principal, Pathways in Technology Early College High School

Pair every school with an industry partner

Rashid Davis

My bold proposal for improving public education in New York City is for all schools to have at least one industry partner. Not all employers can offer extensive internships immediately. Examples of initial, smaller commitments include hosting guest speaking events, conducting resume workshops, or offering workplace tours.

Kevin Dahill-Fuchel

Executive director, Counseling In Schools

Include social and emotional well-being on student report cards

Kevin Dahill-Fuchel

My proposal is simple yet profound: Expand the current “report cards” of each student’s social and emotional well-being beyond pre-K and kindergarten, all the way through high school. Currently, once students move to first grade, they join an academic race that ignores character and individual talents. Imagine if every student was systematically recognized for non-academic qualities such as being friendly, helpful, fun, hardworking, respected, lively, and reflective. Not only would they be valued and nurtured as a complete person, but they would also have a better chance at academic success because their social and emotional foundation would be stronger.

Lisa Margosian

Chief executive officer, Achievement First Public Charter Schools

Increase affordable housing for teachers

Lisa Margosian

In New York City, only about 20% of rentals are affordable to teachers — a crisis for a city that relies on strong pre-K through 12 public schools. If we want excellent teachers in every classroom, and a workforce that reflects the backgrounds of our students, we must make it possible for teachers to live here. New York needs a citywide effort to build dedicated, mixed-income housing for teachers and cap rent at 30% of income. This practical step would make teaching sustainable, improve recruitment and retention, and give students the stability and high-quality instruction they deserve.

Rodney Lee

Parent of two children from District 1, an elected Community Education Council representative, and a nonprofit administrator

Support schools to address bullying

Rodney Lee

We need a curriculum to create a culture of accountability and kindness. I remember how much my daughter wanted to meet new friends in middle school. This quickly diminished as she became a victim of ridicule for trying to participate in class. She was kicked, threatened, and ultimately there were over 20 documented incidents or bullying during sixth and seventh grade that resulted in my demoralized, self-esteem-shattered baby girl to transfer to a new school for eighth grade. It was frustrating to learn that victims of bullying were encouraged to transfer as the aggressors were harder to transfer or deal with. We need to change this practice.

Sharon Collins

Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching recipient and STEAM coordinator at New Heights Academy Charter School

Sharon Ann Collins

Put teachers on school boards

Our best education advocates are our classroom teachers, and yet they are not at the decision-making table. Put teacher representatives on the Panel for Educational Policy, Citywide Council on High Schools, and Community Education Councils as advisors. There, teachers can share their perspective and insights into curriculum, AI and technological tools, class size, standardized testing, how the budget truly should be spent to really impact student trajectories, and educational innovations that would revolutionize education for our NYC students.

Katie Pace Miles

Brooklyn College professor and founder of The Reading Institute

Intensive tutoring for all who need it

Brooklyn College Professor Katie Pace Miles

Equitable high-impact tutoring can radically change outcomes for students who are behind grade level. Privileged families hire tutors when their child needs academic support. An equitable public school system should ensure that all students who need additional one-on-one support to develop their literacy and math skills are afforded one. Research has shown that when high-impact tutoring is provided, meaning that it occurs 3-5 times a week using evidence-based programs, students behind benchmarks are able to catch up to grade-level expectations. Ensuring all students in our public schools have access to this type of support benefits schools, students, and families.

Arlen Benjamin-Gomez

Executive director at EdTrust-New York

Arlen Benjamin-Gomez

Require every district to create a local integration plan

Diversifying schools is one of the few proven strategies to improve outcomes for all students, and solutions already exist. District 15’s equitable middle-school lottery reduced economic segregation by 55% and racial segregation by 38% in just one year. We should expand these admissions models, publicly report segregation data, and require every district to develop an integration plan.

Crystal Rodriguez

Bronx District 8 Community Education Council president

Crystal Rodriguez

Mediation hubs for parents and educators to collaboratively solve problems

New York City needs a Family Accountability & Restorative Engagement Hub in every district. It would be a city-funded space where parents, students, and educators collaborate on problem-solving before issues escalate — such issues as bullying, chronic absenteeism, special education concerns, parent-leader mediations, parent-teacher mediations. These hubs would standardize restorative practices, ensure compliance with Chancellor’s regulations, provide trauma-informed support, and give families real decision-making power rather than symbolic roles.

Ray Domanico

Senior fellow, Manhattan Institute

Tackle underenrolled schools with mergers

Ray Domanico

Declining birth rates in the city have resulted in far fewer students enrolled in the city’s traditional public schools, a trend that will continue for the foreseeable future. The new team in city hall should act boldly to adjust the system’s resources to its lower enrollments. This must be done strategically by consolidating underenrolled schools into larger schools with stronger leadership and programmatic offerings. Vacated school buildings should be used either to support communities with other needed services or sold to be converted into affordable housing for their communities. This is an opportunity to address both school quality and affordability issues.

Leonie Haimson

Executive director, Class Size Matters

Leonie Haimson

Create moratorium on AI in classrooms

Mamdani should enact a two-year moratorium on the use of AI in the classroom, and hold town hall meetings to hear from parents, teachers, and students as to how its rushed adoption risks undermining privacy, the environment, student cognitive growth and creativity, and the human connection central to a quality education.

David Adams

Chief executive officer, The Urban Assembly

Hold schools accountable for growth, not just test scores

David Adams, Chief executive officer of the Urban Assembly.

NYC schools need an accountability system that rewards progress and makes innovation easier, not riskier. The Mamdani administration can improve public schools by elevating school impact scores that communicate student growth, not just performance. This will incentivize schools to solve problems, give parents the school quality information they deserve, and spur competition on the metrics that matter. When schools demonstrate outsized gains, the system should rapidly scale their practice, while increasing flexibility, freeing leaders to focus on innovating and problem-solving.

Accountability should be a runway for excellence, not a cage for compliance. Make things work, and scale those solutions.

Mathew Moura

Senior Vice President of Strategy, Teaching Matters

Give every teacher a coach of their choice

Mathew Moura

Let’s give every teacher coaches they can select in partnership with principals and districts to create coherent professional development, tailored to their needs, with the resources required to be able to help all kids. Every kid has the right to a good teacher. Every teacher has the right to be supported to become one.

Rachel Sabella

Director, No Kid Hungry New York

Treat schools as nutrition hubs

Rachel Sabella

NYC schools are well-situated to address the growing hunger crisis. They’re already connected to nearly a million students and their families, and they have infrastructure in place to help them tackle the issue. The incoming administration should increase the number of school pantries, provide in-school resources to help families apply for SNAP and other benefits, and maximize the reach of existing school meal programs. By strengthening our school meal programs and thinking creatively about summer meals, our next mayor can get the whole school community involved in keeping kids and families fed all year long.

Diane Ravitch

Education leader and author

Diane Ravitch

Expand ‘community schools’ that provide wraparound support

Mamdani can’t do everything to fix education but he can pursue one powerful idea: community schools.

Instead of promoting school choice, which destabilizes neighborhoods and does not improve education, the mayor should commit to expand community schools.

These are schools with wraparound services where children can get medical screening, vision testing, and dental care. Where students can count on getting breakfast, lunch, even dinner. Where parents can meet school personnel who can help them connect to city services, access health care, and find employment resources.

Public schools can be great again if they meet the needs of their communities.

Jeremiah Dickerson

Student at Williamsburg Charter High School

Improve school food

Jeremiah Dickerson

As a student in NYC, I constantly hear classmates complaining about the meals we’re expected to just pick up and eat, and I’m no stranger to that experience myself. Too often, I walk into school, see breakfast laid out, and turn right back around after being greeted with a dry, rubbery egg sandwich. Students deserve better. Why not offer simple, healthier options like yogurt with fresh fruit, whole-grain bagels with cream cheese, oatmeal, breakfast burritos with eggs and veggies, or even warm pancakes and turkey sausage? Our city claims to champion nutritional value, but that support should start with serving real, nutritious food.

Lori Podvesker

Director of disability and education policy, INCLUDEnyc

Better integrate students with disabilities

Lori Podvesker

NYC can reduce disability segregation by training general education teachers and administrators on inclusive practices/supports, behavior management, and federal and state laws, fully utilizing the special education continuum so more students receive special education services in general education classrooms, restructuring District 75 for collaboration, ensuring equal access to opportunities, citywide initiatives, schedules, and same after-school and summer programming as their general education peers, addressing systemic issues like busing and the need to support paraprofessionals better, develop mechanisms and tools to access schools on the extent their students with IEPs are with general education students, and focusing on integrated learning in the least restrictive environment as required by law.

Liz Pitofsky

Founder, Service Learning Project

Make sure all schools have active student councils

Liz Pitofsky

Public schools were founded to create engaged citizens: let’s get back to that original goal by engaging all K-12 youth in problem-solving about their schools and neighborhoods. When children and teens are given opportunities to make their voices heard, they see themselves as leaders with the critical responsibilities of citizenship. This not only benefits them- it strengthens our schools, our city, and our democracy. Mamdani should make it a priority for all NYC schools to have student councils that meet regularly with administrators, as well as social studies classes that integrate youth-led community problem-solving.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

New city and state bills target lack of transparency in suspensions of students with disabilities

2025-12-17T19:45:37+00:00

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New York City lawmakers are scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill that would force the Education Department to disclose detailed statistics about long-term suspensions of students with disabilities.

A similar bill was recently introduced in the state legislature and would apply to districts across New York.

The flurry of legislation comes after a Chalkbeat investigation found that New York City’s public schools have for years flouted rules designed to protect students with disabilities from lengthy classroom removals.

Under federal law, students with disabilities may not be suspended for more than 10 days if the conduct in question was directly related to their disability or stemmed from the school district’s failure to provide special education services. Schools are required to conduct meetings known as manifestation determination reviews to assess whether either of those criteria are met. If so, the student should immediately return to school, and officials must conduct a behavior assessment.

But the city’s public schools have long failed to consider a student’s disability and how it relates to the suspension, according to a Chalkbeat review of hundreds of pages of special education records, reports from independent monitors, and interviews with dozens of families, advocates, and educators. As a result, some students have served suspensions for weeks longer than allowed.

Last school year, New York City students with disabilities were removed or suspended from their classrooms nearly 14,800 times — representing 41% of all removals, even as those with disabilities only represent 22% of the student body. Black students are also disproportionately suspended, representing 38% of all removals last year and just 19% of city students. (Suspensions ticked down about 2% last year overall, with a larger decline among longer-term punishments.)

In 1,550 cases last school year, students with disabilities were removed from their classrooms long enough to trigger the review process to assess if their conduct was connected to their disability or the school’s failure to provide services, Education Department officials said at an October City Council hearing. In about 23% of those review meetings, schools found that the suspension was due to the student’s disability or a failure to implement their learning plan.

Schools were more likely to find that white students’ behavior was related to their disability compared with their Black or Latino peers, Chalkbeat’s investigation found. (City officials declined to release a demographic breakdown of suspension reviews for last school year.)

Lawmakers say bills would hold school districts accountable

The legislation, which several advocates said would represent a significant step forward, aims to shed light on a process that has not received much public examination. Many school districts across the state, including New York City, do not regularly report suspension review outcomes or even how often they are conducted. The city and state legislation would require districts to disclose those figures every year.

“New York lacks comprehensive, disaggregated data to identify systemic issues or disparities,” said Assembly member Yudelka Tapia, who sponsored the state bill and represents parts of the Bronx.

Suspensions in New York City are typically capped at 20 days, so when students prevail during the suspension review process, they may return to class days or a couple weeks sooner. But in districts across the state, suspensions are allowed to last up to an entire school year, meaning the stakes of the suspension reviews can be high.

The City Council bill, sponsored by Rita Joseph, is scheduled for a vote in the council’s education committee on Thursday and could proceed to a vote by the full council later that day. If it becomes law, the Education Department would also be required to report how often parents are informed of the review meeting and if they are conducted within the required timeframe.

“The main goal right now is to make sure that we have data that will support the future advocacy,” Joseph said, adding that it would help protect the rights of students with disabilities.

Because New York City schools are typically responsible for reviewing their own suspensions, advocates contend that the review process is stacked against families. But since lengthy punishments are usually reserved for the most severe misconduct, school staff frequently say that removing students is important for maintaining a safe learning environment for others.

Families often don’t know their rights at the suspension review meetings, including that they can bring a legal advocate. The city and state legislation would require more detailed reporting on whether families and their advocates are present at those meetings.

The city Education Department updated the materials for families about the suspension review process, explicitly stating that they have the right to bring an advocate and offering a list of potential advocates, a spokesperson said. City officials have also convened focus groups about the process and are updating training materials for school staff.

Some groups that have represented families at suspension review meetings cheered the legislation because it has been difficult to obtain basic statistics about the process.

Michaela Shuchman, a lawyer at Legal Services NYC, said her organization has submitted public records requests to large districts across the state about the suspension review meetings, and several said they don’t collect information. She has been waiting more than a year for a slew of suspension records from New York City’s Education Department, which often drags out public records requests.

“We don’t know what we don’t know, which is why these bills are so important,” Shuchman said. “We need this information to figure out where the gaps are and where we’re falling short.”

City Education Department officials said they support the city legislation and are reviewing the state bill.

“We have to have this transparency,” said Andie Corso, a city special education official, at the October hearing. “The public deserves this information and it will help us do better.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

‘Science of reading’ 101: Free course for NYC teachers helps unpack latest literacy research

2025-12-10T22:33:41+00:00

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Mayor Eric Adams’ shakeup to elementary school reading curriculums had a clear goal: to align instruction with the “science of reading,” the catchphrase for a longstanding body of research.

But in the rush to train teachers on the new curriculums, some literacy experts worried that there wasn’t enough emphasis on the basic theory and research behind the science of reading. As hundreds of schools transition away from popular programs that have become widely discredited, many teachers have craved guidance.

A free training program available to New York City teachers aims to fill that gap, helping thousands of educators parse the fundamental principles of the science of reading. The program, now in its second year, was developed by The Reading Institute, a nonprofit launched by Katie Pace Miles, a Brooklyn College professor.

“I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just about the how‚” Miles said. “No matter what curriculum they have, they’ve got to know: What are the tenets that actually move the needle for readers?”’

Miles underscored that the training could also help address a long-term challenge: Curriculums often come and go during a teacher’s career. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who will take control of the city’s schools on Jan. 1, has signaled he will continue the reading curriculum mandate, though he has indicated teachers should have more flexibility around how to implement it in their classrooms.

The 10-hour virtual course emphasizes phonics — how students learn the relationships between sounds and letters — a key piece of the city’s literacy push. Other segments cover vocabulary, comprehension, writing, and reaching neurodivergent learners. Video footage from three New York City public schools is woven throughout the training to show how teachers are using the science of reading in real-world classrooms.

Katie Pace Miles, a Brooklyn College professor and founder of The Reading Institute, authored the intro course.

The introductory course has free slots for nearly 1,200 New York City teachers for the remainder of this school year (it is also free for all CUNY students). When the slots are filled — or for teachers outside the city— the cost is $25. Of the 2,800 people who took the course last school year, more than 2,000 were from the city’s public schools. (The course is funded by the Benedict Silverman Foundation, which funds Chalkbeat, and the Heckscher Foundation for Children.)

Experts say the training could help fill gaps for teachers who did not receive adequate instruction in their teacher preparation programs about how children learn to read, as schools of education have been criticized for failing to embrace the latest research on reading. New York State officials have said they’re working to address the issue.

Cut to the video: Recorded literacy lessons inspire change

At P.S. 189 in Washington Heights, Principal Johanny Grullon has embraced the additional training, setting aside time during the school’s existing Monday training blocks.

Now, virtually all of the school staff are taking Miles’ science of reading course, including art, music, and gym teachers.

“Everybody plays an important role in teaching students how to read,” Grullon said. “The gym teachers aren’t gonna take out flashcards … but I want them to think about: What can I do in my daily routines as kids are warming up to develop vocabulary?”

Johanny Grullon, the principal of P.S. 189, has rolled out the training program to nearly all of the school's staff.

The science of reading intro course has won attention from other states. Last school year, P.S. 189 showed off the training program to the governors of Rhode Island and Colorado, along with a representative from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.

Julia Rosa, the library teacher at P.S. 189, was one of the first educators at the school to complete the training and helped convince her colleagues it was worth the time.

The video footage from other New York City classrooms helped persuade her to shift some of her approaches — and try new ones. When her students ask her to spell words during writing exercises, she used to reflexively give them the answers, worrying that veering into spelling exercises would district from the lesson. But videos of students making confident spelling guesses help convince her to change.

In another video, Rosa saw a phonics lesson that involved students using their fingers to trace out letters in blue sand. That activity seemed like it would make a mess in a room with over 20 children. But soon, she was off to the dollar store to buy tupperware containers to try it herself.

“Seeing it done — it gives you more confidence to try it,” she said.

Education Department officials said they hope the training will help teachers reluctant to change their practice and give them a more solid foundation as they deploy the new curriculums.

Staten Island’s superintendent is encouraging educators to take the training, and nearly 1,000 teachers in the borough are enrolled. Allison Angioletti, a district achievement and instructional specialist in the Staten Island superintendent’s office, said she hopes the training helps teachers tailor their lessons and navigate curriculums that are often packed with more content than can fit in a traditional literacy block. On Staten Island, teachers are required to use Into Reading, the most commonly mandated program across the city.

“I want them to be good decision makers,” said Angioletti. “I want them to keep the parts that are most helpful to kids about how they learn how to read.”

Literacy experts said the relatively short course was unlikely to spur major changes in student achievement by itself. But Tim Shanahan, a former Chicago Public Schools official who oversaw that district’s training efforts, said it is still important.

“There are lots of things that need to happen to raise reading achievement,” he said, “and one of them is professional development.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Officials mistakenly told NYC principals students with weapons would face automatic arrest

2025-12-08T22:51:47+00:00

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An Education Department safety official sent a letter to Brooklyn high school principals last week, signaling a major change: Students found with weapons on public school grounds will be automatically arrested.

The message sparked confusion among school leaders and families about how widely it would be applied and whether it could lead to a spike in students getting tangled up in the criminal justice system.

On Monday morning, some schools swiftly informed students and parents about the new policy on student arrests. By the afternoon, Education Department officials admitted the letter was sent in error.

The messages “do not represent a New York City Public School policy,” wrote Jenna Lyle, a department spokesperson. “They are being corrected with the small number of schools that received them.” She did not explain how the mistake was made.

The NYPD, which oversees school safety, confirmed there were no changes in their arrest policy. A spokesperson said about 1,700 weapons have been confiscated in schools so far this school year, a 5% decline compared with the same period last year.

The episode represents a significant miscommunication with school leaders. Multiple principals said that the policy would have been a major change, as arrests have often been made on a case-by-case basis and the Education Department has encouraged less punitive approaches to student misconduct in recent years.

Millenium Brooklyn High School Principal Kevin Conway informed families of the assumed policy shift.

“If you have a pocketknife, razor, scalpel, or any other contraband item in your bag at scanning — regardless of your reason for having the item — you will be arrested as per DOE policy,” he wrote to families in a Monday letter obtained by Chalkbeat. “Students, please make sure to double-check your belongings every morning and adhere to this policy!”

Educators and families were concerned that the communication did not clarify whether all weapons listed in the discipline code would have immediately triggered an arrest. Box cutters and scissors are considered weapons under Education Department policy, though some students might use those for jobs or school projects. Students often carry pepper spray for protection on their commutes, even as it is considered a weapon under school rules.

Corinthia A. Carter, the parent of a junior at Park Slope Collegiate in Brooklyn who heard about the policy through a conversation with the school’s principal, worried that the erroneous policy would have had a disproportionate effect on Black and Latino children. She wondered how the city would explain the mistake to families.

Other school discipline reform advocates were frustrated by the mixed messages but were relieved the student arrest policy was not altered, noting that arrests of city students have declined substantially. In the first three quarters of 2025, police made 485 student arrests — a nearly 52% decline from the same period in 2016, NYPD data show.

“It’s very alarming to allow for any confusion on something like this,” said Johanna Miller, director of the education policy center at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“Arrests in New York City are very low and that’s something we should be proud of.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Who will Mamdani tap to lead NYC schools? Here are some possible contenders.

2025-12-07T18:22:14+00:00

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With less than a month until Zohran Mamdani takes office, he has yet to reveal one of his biggest personnel decisions: the leader of the nation’s biggest school system.

Hiring a schools chancellor will be his first major education test and could signal how he hopes to shape the city’s public schools over the next four years — a topic he largely avoided on the campaign trail.

The mayor-elect indicated he is open to keeping current Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos. But he has offered few other clues about who is on his short list, and it is unclear how close he is to a decision. Earlier this week, Mamdani’s team solicited suggestions for major appointees from its education transition committee, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the communications.

Mamdani’s team has kept a tight lid on the selection process, instructing transition committee members this week to avoid talking to reporters — a contrast with his promise to share his power over the school system with families and educators. Some advocates have called on Mamdani to create an inclusive chancellor selection process in the coming months. For now, the mayor-elect has little time to weigh feedback before taking office.

“It would be hard to run a big public process in the time they’ve had,” said Evan Stone, the CEO of Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group. Once he has made a choice, Stone added, “there is still a great opportunity to engage families on what the priorities of the chancellor are.”

As the leadership transition nears, several names have repeatedly surfaced as possible contenders, though his transition team has not confirmed who is under consideration. If history is any guide, the final choice could be a surprise. Here’s what you should know about the people rumored to be in the running.

Melissa Aviles-Ramos

Who she is: Aviles-Ramos has been chancellor for a little more than a year, taking over from David Banks after he abruptly stepped down. She’s been at the city’s Education Department for nearly two decades, working her way up as a teacher, principal, and superintendent in the Bronx. She also served as Banks’ chief of staff.

What she has going for her: She has the backing of the city’s influential teachers union, which endorsed Mamdani in the general election. Some parent leaders are in her corner, too, as she has rolled out some initiatives to bolster family engagement. Top officials have previously leaned on her in moments of crisis: Before she was named chancellor, she was tapped to manage the Education Department’s response to the massive influx of migrants into city schools.

Complicating factors: Aviles-Ramos has largely been responsible for keeping Mayor Eric Adams’ education initiatives on track and hasn’t executed a detailed policy agenda of her own. Given the union’s strong backing, some wonder if she would not be independent enough. Her connection to Adams, who ultimately dropped his bid for reelection amid swirling corruption scandals, could also be a liability. And while no mayor has appointed their predecessor’s schools chief, Mamdani kept Adams’ police commissioner, demonstrating he is willing to retain high-level staff.

What she says: Aviles-Ramos, who has met with Mamdani, is campaigning for the role. “If given an opportunity, I would love to stay on,” she told the Daily News.

Meisha Ross Porter

Who she is: A more than 20-year veteran of the Education Department who worked her way up in the Bronx as a teacher, principal, and high-level administrator. She served as chancellor under Mayor Bill de Blasio for less than a year, beginning in March 2021, overseeing the city’s plans to fully reopen school buildings and convince students to show up after some spent more than a year learning remotely. Porter now serves as a visiting senior fellow at the Center for Educational Innovation, an organization that works with school leaders and families, according to her LinkedIn profile.

What she has going for her: She is widely considered to be a staunch advocate of equity in education, was the first Black woman to lead the system, and is respected by many educators and department staffers. Porter is already deeply familiar with the system and oversaw an effort to overhaul gifted programs, an idea that Adams scrapped but Mamdani has indicated he’s interested in pursuing. The mayor-elect has shown an interest in recruiting top officials from the de Blasio administration.

Complicating factors: After leaving the Education Department, Porter had a rocky stint running the Bronx Community Foundation that raised questions about her leadership. The organization failed to distribute most of the money it raised, according to an investigation by the news organization New York Focus, and the organization’s board of directors ultimately fired Porter. She was recently considered a finalist to run Chicago’s school system, though that search process has appeared to stall.

What she says: Did not respond to a request for comment.

Angélica Infante-Green

Who she is: Infante-Green is Rhode Island’s education commissioner, and she has a long track record in New York. She served as a deputy commissioner in New York State’s Education Department, spearheading the state’s school integration plans. Before that, she oversaw New York City’s efforts to serve English language learners and expanded bilingual and dual language programs. She’s an alumna of Teach for America and worked in multiple Manhattan schools.

What she has going for her: She has extensive knowledge of the city and state education bureaucracies and would need little time getting up to speed. A daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Infante-Green has focused on vulnerable children, including English learners and students with disabilities, groups that Mamdani has indicated will be a focus of his administration. In Rhode Island, Infante-Green helped oversee the state’s strategy to reduce chronic absenteeism in the wake of the pandemic, a model that is paying off and earned national attention.

Complicating factors: Infante-Green was involved in contentious contract negotiations with the Providence Teachers Union, which passed a vote of no confidence in her and the local superintendent. Mamdani has cultivated a close relationship with the city’s teachers union, and has said he will consult union leaders on his chancellor pick. And Mamdani criticized charter schools, which Infante-Green supported in Rhode Island.

What she says: Did not respond to a request for comment.

Who else?

Several other candidates have been rumored to be in the mix. Kamar Samuels, the superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3, was floated as a possible candidate, according to the New York Times. He has previously spearheaded school mergers with an eye toward integration. Moves like that could be appealing to Mamdani as the city grapples with a glut of small schools, and the mayor-elect has signaled he is interested in school integration efforts. (Samuels did not respond to a request for comment)

Alex Marrero, the current superintendent of Denver Public Schools, may be eyeing the job. He has roots in New York as a principal in the Bronx and later in administrative roles in New Rochelle and East Ramapo. He was reportedly a finalist to lead Chicago Public Schools, a job he indicated he would not accept.

In a statement, Marrero said he has “not spoken to anyone from the Mayor-Elect’s team.” He added: “While my ties to New York and its communities run deep, as a matter of respectful practice, I do not speculate on these matters and continue to concentrate my attention and efforts on DPS.”

Alexendra Estrella, the superintendent of Norwalk Public Schools in Connecticut, has also been floated. She previously served as the superintendent in Manhattan’s District 4, which includes East Harlem. Her tenure as superintendent included some tensions with families and teachers. (She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Rita Joseph, a long-time Brooklyn teacher and chair of New York City Council’s education committee, has also been rumored but has no high-level administrative experience in a school system. (Her spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.)

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani’s schools chancellor pick: Some parent groups are pushing for him to keep Aviles-Ramos

2025-12-03T19:52:38+00:00

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A growing chorus of New York City families are pushing Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to keep schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos in place when he takes office in January to avoid a leadership shakeup in the middle of the school year.

“Families across this city deserve stability, experienced leadership and continuity during this critical transition,” members of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, which includes dozens of parent leaders across the city, wrote in a recent letter to Mamdani. “Removing [Aviles-Ramos] would create unnecessary disruption and weaken the progress underway.”

A separate group of local parent leaders are planning to send a similar letter this week.

Ever since New York City’s mayor won control of the school system more than two decades ago, each incoming mayor has appointed a new schools chief when taking office. But Mamdani has said he’s open to breaking that pattern by keeping Aviles-Ramos, who was chosen by Mayor Eric Adams. The mayor-elect has already tapped Adams’ police commissioner to stay in her role.

The latest push from parent leaders may create additional pressure on Mamdani to stick with Aviles-Ramos, especially as he has vowed to include families and educators in decisions about how the school system is managed. The city’s teachers union, which endorsed Mamdani in the general election, also supports keeping Aviles-Ramos.

Aviles-Ramos took over more than a year ago after former Chancellor David Banks abruptly resigned amid a federal investigation of Adams’ inner circle (Banks has not been accused of wrongdoing). She joined the school system in 2007 and worked her way up as a teacher, principal, superintendent, and Banks’ chief of staff. She helped lead the Education Department’s response to a massive influx of migrant students. And she has largely continued Adams’ existing agenda.

For months, advocacy groups including New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools have encouraged Mamdani to conduct a thorough process that includes a search committee and public forums. Keeping Aviles-Ramos in her role on a temporary basis would create time to collect feedback from educators and families, they argue. (That group is hosting a meeting on Dec. 8 to discuss the chancellor search process.)

If Mamdani taps Aviles-Ramos, two of the city’s highest-profile agencies would be managed by people selected by Adams, who faced multiple corruption scandals and is deeply unpopular.

“I’ve said time and again that I will consider anyone on the basis of the work that they have done — not hold it against them as to who appointed them,” Mamdani said in October.

Still, Mamdani has not yet released a detailed education agenda, and he has embraced some of Adams’ signature initiatives, including a sweeping reading curriculum overhaul. Aviles-Ramos is well-positioned to keep those efforts on track, the chancellor’s parent advisory group noted in their letter.

The schools chancellor is a major appointment. The post is among the nation’s most visible jobs in public education, and the Education Department is the largest city agency, with roughly 150,000 employees and a nearly $43 billion budget. The mayor-elect’s signature campaign promise — universal child care — will require close coordination with the department.

Mamdani’s transition team did not immediately respond to questions about when he plans to name a chancellor and whether he will collect public input before making a decision.

NeQuan McLean, a parent leader in Brooklyn, said the Education Council Consortium — which is made up of local education council leaders — plans to send a similar letter this week encouraging Mamdani to keep Aviles-Ramos in place.

She “has done some great work around parent empowerment,” said McLean, who helps lead the consortium and is the president of the local parent council in Bedford-Stuyvesant. He cited an initiative that helps connect families to housing support, food benefits, and other services.

But McLean said the group will also push for a more open-ended search process, which he noted could still result in Aviles-Ramos staying on the job. “This is a public-facing position and the public should weigh in on the decision,” he said.

A spokesperson for Aviles-Ramos did not respond to a request for comment, though she has signaled an interest in some of Mamdani’s education priorities. In September, she announced plans to expand a pilot program to support homeless students. Mamdani repeatedly touted the initiative on the campaign trail and plans to scale it up.

Mamdani has said little about who he is considering for the role or whether he will conduct a national search. At least one potential candidate for the role, Meisha Porter, is in the running to oversee Chicago’s public school system, though that process has slowed to a crawl. She is a veteran of New York City’s Education Department who briefly served as chancellor under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Zohran Mamdani wants to end mayor control of NYC schools. It has eroded under Eric Adams.

2025-11-21T21:29:39+00:00

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Zohran Mamdani campaigned on ending mayoral control of New York City’s public school system — by far his most significant education promise.

As debate intensifies over whether the mayor-elect should follow through on that pledge, a significant shift has flown under the radar: Under Mayor Eric Adams, the chief executive’s power over the school system has weakened.

On paper, the city’s mayor still exerts near-complete authority over the city’s schools. The mayor hires and fires the head of the school system and appoints a majority of the school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP.

But from his first months in office, Adams struggled to manage the board, which voted against several administration proposals. During his term, state lawmakers diluted the mayor’s power, adding new parent representatives to the panel while preventing the mayor from removing appointees who vote against the administration’s proposals.

More recently, as a lame duck, Adams has ceded more power. He has allowed three of his 13 mayoral seats on the 24-member board to go unfilled, handing the majority to board members selected by others.

And in recent months, the panel has repeatedly voted against City Hall’s proposals — an extraordinary departure from boards under previous administrations that only occasionally bucked the mayor. On Wednesday, in an unusual move, they voted down the Education Department’s budget.

“The idea that we are rubber stamps and aren’t making judgments — that’s in the past,” Greg Faulker, the chair of the board who was appointed by Adams, said of the board’s larger role.

Six months after Mamdani takes office, it will be up to lawmakers in Albany whether to extend mayoral control in its current form. The question for Mamdani is whether he will lobby lawmakers for sweeping reforms or embrace a PEP that has become detached from City Hall.

PEP seen as ‘mere formality’ under some mayors

During the campaign, Mamdani pledged to end mayoral control and replace it with a system that shares power with families and educators, though he has not said what that means.

His critique of mayoral control has zeroed in on the PEP, which he contends does not take community input into account, especially on contentious school closure, mergers, or re-location proposals.

“They go to a hearing about the future of a school that their children go to — eight hours of testimony,” Mamdani said in a recent television interview. “Meanwhile, the decision was actually made weeks and months prior, and this is just a mere formality.”

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg won mayoral control of the school system in 2002. He did not tolerate dissent from the PEP — and famously fired two of his own appointees for opposing a plan to end “social promotion” of students from one grade level to the next. After replacing them in what was dubbed the “Monday night massacre,” the proposal passed.

Ultimately, Bloomberg’s board passed numerous controversial proposals, including dozens of school closures despite community resistance.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who ran in opposition to many of Bloomberg’s education policies, vowed to give the board’s mayoral appointees more independence. But little changed in practice. The board typically voted in lockstep with the administration’s wishes, with only a few exceptions. In one episode, a mayoral appointee cast a decisive vote against two school closures proposed by the administration. In short order, she was off the board.

Adams loses his grip on mayoral control

From his first months in office, Adams lost the tight grip on the PEP that other mayors have enjoyed.

Adams was slow to appoint panel members early in his term and was forced to hastily withdraw one of them after her anti-gay writing came to light. With a vacant slot, City Hall lost a routine vote to approve the city’s funding formula. (It was approved at the next month’s meeting after the chancellor vowed to review the funding scheme.)

But managing the board has also grown more complex. The PEP has nearly doubled in size since 2019 — a response from state lawmakers to concerns that the governance system is not responsive to community input.

It now includes 24 voting members, including five selected by parent leaders, one chosen by each of the five borough presidents, 13 mayoral appointees, and a chair selected by the mayor from a list devised by state lawmakers. (The schools chancellor, a secretary, two students, and a representative from the comptroller’s office serve as non-voting members.)

The city's Panel for Educational Policy has voted down some Adams administration proposals at recent meetings.

Members serve one-year terms, and the mayoral appointees can’t be removed if they vote against the administration’s wishes, a change state lawmakers made just months after Adams took office.

“Having PEP members who can’t be summarily dismissed as Bloomberg did is an important structural difference,” said Jeffrey Henig, a political science professor at Columbia University. “It can be a more vital body that sometimes stands up to the mayor.”

The larger board means more panel members are weighing in on any given decision, making it harder to forge a majority if there are more dissenting voices. City Hall must also devote more effort to recruiting panel members to fill the mayor’s 13-member majority.

Asked why the mayor has not filled three vacancies on the board, a City Hall spokesperson said it can be difficult to quickly find qualified people. The position is unpaid and requires attending monthly public meetings that sometimes stretch past midnight.

“Our administration continues to work hard to ensure this panel is well-staffed,” City Hall spokesperson Zachary Nosanchuk wrote in an email.

Notably, Mamdani may not be able to appoint a majority to the PEP when he takes office because the current members’ terms won’t expire until June.

‘You need to listen to us’: A more independent PEP opposes the administration

No issue has reflected the changing power dynamics between the mayor and the PEP more than the recent negotiations over school bus contracts, which cost nearly $2 billion each year.

After the contracts expired over the summer, city officials agreed to a five-year extension with the bus companies. But dozens of parents and advocates flooded PEP meetings to argue that they should approve a shorter extension to give officials more room to overhaul the troubled system entirely.

“Don’t reward bad behavior,” parent Christi Angel said at the September PEP meeting. “This is a broken system.”

Despite the companies’ handshake agreement with the city for a five-year contract, the PEP passed a resolution saying they wouldn’t support it — including the mayoral appointees. The bus companies later threatened to lay off their workers, potentially grinding the whole system to a stop. The PEP held firm.

“Once that resolution passed, it was game over,” Faulkner said, noting the administration encouraged the PEP to approve a five-year deal. “And the fact that it passed unanimously was a further indication that you need to listen to us.”

On Wednesday evening, the PEP approved a three-year extension of the contracts.

Shortly after, the chancellor, who is in the running to keep her job under Mamdani, signaled her support of a more independent PEP.

“With an incoming administration that has really spoken about its values around community engagement, it’s a great time to reset,” Aviles-Ramos said.

Her comments came at a remarkable moment. Minutes earlier, the board voted down the Education Department’s budget after concerns surfaced about growing administrative spending, including on the chancellor’s office. (The budget could be approved at a future meeting.)

Growing PEP independence stirs debate

The panel’s newfound power has earned varied reactions.

Last month, the board voted down more than $4 million in technology contracts after families and educators raised concerns at a PEP meeting about the companies’ use of artificial intelligence.

One of them was a deal with an AI company launched by former football star Colin Kaepernick, who appeared at a conference alongside Aviles-Ramos a week before the vote. It was an embarrassing setback for the chancellor, who has recently touted efforts to bring AI into schools.

“I was really surprised and thrilled,” said Leonie Haimson, a student privacy advocate who criticized the AI contracts before the vote at last month’s panel meeting. Still, Haimson believes the PEP should have even more independence from the mayor, noting that the board has still approved proposals under Adams despite intense community pushback.

“A lot of important decisions are made without the transparency and accountability that should be required,” she added.

Others have been frustrated that the mayor has lost power over the PEP, arguing the increasingly sprawling board doesn’t always have expertise in what they’re voting on. One technology contract they voted down was a $1.5 million deal with Kiddom, a digital platform that helps teachers access curriculum materials.

Abbas Manjee, Kiddom’s cofounder and chief academic officer, said the company’s use of artificial intelligence is teacher-facing and felt the PEP members didn’t seem familiar with the platform before lumping it in with other AI companies.

He noted the company helps schools access reading and math materials that are at the center of Adams’ curriculum mandates, a top mayoral education priority.

“It’s almost like you’re shooting yourself in the foot,” Manjee said. “Where is mayoral control?”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC officials declare victory on class size caps after quietly exempting thousands of classes

2025-11-18T01:29:05+00:00

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday that the city met a high-stakes test under the state’s class size reduction law: ensuring 60% of this year’s classrooms fell under the new limits.

But he failed to mention that the city only cleared that hurdle by quietly declaring thousands of classrooms exempt from the requirements. A Chalkbeat analysis of data released Monday found that without the exemptions the city would have fallen just short of compliance, potentially putting it at risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in state aid.

Officials declared roughly 10,500 of the city’s more than 150,000 classes exempt. With those classrooms removed from the equation, 64% of classrooms citywide were in compliance — the rate city officials reported to the state. The city’s rate without the exemptions? 59.5%.

Several administrators and parents at schools with exempted classrooms said they were unaware they had won exemptions — and hadn’t requested them.

“I was a little surprised to see we were listed as exempt,” said one principal who didn’t ask for the exemptions and didn’t know they were coming.

“It’s ironic because they ask us to come up with a plan for our school … but then when they make larger decisions, they don’t ask us anything,” said the principal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

The state’s sweeping class size law, which limits classes to between 20 and 25 students, took effect in 2022 and requires that an additional 20% of classrooms fall under the caps each year. This year’s 60% mandate was the first major test the city faced, since only 47% of classes were under the caps last November. (Classes that require larger groups like physical education are not subject to the caps.)

The challenge gets more daunting over the next year as the city races to get 80% of classes under the caps, soliciting another round of class size reduction plans from principals, who can request changes to their building configuration and money to hire additional teachers. City officials project the annual cost of hiring additional teachers could be as high as $1.7 billion when the caps are fully implemented, with up to $18 billion in school construction costs on top of that.

Some critics said the flood of exemptions this year heightens their concerns that the city will only lean more heavily on them in the years to come.

“It just underlines and emphasizes the fact that they don’t have a serious plan, and they never have,” said Leonie Haimson, the executive director of the advocacy group Class Size Matters and a key advocate for the state law.

To meet the state’s 60% threshold, the city spent roughly $450 million on a teacher hiring spree this fall — and took advantage for the first time of a clause in the law that allows some schools to ignore the requirements if they have limited space, are overenrolled, are in financial distress, or face a shortage of licensed teachers. The city exempted classes at more than 120 schools, Chalkbeat’s analysis found.

Teachers union officials confirmed Monday that principals were not directly involved in the exemption process. Under state law, the chancellor of the Education Department and the presidents of the unions for teachers and administrators can — and did — make the decisions.

“It’s not up to the school,” teachers union President Michael Mulgrew told Chalkbeat. “This is a law for the school system.”

An Education Department spokesperson said the exemptions must be renegotiated every year and schools that received exemptions this year should still aim for full class size compliance.

“Surpassing 60 percent of our class size reduction target for the 2025–2026 school year is a major step forward, and we’re not slowing down," Adams said in a statement.

Schools can get a pass for “overenrollment” or space limitations

A handful of the exemptions were already agreed to over the summer. In a class size plan released in July, city and union officials agreed to exempt the city’s eight specialized high schools, coveted programs like Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech that admit students based on a single test, on the grounds they are “overenrolled.”

Another set of schools could qualify for exemptions based on lack of space if a new annex or school building was in the works nearby, officials said in July. In the city’s two current capital plans, from 2020-24 and from 2025-29, a total of about 26,000 seats are supposed to be added in coming years through a combination of annexes and new buildings.

But people at several of the schools that received exemptions Monday said they were unaware of any annex or school construction plans nearby. At least three schools receiving class size exemptions had no new construction projects listed in their districts, according to the city’s data.

At P.S./I.S. 187 in Washington Heights, where 91 of 118 classes were issued exemptions, an annex project was recently added to the city’s capital plan to deliver 342 seats — but with no estimated completion date.

Olympia Kazi, a parent at the school who has been pushing for years for lower class sizes, said she was “saddened and dismayed” to learn about the exemptions.

“An annex may materialize at best in three to four years,” she said. “That means a generation of kids will still go through elementary school in overcrowded classes.”

Kazi noted that she suggested several other strategies for reducing class sizes while the school awaits additional space, including staggering start times for different groups of students and capping incoming kindergarten enrollment. Those ideas haven’t gone anywhere.

“I believe class size is a major issue for every school, and especially the overcrowded schools,” she said. “I wish there had been real community engagement before they decided any of this and an explanation of the reasoning behind this.”

Haimson believes granting the exemptions without including school communities in the process violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.

Having union officials help decide on exemptions at schools “where the principals don’t necessarily even want those exemptions, is bizarre,” she said.

Haimson added that new construction isn’t guaranteed to bring schools under the class size caps if the city doesn’t limit enrollment at overcrowded schools. Hundreds of schools don’t have the space to meet the class size caps, officials say, but the city has largely rejected requests to cap their enrollment.

Restricting enrollment is also a non-starter with the teachers union.

At the Boerum Hill School for International Studies, a 6-12 campus, more than half of the school’s 222 classes are exempt from the new class size caps. Antonia Ferraro Martinelli, the parent of a ninth grader at the school, said the campus is crunched for space in part because it houses four schools and there is little room to shrink classes.

News of the exemptions came as a surprise to parent leaders and the school administration, however, because they hadn’t requested them. The school’s principal is “putting her efforts toward being in compliance so this is coming out of left field,” said Ferraro Martinelli, who spoke with the principal on Monday. (The principal did not respond to a request for comment.)

Several educators and parents at schools that received exemptions said they plan to continue pushing to reduce class sizes.

In general, the city’s highest-need schools stand to benefit the least from the class size caps because they already tend to have smaller classes. A disproportionate share of spending to reduce class sizes is flowing to more affluent campuses, city data show. Because of that, some advocates with equity concerns called on city and state leaders last week to pause the class size caps entirely, a move permitted under the law.

Still, Education Department officials declined to request a pause, even as they previously raised similar equity concerns. Their reason: They’re making plenty of progress without it.

Correction: Nov. 20, 2025: A previous version of this story used the incorrect name for P.S./I.S. 187.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC students in juvenile detention often denied the education support they need, report finds

2025-11-17T11:00:01+00:00

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New York City students in juvenile detention often show up with deep learning challenges and frequently don’t get the support they need to catch up, according to a new analysis of city data.

Court-involved youth held in juvenile detention facilities and group homes managed by the Administration for Children’s Services, the city’s child welfare agency, are entitled to schooling through an Education Department program called Passages Academy.

Those programs tend to receive little public scrutiny, though they serve some of the city’s most vulnerable students. In 2023, City Council passed a law requiring officials to release a trove of data about the program. A report released Monday by Advocates for Children, a group that helps families navigate the school system, includes the first detailed analysis.

“Too often these young people continue to struggle to access the educational services and supports that could help them succeed, both while in detention or placement and after returning home,” the report says.

Here are five takeaways from the report:

Black boys are overrepresented, and so are students with emotional disabilities

Over the past two school years, 1,850 students enrolled in Passages Academy. More than 60% were Black, more than 92% were boys, and virtually all were from low-income families, according to an enrollment snapshots from October 2023 and 2024. (About a quarter of all children in middle and high school are Black and 78% come from low-income families.)

Nearly half of all students in Passages had a disability, more than twice the rate across the school system.

Students in juvenile detention were also far more likely to be classified with an emotional disability: 18% of students enrolled at Passages received that classification compared with just 1% for students in middle and high schools across the system, according to the report.

Students arrive with significant learning challenges

When students arrive in juvenile detention, they are often far behind their peers in reading and math. On average, students at Passages who were assessed in reading scored in the 10th percentile in 2023-24 and the 18th percentile the following school year. Math scores were similarly low.

Education Department officials said they’ve expanded efforts to identify students with reading challenges, such as dyslexia. Teachers across the program are receiving additional training to catch students up.

They don’t always get the extra help they’re entitled to

Students with disabilities are entitled to new learning plans that spell out what services they will receive while within 30 days of arriving at a Passages program. But officials failed to provide the plans on time for nearly 17% of eligible students, according to figures for the last two school years.

The Education Department did not provide statistics on what percentage of required special education services were actually delivered, even though that data was required to be released under the City Council law. Officials said it is difficult to collect those figures because students move in and out of the program frequently.

English learners, a group that represents about 12% of Passages students, also struggled to access the support they need. Nearly a quarter of those students received no English as a new language instruction while they were in custody during the past two years, the report found.

The report suggests that some students in secure detention facilities are not always given access to instruction. In 2023, Gothamist reported that some classrooms were sometimes used as cells or for sleeping accommodations.

“If they’re not actually getting to Passages then they’re not getting an education — period,” said Rohini Singh, director of the school justice project at Advocates for Children and a co-author of the report.

Education Department officials acknowledged there are gaps in services and said they are launching afterschool and Saturday programs that include speech therapy and small-group reading instruction at two Passages sites beginning next month.

“We appreciate the advocacy from our partners with Advocates for Children, and we take these concerns extremely seriously,” Education Department spokesperson Onika Richards wrote in an email.

A spokesperson for the Administration for Children’s Services said the agency helps coordinate tutoring. They also help students earn high school equivalency diplomas or complete college coursework, as some people in secure detention are 18 or over and not legally required to attend school.

Once released, students often struggle to reconnect with school

The report details multiple examples of families receiving little or inadequate support enrolling in school once their child was released from detention.

After one 14-year-old student was discharged, his mother visited a nearby school in the Bronx to enroll him. But because her son was not physically with her, the school refused. The teen was not allowed to leave their home at the time under the terms of his release.

“The failure to connect [the student] and his mother with any resources that could assist with the transition back to school upon his release placed them in an impossible situation,” according to the report.

Even when students do enroll in traditional schools once they’re released, their attendance rates are often abysmal. More than half of students discharged over the last two years were absent on at least half of all school days in the two months after they returned to a traditional school. (Those figures only include students who transitioned to city public schools and stayed for at least 10 days.)

Richards said the Education Department is working “to ensure court-involved youth receive the comprehensive transition support they deserve.”

Beefing up support could help make a dent, advocates say

Advocates urged the Education Department to take several steps to prevent students from getting tangled up in the court system in the first place, including expanded mental health and special education support.

And they called on the city to beef up transition services to help families enroll in schools once their children are released from detention. Singh noted that many students might be good candidates for transfer schools, which generally enroll students who are older and behind in credits, though it can be challenging for families to navigate that enrollment process.

More broadly, she said the city must expand access to services for students while they are enrolled at Passages, especially among students with disabilities.

“Our hope,” Singh added, “is the administration will take a closer look at these students and make sure they receive interventions while they’re in custody.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Advocates call for pause on NYC class size mandate to give Mamdani time to address equity concerns

2025-11-13T19:00:12+00:00

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Just two days before the deadline, a group of education advocates on Thursday urged city officials to request a pause to state law that requires New York City to sharply reduce class sizes.

They contend a pause could allow incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani to address a central inequity: The city’s highest-need schools stand to benefit the least from mandatory class size caps.

All of the city’s public schools must cap class sizes at 20-25 students, depending on grade level, by 2028. City officials expected 60% of classrooms across the city would meet the caps this year, as required by law, largely by hiring more teachers.

Next year’s 80% benchmark will be a much bigger challenge. Many campuses don’t have space for smaller classes without capping enrollment, a nonstarter with many families. And building new classrooms is expensive and time-consuming. The city is allowed to request school-level exemptions to the law, though they must be approved by union officials.

A provision of the law gives city officials an opportunity to “recommend a pause of the class size reduction plan” — a request that must be made as part of a financial impact statement due Nov. 15. State officials can withhold funding if the city Education Department fails to comply with the law.

“The bottom line is that this well-intentioned mandate will transfer resources — money, teachers, and buildings — from the schools that need them the most to the schools that need them the least,” said Richard Buery, the CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation and a former deputy under Mayor Bill de Blasio. He was joined at a Thursday press conference by advocates from EdTrust-New York and Educators for Excellence.

Buery said it is the “wrong time” to focus on system-wide class size reductions given threats from the Trump administration to slash federal funding and as city officials are receiving less money from the state than expected.

Others stressed that a pause would allow Mamdani to negotiate a plan with the state legislature to implement the law more equitably. It would not prevent him from continuing to lower class sizes, they added.

“He could also make the decision to use some of this money to reduce class size in a few communities or a few grade levels, and use other resources to support his other ambitious goals around early childhood,” said Evan Stone, CEO of Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group.

It’s unclear whether Mamdani would support such a move, and a spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The mayor-elect has repeatedly said he supports the class size law and campaigned on a plan to ramp up teacher hiring to comply with it.

Tension over benefits and tradeoffs of class size law

Smaller classes are popular among many educators and families. The city’s teachers union, which endorsed Mamdani, lobbied fiercely for the law, arguing small classes are essential to learning and can help attract educators to the profession. Studies suggest that students learn more in small classes and that those from low-income families tend to benefit the most.

But in practice, the class size mandate has significant tradeoffs. Because the city’s highest-poverty schools generally have smaller classes, they are least likely to benefit from the new cap, a Chalkbeat analysis found. That will require the city to spend resources on campuses that are relatively more affluent and may divert funding that school leaders could have used for other programs.

Union officials counter that the majority of students who will experience smaller classes come from low-income families, as they are the vast majority of students in city schools. United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew criticized the push to delay implementing the law.

“They claim to work on behalf of students and families in poverty, yet they seek to derail an initiative that prioritizes high-need schools,” Mulgrew said in a statement. “There is no reason to pause. This initiative is working.”

Even as union officials noted the city is required to prioritize high-need schools first, the law mandates that the class size caps apply to all schools by 2028 regardless of student poverty levels.

Advocates also warned that the teacher hiring spree could exacerbate turnover at higher-poverty schools. A chunk of the new educators required to staff smaller classes are likely to be drawn from needy schools, an analysis from the Urban Institute think tank found. Better-off schools will have to ramp up hiring and often are perceived as more desirable teaching assignments.

City mum on whether to request a pause

The city’s Education Department declined to say whether it will ask for a pause as part of a broader class size financial impact statement due Saturday. A spokesperson said only they will have more to share soon.

As part of the report, city officials are expected to reveal what percentage of classes are in compliance with the law. Last school year, nearly 47% of classes complied with the new caps, above the 40% required.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has previously criticized the class size law, arguing that state officials did not commit to sending the city funding to cover it. The annual cost of hiring more than 10,000 new teachers that are expected to staff smaller classes is between $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion, according to the Education Department and Independent Budget Office (not including additional school construction costs which could cost tens of billions more in the long run).

After failing to block the law, Adams has vowed to comply with it.

If the Education Department does request a pause, advocates said it will fall to state education Commissioner Betty Rosa to sign off. (A spokesperson for Rosa did not confirm that power will fall to her and the law does not explicitly say.) Rosa has previously expressed her own concerns about the class size law, noting it will not benefit all schools equally.

“You’re gonna have to take it from Peter to give it to Paul,” she previously said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

These 15 NYC schools will get on-site banking services in effort to boost financial literacy

2025-11-12T16:25:48+00:00

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Fifteen New York City public schools will offer information about banking services on site next year through a pilot program designed to expand financial literacy and access, city officials announced Wednesday.

The program is part of Mayor Eric Adams’ “financial literacy for youth” initiative, which the mayor revealed in January and is now beginning to take shape.

“If you don’t teach people how to use their money, they will lose their money,” Adams said in a statement. The program will “bring banking services directly to students and give them hands-on experience opening up a safe, affordable bank account, learning about financial products, and starting careers in banking and finance.”

The 15 schools were chosen in part because they are in neighborhoods where families have historically lacked access to banking services. Each campus will also have access to financial educators who provide one-on-one counseling, lead workshops for families, and help teachers devise classroom materials.

Those educators will cover topics that range from money management basics to spotting financial scams and will eventually work in other schools as well. City officials have pledged to expand the program to reach 350,000 students and families by 2030, a project that is projected to cost about $25 million. It will be up to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to see the effort through.

A City Hall spokesperson indicated that the partnering banks will offer young people safe and affordable products, such as accounts to students over 16 that they can control.

Financial literacy has been a growing push among state and city leaders — with dozens of states requiring a personal finance course to graduate. New York State leaders are also planning to include financial literacy in their revamped graduation standards.

Still, some critics worry that financial literacy programs don’t address root problems with the financial sector and shift the onus away from policymakers to ensure the system is fair and transparent.

Financial institutions are also often big supporters of school-based financial literacy and may stand to gain from marketing their products to students and families. City officials said 12 financial institutions are partnering with schools so far including a mix of major commercial banks and local credit unions.

Here is a list of the first 15 schools that will receive on-campus banking services:

Manhattan District 2: Urban Assembly Early College High School of Emergency Medicine

Manhattan District 3: The Urban Assembly School for Green Careers

Manhattan District 5: Mott Hall High School

Bronx District 7: The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology

Bronx District 8: Longwood Prep

Bronx District 9: Bronx High School for Medical Science

Bronx District 10: Fordham High School for the Arts

Bronx District 11: Bronx Lab School

Bronx District 12: East Bronx Academy for the Future

Brooklyn District 14: High School for Enterprise, Business and Technology

Brooklyn District 19: World Academy for Total Community Health High School

Brooklyn District 21: John Dewey High School

Brooklyn District 23: Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School

Queens District 30: Long Island City High School

Staten Island District 31: The Eagle Academy for Young Men of Staten Island

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

NYC school suspensions fall to lowest level since the pandemic, but stark disparities remain

2025-11-11T20:38:45+00:00

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New York City schools handed out fewer suspensions last year, the lowest rate since the pandemic forced school buildings to shutter, according to new Education Department statistics.

Overall, schools issued 27,143 suspensions during the 2024-25 school year, down 2.1% from the year before.

The decline was driven by a big drop in superintendent suspensions, which run six days or more and are served at outside suspension sites. Students received those lengthier punishments nearly 5,600 times last school year, down from about 6,200 the year before — a 10% decline.

Principal suspensions, which last for five days or fewer and are typically served in school, were issued more than 21,500 times, only slightly higher than the year before. (The figures do not include charter schools.)

Lengthy suspensions have recently drawn increased scrutiny. Legal Services NYC, a public interest group, filed a lawsuit in May alleging the city uses an inappropriately low standard of proof in suspension hearings, violating the U.S. Constitution. (City officials have moved to dismiss the case.) Schools have also routinely suspended students with disabilities for longer than legally allowed by federal law, a Chalkbeat investigation found.

It’s unclear what drove the decrease in lengthy punishments last school year. Schools typically must get approval from a central office administrator to issue a superintendent suspension.

“There haven’t been any clear policy changes,” said Rohini Singh, the director of the school justice project at Advocates for Children, which helps families to navigate the suspension process. “Certainly, we’re happy to see that the overall number of suspensions is decreasing.”

Still, Singh noted that troubling disparities persist.

About 39% of all suspensions were issued to Black students and a similar share went to students with disabilities, even as only 19% of the city’s public school students are Black and 22% have a disability. Latino students, who represent 42% of the student body, were suspended roughly in line with their share of the population. White and Asian American students were far less likely to be suspended compared to their share of the population.

Children living in foster care were at least four times as likely to be suspended as their peers, an uptick from last year, according to an analysis from the group Advocates for Children, which has pushed for reforms to school discipline policies.

An Education Department spokesperson celebrated the decline, though did not directly address the disparities.

“We are proud that over the past year, we have decreased overall suspensions,” department spokesperson Jenna Lyle wrote in an email. “We are continuously working towards encouraging schools to address any issues in a positive, supportive, and less punitive manner where possible.”

Many — though not all — studies suggest that suspensions hurt the suspended students academically. One study based on New York City found that removing students from their classrooms contributed to students passing fewer classes and increased their risk of dropping out.

After the pandemic, some observers feared suspensions might spike as concerns about student mental health and behavior grew. Others worried that Mayor Eric Adams’ tough-on-crime posture toward public safety could ripple into schools, though there have not been any major policy changes to the city’s discipline code under his watch.

His predecessor, Mayor Bill de Blasio, overhauled the code to reduce suspensions for minor infractions and cap most suspensions at 20 days. (Suspensions can still run for months or even an entire school year in some cases.)

Groups that oppose suspensions have successfully pushed the city in recent years to invest in alternatives such as restorative justice, which can include peer mediation and other methods of talking through conflicts. Some educators have countered that suspensions are an important tool for maintaining a safe learning environment and the city has not done enough to support alternative approaches.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has said little about how he would approach school discipline, though his campaign platform emphasized mental health support for students. Some advocates called on the incoming administration to boost funding for those programs and ensure long-term support for other mental health initiatives that have had to fight to maintain funding each year.

“We’re encouraged by a lot of what we’ve heard, but it still remains to be seen what’s going to happen,” Singh said.

Ananya Chetia contributed data analysis.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Former NYC schools chief a finalist for Chicago schools CEO

2025-11-07T21:26:42+00:00

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A former New York City schools chief is one of the two finalists for the job of Chicago Public Schools’ next CEO, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Meisha Ross Porter, who led New York City Public Schools in 2021, will interview with Chicago Board of Education members, a community panel, and the mayor next week.

Chicago’s selection will mark the first time its new 21-member school board chooses a new leader for the nation’s fourth largest school district. Earlier this week, WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times reported that the current interim CEO Macquline King was no longer in the running for the top job. Chalkbeat could not confirm the identity of the other finalist. Late Friday, the outlet also reported Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero was a finalist. Marrero told Chalkbeat in a statement Friday that “my dedication remains firmly with Denver Public Schools where I am proud to continue serving as superintendent.”

Porter spent more than two decades working in New York City’s public schools, rising up the ranks as a teacher, principal, and high-level administrator. She ultimately became the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest school system in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic after her predecessor abruptly stepped down.

She only spent 10 months at the helm of New York City’s public schools, appointed in March 2021 and replaced when Mayor Bill de Blasio left office at the end of the year.

In her short tenure, Porter oversaw two sweeping but late-breaking policy pushes under de Blasio that were subsequently scrapped by Mayor Eric Adams: a plan to eliminate separate gifted and talented classes and a $200 million proposed universal curriculum.

Porter is widely respected by many education leaders in New York and has also been floated as a possible schools chief for incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani has said he is also considering current Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos for the role.

Porter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden nor the school board’s chief of staff returned requests for comment.

After leaving her post as New York City’s schools chief, Porter became the president and CEO of the Bronx Community Foundation. The foundation was set up to help finance other local nonprofits, but was in turmoil during her time there. It failed to distribute most of the money it raised from 2019 to 2023 and spent more on consultants and overhead than charitable giving, according to an investigation by the news organization New York Focus. In 2024, the organization’s board of directors fired Porter.

More recently, Porter has served as a visiting senior fellow at the Center for Educational Innovation, an organization that works with school leaders and families, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The Chicago Board of Education is scheduled to meet Monday for a special meeting during which they plan to interview the two finalists in person, WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times reported this week. The board plans to reconvene later in the week to make a final pick and the full 21-member board could then vote on a final contract with the new leader at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 3.

Chicago began its process to find a new leader in March, hiring the search firm Alma Advisory Group, an executive search firm known for its work helping school boards hire superintendents.

The previous CPS CEO Pedro Martinez was fired without cause in late December 2024, but remained at the helm of the district until late June. Martinez, who made about $360,000 annually as head of CPS, clashed with Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer, over how to handle the district’s finances. The tensions at one point led to Johnson’s entire seven-member appointed board resigning en masse.

For the past 30 years under mayoral control, CPS’s leader has been chosen by the city’s mayor.

Earlier this year, a key lawmaker who helped pave the way for an elected school board raised the possibility that the mayor should still get the final say on who runs CPS. Legal experts and local officials disagree on whether that is still the case and the language in state law is murky.

Nevertheless, Johnson is expected to interview both finalists next week, according to a source close to the search process. He also maintains significant influence over the school board given that 11 of 21 members are his appointees.

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates criticized the secrecy surrounding the finalists and the “hand-picked panel” of community members being asked for input, calling it “a fundamental failure of the democratic values this new process was meant to uphold.”

“Black and Brown students and their families will bear the brunt of this decision,” Davis Gates said. “Their voices must be at the center of this process, not excluded from it.”

But in a letter sent to the school board president late Friday night, Davis Gates said “the authority to appoint the CPS CEO resides with the Mayor of the City of Chicago” and argued that the board’s “apparent belief that it is empowered” to pick the district’s next leader is against state law.

Dwayne Truss, a member of the West Side branch of the NAACP, said the group is upset that interim CEO King has been eliminated as a finalist.

Truss, a former member of the Board of Education, said the current board should be prioritizing a local candidate. He pointed to former “outsider” CEOs, including Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who was convicted of receiving bribes during her time at Chicago Public Schools, as failing to be successful.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Charter leaders, union officials, and education advocates rush to influence Mamdani’s schools agenda

2025-11-05T21:51:33+00:00

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After Zohran Mamdani’s election victory on Tuesday night, education advocates across New York City swiftly offered words of encouragement and began pitching ideas to help shape the mayor-elect’s schools agenda.

Some groups urged Mamdani to continue Mayor Eric Adams’ signature curriculum reforms. Others praised his focus on affordability and expressed excitement about his pledge for universal child care. And charter school leaders said they want to build bridges with the incoming mayor, even though the Mamdani campaign criticized the sector on the campaign trail.

Mamdani has said little about his vision for the nation’s largest school system — giving outside groups an opening to help shape his thinking. Mamdani has signaled he is willing to listen to new ideas and has pledged to give families and educators a greater voice.

On Wednesday, Mamdani announced a handful of advisors to begin his transition to City Hall. They include Melanie Hartzog, the leader of New York Foundling, which operates some early childhood and other education programs. Hartzog previously served in city government, including as a deputy mayor and top budget official under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Mamdani also tapped Grace Bonilla, CEO of the United Way of New York City, which also operates education programs. She previously worked in the administration of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. None of the leaders of the transition team Mamdani announced on Wednesday have deep experience in K-12 education.

Teacher groups push to keep Adams’ signature education initiative

Under Adams, the school system made big changes to reading and math instruction, mandating specific reading programs for elementary schools and for Algebra 1 in high school. Curriculum shifts are underway at middle schools, too.

Educators for Excellence, a teacher advocacy group, said Mamdani should keep those efforts going. The group pointed to rising test scores as evidence of success, though experts have cautioned it is difficult to directly attribute the gains to the curriculum changes. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, which endorsed Mamdani, also said he hopes the mayor-elect stays the course.

“Changing the curriculums constantly is not a good thing for us,” Mulgrew told Chalkbeat.

Mamdani has indicated he is open to keeping some of those curriculum changes in place, though he has also said teachers should have more flexibility in how they are used.

Charter leaders offer an olive branch

Mamdani has made no secret of his skepticism of charter schools, which educate about 15% of the city’s public school students, arguing they divert resources from city-run public schools. While the mayor’s power over charter schools is limited, Mamdani said he plans to conduct audits of them. (Charter schools are publicly funded but privately managed.)

Charter school leaders staged a massive rally weeks before the primary, warning of threats to the sector. But some charter leaders took a warmer tone after Mamdani’s win on Tuesday, noting that his message on affordability resonated with many families.

“We look forward to a mayor who will unite us, strengthen us and provide us the resources our children and families deserve,” James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, said in a statement.

Some Mamdani critics hope to work with him

Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education, or PLACE, has been a major critic of Mamdani’s education proposals — including ending mayoral control of schools and scrapping gifted programs that begin in kindergarten.

Yiatin Chu, the group’s co-founder, still hopes to find common ground with the mayor-elect on issues like chronic absenteeism, the state’s class size reduction mandate, and attracting more families to the public school system amid declining enrollment. (PLACE endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.)

“I believe that we have the pulse on public school families,” Chu said. “Of course we would like to work with him and his chancellor.”

Education advocates praise focus on universal child care, affordability

Multiple education groups expressed excitement about one of Mamdani’s central campaign pledges: to roll out universal free child care starting when children are 6 weeks old.

The Alliance for Quality Education, an advocacy group, praised Mamdani’s focus on affordability and noted he is the first mayoral candidate the organization has ever endorsed.

“We have fought for a future where every child can learn in a well-funded school, where child care is accessible to all, and where people do not have to choose between caring for their children and paying rent or putting food on the table,” the organization’s co-directors, Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari and Marina Marcou-O’Malley, said in a statement. “We believe Zohran shares that vision.”

Union officials also cheered Mamdani’s win. Mulgrew, head of the teachers union, said he and the incoming mayor are aligned on many of the union’s priorities, including ramping up teacher hiring and boosting pay for aides who work with students with disabilities. The union chief also praised Mamdani’s comment to bolster the city’s prekindergarten program for 3-year-olds, launch free child care, and root out wasteful spending.

Still, the union chief acknowledged that it remains to be seen what Mamdani will prioritize.

“I’m not sure exactly what his signature issue is going to be,” Mulgrew said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani wins mayoral election. Here’s what it means for NYC schools.

2025-11-05T03:23:39+00:00

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Zohran Mamdani won Tuesday’s New York City mayoral election, putting the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist in charge of the nation’s largest school system at a time when graduation rates have risen but college readiness is low and too many students are still failing to show up to class regularly.

He won a little more than 50% of the vote, beating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent and won roughly 41% of the vote, according to the Associated Press, which called the race with 75% of the votes tallied. Republican Curtis Sliwa trailed with about 7% of votes. Mamdani becomes the first Muslim mayor of New York City.

One of the most pressing questions ahead for the mayor-elect is whether he will end two decades of mayoral control, a governance model that gives the chief executive enormous power over the city’s schools, including the selection of its chancellor.

Mamdani’s campaign galvanized the youth vote, but the Queens state assemblyman didn’t display a deep interest or expertise in education in the race, and he doesn’t have much of a record of school-related legislation from his time in Albany. Until recently, his campaign website devoted just one 168-word paragraph to K-12 education. But overseeing New York City public schools is no small feat: It has a $41 billion budget, 150,000 staffers, and nearly 900,000 students at more than 1,600 schools.

The school system’s graduation rates have soared 30 percentage points over the past two decades, and state test scores for reading and math have improved since the pandemic. But a closer look at a range of metrics reveals that student progress may be more stagnant than some of these figures indicate.

Just 52% of high school students in 2024 were considered ready to succeed in freshman-level college coursework, according to a recent audit from the state comptroller’s office. Students’ scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, were essentially the same last year as in 2003. And schools are facing a crisis of chronic absenteeism, with 1 in 3 students missing at least 10% of school last year.

The fate of mayoral control remains murky

Prior to mayoral control, schools were governed by the Board of Education and a decentralized system in which the city’s 32 districts had a lot of power over their own budgets, hiring, and contracts. Complaints about corruption, patronage, and fiefdoms ran rampant.

Today, the mayor chooses the schools chancellor and appoints the majority of members of the Panel for Educational Policy, which votes on major Education Department contracts and school closures.

Mamdani has echoed criticisms that mayoral control gives little say to parents and educators on decisions that directly affect them. He has promised a system of “co-governance” with existing parent councils and school-level leadership teams, though he has offered few details on how that would work.

But how much power he is willing to give up remains to be seen.

“I remain opposed to mayoral control,” Mamdani said at the final debate last month, “and I also believe that the mayor is accountable for that which happens in this city.”

He has yet to define what that accountability means.

Mamdani’s biggest education agenda, free child care — which focuses on the littlest New Yorkers rather than the K-12 system — could prove challenging to enact if the system’s 32 districts are controlled locally. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambitious initiative scaling up prekindergarten for 4-year-olds could not have happened without mayoral control, the city’s former chief executive has said.

Lawmakers will consider whether to continue the current system in June 2026. Some education advocates, who met recently with Mamdani’s team, are pushing for a short-term renewal while a commission would create a more detailed plan.

Finding ways to better support teachers

Mamdani, who was endorsed by the United Federation of Teachers in the general election, often talks about the importance of lowering class sizes. To help meet the state’s mandate for capping classrooms — at 20-25 students depending on grade level — Mamdani unveiled a $12 million plan to recruit 1,000 teachers a year by offering tuition assistance to those who commit to teach in city schools for three years.

He also supports Mayor Eric Adams’ literacy and math instruction overhaul, but has emphasized the importance of teachers having more input over how the mandated curriculums are implemented.

In the final debate, Mamdani’s tone on the reading curriculum changes — and the school system overall — shifted a bit, sounding more pessimistic than previously.

“We are not even on track to ensure greater literacy levels across those schools, despite the strides that have been taken with NYC Reads,” Mamdani said. (Reading scores ticked up on the latest state tests, though it’s unclear to what extent the curriculum changes are responsible for those improvements.)

Promises to focus on vulnerable students

When discussing how to fix education, Mamdani has often expressed that larger systemic issues, like homelessness and hunger, need to be addressed too. The city has “grown numb” to the numbers of homeless and hungry children and the segregation in its public schools, he told Chalkbeat on the campaign trail.

“This continues to be a focus for my campaign of putting forward a vision for our school system,” he said.

In responding to a Chalkbeat questionnaire about the most pressing problems of the city schools, he offered some hints that he’d want to focus on the system’s most vulnerable children, including students with disabilities and homeless children. Roughly 154,000 students lived in shelters or doubled up with other families or friends last year, a record high.

He also said he’d support the city’s community school model, providing wraparound services, such as mental health or dental clinics and other social services. The city currently runs more than 400 community schools, and the city’s teachers union supports the model, which has shown some promising results.

Stirring up debate on gifted programs

Mamdani recently reopened a long-running debate over the city’s gifted and talented program in elementary school, saying he wanted to eliminate gifted classes with a kindergarten entry point.

The program has come under fire by integration advocates since it enrolls disproportionately few Black and Latino students relative to their population in the school system as a whole. In the past few years, the program switched from basing admissions on a test given to 4-year-olds to teacher recommendations. Teachers, however, overwhelmingly recommend students.

New York remains an outlier in sorting in kindergarten for gifted and talented programs.

Mamdani did voice support for keeping gifted programs starting in third grade. But many of the programs for third graders, started by the Adams administration and focused on undeserved areas, have failed to gain traction.

And while Mamdani has expressed interest in overhauling gifted programs, he backed away from previous calls to eliminate the Specialized High School Admissions Test, which serves as the sole basis of entry for eight high schools, including Mamdani’s alma mater, Bronx Science.

Mamdani has also discussed tackling problems with Education Department procurement and expanding solar panels on schools. His overarching vision for the school system, however, remains opaque.

“We’ve been wanting to see how these different ideas fit together,”Jonathan Collins, professor of political science and education at Columbia University Teachers College, previously told Chalkbeat, “and instead he’s been pivoting from one idea to another.”

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Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani campaign quietly convenes education advocates to shape schools agenda

2025-10-28T12:30:00+00:00

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Though New York City’s public school system has not been a focal point of Zohran Mamdani mayoral agenda, his campaign has quietly started reaching out to education advocates to collect ideas.

Last week, a handful of Mamdani campaign staffers organized a roundtable discussion with dozens of education advocates, parent leaders, and experts to solicit input on what Mamdani should prioritize if he is elected on Nov. 4, multiple people in attendance told Chalkbeat.

The conversation covered several broad topics in virtual breakout rooms, including funding, community schools, literacy, “privatization,” youth groups, students with disabilities, English language learners, children experiencing homelessness, and artificial intelligence, according to a meeting agenda.

One topic of discussion was Mamdani’s vow to end mayoral control of the city’s public schools, which allows the mayor to select a schools chancellor and appoint the majority of the Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP, a board that votes on major contracts and policy decisions. Mamdani has pledged to replace mayoral control with a “co-governance” model that includes more input from students, educators, and parents, though he has not said what that might look like.

Jonathan Greenberg, a Queens parent leader invited to give a short presentation on mayoral control at the meeting, laid out a plan backed by the Education Council Consortium, a coalition of parent leaders. The proposal would extend the mayoral control law in the short term while giving the mayor fewer votes on the PEP. (State law grants the authority of mayoral control, which is up for renewal in June 2026.)

“That would create a functional PEP that would have to be engaged and have meaningful discussion on the issues rather than simply taking what the mayor says and voting,” Greenberg said.

Meanwhile, a commission would come up with a more detailed vision for reforming the school governance system to be implemented later.

The Mamdani staffers who participated in the meeting did not weigh in on that proposal.

“I wish they had, but really they just listened,” Greenberg said.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, has said it would be a “terrible mistake” to roll back mayoral control and has criticized Mamdani for not having a clear education platform.

The education roundtable also included conversation about an advisory group report released in 2019 under Mayor Bill de Blasio that offered recommendations for improving school diversity, according to the agenda. Mamdani has referenced it several times on the campaign trail, including in a proposal to phase out gifted programs for kindergarten students.

Several major advocacy groups attended, including the Alliance for Quality Education. A staffer from Advocates for Children, which helps low-income families navigate the school system, delivered a presentation on the organization’s recommendations for whoever the next mayor is. Multiple attendees said City Council education chair Rita Joseph participated as did Jamaal Bowman, a former congressman and Bronx middle school principal. Both have been rumored as possible chancellor candidates.

Planting seeds for a Mamdani transition?

The meeting offers a window into a possible Mamdani K-12 policy agenda that may be taking shape as Election Day on Nov. 4 nears. The 34-year-old Democratic Socialist has offered few detailed plans for how he would lead the nation’s largest school district, serving over 900,000 students in roughly 1,600 schools.

He has emphasized that he would focus on the city’s most vulnerable children, including doubling a program that deploys school staff to check in with homeless students and their caregivers to serve about 7,000 children. In response to a questionnaire from Chalkbeat about new ideas for improving some of the city’s lowest performing schools, he expressed support of community schools, which offer a range of wraparound services like mental health support and food pantries.

Mamdani’s staffers told attendees they were interested in education policy ideas that connect to affordability, a major campaign theme that underpins his proposals to roll out universal child care and freeze rent for tenants in stabilized units. They also asked attendees to consider potential threats from the Trump administration or economic trends as well as practices in other cities that New York could adopt, according to multiple attendees.

Some attendees who have been pushing the campaign to engage more on education issues cheered the opportunity to weigh in.

“It’s great that they’re finally digging into this work,” said Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, a president of the local parent council in East Harlem. “Was it a little later than I hoped? Yeah, absolutely.”

In recent weeks the frontrunner has outlined some new policy ideas, including plans to recruit 1,000 additional teachers a year and reform the Education Department’s contracting process to stamp out redundant spending and waste.

Erika Kendall, president of the local parent council in Brooklyn’s District 17, covering Crown Heights, helped lead a conversation about charter schools during the roundtable. She emphasized some of the ways that charters can draw public resources that she believes could be used in traditional public schools, such as a requirement that city officials subsidize their rent if they don’t offer space in public buildings. (Mamdani has expressed reservations about the publicly funded yet privately managed schools, though he will have little formal power over them.)

“The goal was to hear from as many people as possible — to understand what people are seeing on the ground,” Kendall said, noting the conversation was productive. “I don’t think they were prepared for how comprehensive these conversations were going to be.”

Meanwhile, at least one parent group, Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education, or PLACE, expressed frustration that they were not included. The organization favors expanding selective admissions and endorsed Cuomo.

“As a grassroots parent advocacy group that has advocated for high quality public education, which Mamdani said would be a priority, we are disappointed that we were not invited to the table,” Yiatin Chu, the group’s co-founder, wrote in an email. “Additionally, we extended an invitation to his campaign to discuss his education platform and got no answer.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Voter guide: Where the NYC mayoral candidates stand on the future of education

2025-10-24T20:40:06+00:00

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New York City’s next mayor will oversee the nation’s largest school system: more than 1,600 schools serving roughly 900,000 students with about 150,000 employees.

Its $40 billion budget makes it the largest city agency.

And yet, the candidates have not made education a central theme.

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s affordability agenda includes free child care, but he has a slim K-12 platform. He’s offered some hints that he’d want to focus on the system’s most vulnerable children, including students with disabilities and the growing number of homeless students. A record high of the city students — 154,000 — lived last year in shelters or doubled up in homes with friends or family.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, has positioned himself as the champion of selective admissions, calling for doubling specialized high schools and expanding gifted and talented programs — both of which serve a fraction of the city’s students and disproportionately enroll white and Asian American children.

And Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa vowed to slash $10 billion from the Education Department’s budget, roughly 42% of how much the city spends on schools. (Mamdani has also called for tackling wasteful department spending.)

Perhaps the most consequential education idea Mamdani has espoused about the city’s school system: having less control over it.

Here’s a closer look at some of the educational issues that have come up on the campaign trail.

What might the future of mayoral control look like?

Ever since Michael Bloomberg won sweeping control over the school system in 2002, including the power to appoint the schools chancellor, every mayor has lobbied state lawmakers to keep this governance model in place.

Mayoral control’s supporters say it creates a clear line of accountability: The buck stops with the mayor, who wields enormous influence over the Education Department’s budget.

Mamdani has vowed to “end” mayoral control, embracing a longstanding critique that it gives little say to parents and educators on decisions that directly affect them. The frontrunner has promised a system of “co-governance” with existing parent councils and school-level leadership teams, though has offered scant details on how that would work.

At the same time, he has said, the mayor should still be held accountable for the public school system — raising questions about how much power he is willing to relinquish.

“I remain opposed to mayoral control, and I also believe that the mayor is accountable for that which happens in this city,” Mamdani said in this week’s debate.

Both of Mamdani’s opponents support mayoral control.

Cuomo recently said it would be a “terrible mistake” to roll it back.

“That’s probably been the most dramatic educational reform in 40 years,” Cuomo said. “We’d go back to the old system that had local school boards, which were corrupt patronage mills.”

Whoever is elected must soon negotiate with state lawmakers over mayoral control, which is up for renewal in 2026. (It’s typically extended every couple years.)

How will the city meet the challenges to shrink classes?

Over the next two years, all New York City public school classrooms must be capped between 20-25 students under a state law. That will require thousands of new teachers, billions of dollars, and thorny tradeoffs at overcrowded campuses.

Mamdani, who was endorsed by the United Federation of Teachers, recently unveiled a plan to recruit 1,000 teachers a year by offering tuition assistance in exchange for a three-year teaching commitment. The $12 million plan won’t be enough to fully staff smaller classes, Mamdani acknowledged. To speed up the process of building new classroom space, he has also called for filling vacancies at the School Construction Authority, the agency overseeing such projects.

During the primary, Cuomo expressed support for the class size law, though he cautioned it would be difficult to implement without an infusion of new funding from the state. In recent weeks, however, the former governor’s tone has shifted considerably. In a town hall meeting with parent leaders last month, he decried the law as “detached from reality” and “reckless.”

“It is an impossibility without funding,” Cuomo said. Sliwa shares that position.

What will happen to Mayor Eric Adams’ curriculum mandates?

Mayor Eric Adams’ main educational agenda has focused on overhauling reading and math instruction. All elementary campuses must now use city-approved reading curriculums. High schools transitioned to a standard Algebra 1 program. A growing number of middle schools must use city-approved literacy and math programs, too.

In a rare instance of agreement, the candidates have said they generally support the reading curriculum changes. Cuomo has raised concerns about whether the mandated math curriculums are as strong. Mamdani said teachers should have more control over how the curriculums are implemented.

Yet in a recent debate, Mamdani took a more pessimistic tone on the reading curriculum changes — and the school system more broadly.

Mamdani has not laid out a detailed vision for improving instruction, but in a meeting with business leaders over the summer, he suggested artificial intelligence could be a useful tool in crafting lesson plans and reduce the number of employees at the Education Department, the Wall Street Journal reported. More recently, he walked back some of those comments, saying AI should supplement rather than replace staffers.

How can NYC fix its failing schools?

Mayors have taken widely different approaches to the city’s lowest-performing campuses. Bloomberg closed many large high schools and opened new, smaller ones in their place. His successor, Bill de Blasio, flooded campuses with social services and academic support, viewing closures as a last resort.

Cuomo has indicated he would shutter schools in the bottom 5% of reading and math performance on state tests, or those with graduation rates below 60%. In their place, the city should open new programs, including charters or high schools that offer students early college credits, he said. (Opening new charter schools would require approval from state lawmakers who have generally been hostile to the sector.)

Mamdani has not outlined a clear plan for improving schools, which Cuomo seized on in the final weeks of the campaign. The Democratic nominee indicated that he is more in line with de Blasio’s vision and said he would support a network of more than 400 community schools that provide wraparound support, pointing to mental health services, tutoring, and other social services.

“While the research on large-scale school improvement initiatives is limited, it is critical to implement strategies that are grounded in data,” Mamdani wrote in response to a Chalkbeat questionnaire, pointing to some encouraging evidence on the community school model.

He has also expressed reservations about the charter sector, which enjoyed support under Bloomberg, arguing they siphon resources from traditional public schools and has vowed to audit them.

What might happen to gifted programs, specialized high schools?

Debate over the city’s gifted and talented program heated up again after Mamdani indicated he wanted to eliminate the classes that start in kindergarten and keep the program starting in third grade. Cuomo and Sliwa both said they would expand gifted programs with kindergarten entry.

Adams had opened dozens of new programs for third graders in underserved areas, a way to address a thorny issue vexing the city’s gifted system: It admits disproportionately few Black and Latino students compared to their share of the population citywide.

For kindergarten gifted and talented classes, students win seats based on prekindergarten teacher recommendations. Though acceptance no longer relies on testing 4-year-olds, a much criticized process, educators still have concerns about sorting kindergartners. Many of the new third grade programs, however — which invite students to apply based on their report cards — are failing to attract applicants.

While Mamdani has expressed interest in curtailing certain gifted programs, he has backed away from his previous stance calling to eliminate the Specialized High School Admissions Test, which serves as the sole basis of entry for eight schools including Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech, and Mamdani’s alma mater, Bronx Science. Many integration advocates have blasted the test as fueling the lack of offers to Black and Latino students. He previously told Chalkbeat that he would analyze the test for gender and racial bias.

Cuomo called for expanding the number of specialized high schools to 18 and said he would consider bringing back more selective admissions for other schools. Sliwa has also expressed support for increasing the number of specialized schools.

Who will be the next schools chancellor?

One of the most significant personnel decisions the next mayor will face is who to appoint to lead the nation’s largest school system.

Mamdani has said little about how he will make the decision or if he will conduct a national search. He has indicated that he is open to keeping Melissa Aviles-Ramos, the current schools chancellor appointed by Adams, which would represent a break from previous mayors who have appointed their own schools chief.

It’s also unclear whether he would be willing to give up any of his power to appoint a schools chancellor, a major element of mayoral control.

Cuomo declined to say who he would select when asked during a recent debate. Sliwa said he would appoint Robert Holden, a Queens City Council member.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Going DOGE on the DOE: Mamdani wants to reclaim ‘efficiency’ from the right and root out waste

2025-10-21T23:05:20+00:00

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Move over, DOGE.

Zohran Mamdani wants to reclaim the mantle of government efficiency — and he’s targeting the city Education Department’s $41 billion budget.

On Tuesday, the mayoral frontrunner zeroed in on the school system’s contracting process, which he said is slow, poorly managed, and rife with wasteful spending.

“For too long, we have allowed individuals like Elon Musk to pretend as if concerns of efficiency and waste are that of the right wing, when in fact, they should be the bedrock of any progressive politics,” Mamdani told reporters. Musk spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency under President Donald Trump, an effort to slash government programs.

Mamdani’s plan would “overhaul procurement infrastructure across the DOE,” he said. Contracts with outside vendors represent about $10 billion of the Education Department’s budget.

The announcement on Tuesday was the second education proposal his campaign has rolled out in recent weeks. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, has repeatedly called out Mamdani for not releasing a more detailed education plan.

As the largest city agency, the Education Department is a frequent target of politicians who contend the public school system isn’t generating outcomes for students in line with its spending. Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa recently vowed to slash $10 billion from the department’s budget, roughly 42% of the city’s contribution to the public school system.

Mamdani acknowledged that many contracts are “essential” and indicated his goal is to root out duplicative spending and plow those dollars back into classrooms rather than slash the system’s budget.

If elected, Mamdani said he would conduct annual audits of the department’s 50 biggest vendors and 25 largest contracts, establish “procurement hubs” in every borough, and require that the department use the same online system for vendors as other city agencies.

Focusing on Education Department spending could help the mayoral frontrunner and Democratic nominee find money for other new programs he’s proposed. Though he has promised to push for tax increases on businesses and the rich to finance some of his most ambitious campaign proposals, he also acknowledged that he may need to find money for new programs within the city’s existing budget. When he unveiled a $12 million teacher recruitment effort earlier this month, he suggested it would be financed by cutting waste.

Mamdani did not indicate how much money he anticipates saving by improving the procurement process, only saying it would lead to a 10% reduction in “redundant spending.” He added the plan would reduce the city’s reliance on emergency procurement procedures and speed up the contracting process.

Mamdani did not offer many examples of duplicative contracts. When asked by a reporter for specific cases, he pointed to hundreds of millions worth of technology purchases during the pandemic, noting the Education Department did not carefully track those devices.

“These were contracts that the DOE entered into without any kind of a system of coordinating inventory,” Mamdani said.

The proposal won praise from the city’s teachers union. “Fixing this tangled mess is long overdue,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said in a statement. He called the procurement system “a chronic source of frustration.” (The union endorsed Mamdani in the general election.)

Some budget experts said it is encouraging that Mamdani is focusing on the issue.

“This is an astronomically complex and large system and is likely that there is duplication and inefficiency within that,” said Ana Champeny, the vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group. The “monumental challenge,” Champeny said, is “how do you start identifying that and ensure you get the best bang for your buck?”

Pruning contracts can lead to significant outcry. When the Adams administration cut $60 million from the Education Department’s food budget, which is largely fulfilled by contractors, schools were forced to yank popular food items from cafeterias, drawing backlash from students. Many of the items were eventually restored.

Other observers noted that Mamdani’s focus on reforming the contracting process could be an effort to reassure middle class and higher-income voters that he will be a responsible steward of the city’s budget. It is also popular with the city’s teachers union, as it directs possible cuts away from their members, said Jonathan Collins, a professor of political science and education at Columbia University Teachers College.

Still, Collins said it’s unclear how the procurement reforms fit into Mamdani’s broader thinking about how to improve the city’s school system. Mamdani has recently released proposals across very different topics, from improving teacher recruitment to phasing out gifted programs for the city’s youngest students.

“We’ve been wanting to see how these different ideas fit together and instead he’s been pivoting from one idea to another,” Collins said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat asked: Mamdani pledges to boost special education, focus on vulnerable kids

2025-10-20T22:27:59+00:00

Zohran Mamdani indicated that improving special education, an often neglected part of the school system, would be a priority if elected.

“One of the biggest challenges currently facing the school system is the need to strengthen support for students with disabilities,” the Mamdani campaign wrote in response to a Chalkbeat questionnaire.

Mamdani singled out preschool children who often languish at home without seats and do not receive all the services to which they’re entitled. He suggested too many children with disabilities are attending private schools at the city’s expense.

And he also said the city should redouble its support for the city’s 154,000 homeless students, pointing to a program that pairs homeless students with adult mentors.

The Democratic nominee has not laid out a clear vision for improving the nation’s largest school system, aside from a desire to cede some of his power over it. He recently unveiled a plan to recruit more teachers and said he would phase out gifted programs for the city’s youngest students.

But his campaign’s responses indicate that his education agenda may focus on some of the system’s most vulnerable children, who are often far behind their peers in reading and math, experience elevated rates of chronic absenteeism, and are much less likely to graduate on time.

“It is encouraging that he acknowledges that one of the biggest challenges of the system is around supporting kids with [individualized education programs],” said Lori Podvesker, director of disability and education policy at IncludeNYC, which helps families navigate the special education system.

To improve support for students with disabilities, Mamdani pledged to recruit more special education teachers, a longstanding shortage area. He also vowed to reduce the number of students with disabilities who get private school tuition reimbursed by the city because the Education Department cannot offer an adequate placement.

Those payments were expected to balloon to roughly $1.3 billion last school year — a more than fourfold increase compared with a decade ago — according to figures from the city’s Independent Budget Office. (That includes legal, consultant, and transportation costs in addition to tuition payments.) Previous administrations have also expressed alarm with the growing cost but have failed to address it.

Still, Podvesker said she wished the responses fleshed out what concrete steps Mamdani would take to improve the special education system and how he would approach making schools more inclusive for students with disabilities.

In response to the questionnaire, Mamdani also did not outline any new strategies for improving the city’s lowest performing schools. Instead, he vowed to support a group of more than 400 community schools that provide wraparound services including mental health clinics and may offer additional learning time. The city’s teachers union, which endorsed Mamdani, backs that approach, which has shown some promise.

Mamdani left the door open to experimenting with expanding teacher training and other ideas that are “proving effective.”

You can find the Mamdani campaign’s full responses below.

Chalkbeat posed the same questions to all three candidates on Oct. 1. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa did not respond to multiple requests. Early voting starts on Oct. 25. Election Day is Nov. 4.

What is your assessment of the school system’s strengths and weaknesses? Do you think a dramatic overhaul is needed or smaller adjustments?

The strength of New York City’s public school system lies in our dedicated teachers, administrators, counselors, paraprofessionals, and custodial staff who work tirelessly to educate and care for our students. One of the bright spots is Every Child and Family is Known, a pilot in the Bronx to support students experiencing homelessness. One in eight students are experiencing homelessness. By pairing Caring Adults to provide hands-on support to students and their families, Every Child and Family is Known exemplifies the ways that schools can serve as true hubs of our communities by meeting the needs of students inside and outside of the classroom. The pilot has proven to be very successful, resulting in reduced chronic absenteeism and improving students’ sense of belonging and well-being. I am heartened to see the Chancellor’s recent announcement of a $2.8 million expansion of the program. I intend to expand it even further, doubling the number of students and families served, with an ultimate goal to make it a citywide program that can serve every student in the shelter system so that anyone experiencing homelessness in the NYC public school system can access services to meet their basic needs.

One of the biggest challenges currently facing the school system is the need to strengthen support for students with disabilities. More than one-fifth of our students have disabilities and in the 2021-2022 school year, 37% of preschoolers with disabilities went the whole year without receiving at least one of the services the New York City Department of Education (DOE) was legally required to provide. I will improve special education for New York City’s students by increasing special education services for preschool age kids, reducing Carter cases, recruiting special education teachers and equipping them with resources to succeed, increasing evidence-based instructional approaches for students with disabilities, and improving language access for families. These improvements will make general education classrooms more inclusive so that students with special needs are no longer marginalized and can be well-served.

Mayor Bill de Blasio spent nearly $800 million on trying to turn around the city’s lowest performing schools, and eventually pulled the plug after it achieved a mixed record of success. There are few slam dunk methods for improving struggling schools at scale.

How would you approach school improvement? Do you have any ideas or strategies that haven’t been tried before?

While the research on large-scale school improvement initiatives is limited, it is critical to implement strategies that are grounded in data. A 2020 Rand study found that schools participating in the NYC Communities Schools initiative showed significant positive results, including better attendance and graduation rates, student achievement, and family engagement at schools–and less disciplinary incidents. I am a big supporter of the current network of 421 community schools that provide students with critical access to medical care, mental health services, tutoring and academic support, summer and afterschool programs, opportunities for experiential learning, and social services. I will also do a review of curricula based on the science of how children learn, including NYC Reads, and invest in efforts to scale strategies that are proving effective, including investing in teacher training.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Will Mamdani break tradition and keep Eric Adams’ schools chancellor? He’s open to it.

2025-10-17T21:26:20+00:00

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Ever since New York City’s mayor won control of the public school system more than two decades ago, the city’s chief executive has installed his own schools chancellor.

But frontrunner Zohran Mamdani said this week that he is open to ending that pattern by keeping Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, at the helm of the nation’s largest school system.

The Education Department veteran was named chancellor one year ago after David Banks abruptly retired, and is widely respected by parents, school leaders, and the teachers union, which has publicly supported her.

“I think she has been doing a good job,” Mamdani told reporters Wednesday after he unveiled a proposal to recruit more teachers. “And I’ve said time and again that I will consider anyone on the basis of the work that they have done — not hold it against them as to who appointed them.”

During a mayoral debate Thursday evening, Mamdani again singled out Aviles-Ramos for praise. “Some of the initiatives that Mayor Adams has launched, especially with this chancellor, have been showing positive signs.”

Previous mayors have appointed new school chiefs after taking office to take the system in a different direction. Yet Mamdani has said little about his education vision and has praised Adams’ signature initiative to overhaul reading and math instruction. Keeping Aviles-Ramos could help those efforts stay on track, some education experts said, while avoiding a leadership transition in the middle of the school year. The next mayor will take office in January.

“Often, mayoral candidates are running against their predecessors,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “Mamdani hasn’t articulated a very specific package of education policy reforms that would diverge considerably from the current administration.”

Mamdani’s chancellor search could be complicated by his vow to end mayoral control, which gives the mayor authority to appoint a schools chief and set policy for more than 1,600 public schools. He has proposed replacing it with a “co-governance” system that includes more feedback from families and educators, though he has not outlined a plan.

That could curtail the power of whomever he chooses to lead the system. Some experts said weakening mayoral control could also make it harder to pull off his pledge to offer universal child care, because it would require coordination with the Education Department.

Pressed during the debate Thursday, Mamdani did not indicate what specific power over the school system he would be willing to relinquish and seemed to suggest the mayor would retain an important role.

“I think the mayor needs to retain the accountability so that New Yorkers know exactly who they can come to when they have critiques,” Mamdani said.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa both criticized Mamdani’s proposal and said they would seek to keep that power, which must be regularly renewed by the state legislature.

Aviles-Ramos has a powerful ally

New York City’s teachers union has publicly supported keeping Aviles-Ramos in the role, especially as she has been open to relaxing the city’s curriculum mandates to give teachers more flexibility.

“She absolutely should be up for consideration for the work she has done,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew previously said. The union endorsed Mamdani in the general election after sitting out the primary.

Some families hope Aviles-Ramos will stay, noting that the chancellor has been receptive to parent feedback and foregrounds her identity as a Latina, a group that includes 42% of public school students.

“She speaks so openly about having a daughter who is school aged, having to navigate the system — that connects with a lot of parent leaders,” said Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, president of the District 4 parent council in East Harlem.

Salas-Ramirez added that “there is also some resistance with having a chancellor affiliated with Adams,” who has faced corruption charges and abandoned his bid for reelection as his polling remained in the single digits.

Mamdani has not offered many details about what he’s looking for in a schools chief if he is elected. Last month, he said he had not conducted any interviews.

Several other candidates have been floated, The New York Times reported, including Meisha Porter, who briefly served as chancellor under Mayor Bill de Blasio; Kamar Samuels, the superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3; and Rita Joseph, who helms City Council’s Education Committee.

Aviles-Ramos appeared to make a case that she should stay in the role during her “State of Our Schools” speech last month, some observers told Gothamist. She vowed to expand a program that supports homeless students that Mamdani has also said he plans to grow. And she touted surveys that show 92% of school leaders trust her at her word.

A spokesperson for Aviles-Ramos declined to comment on whether she has spoken with Mamdani or would consider staying in the role.

But in the final line of her speech last month, Aviles-Ramos suggested she is looking to the future.

“We are just getting started,” she said.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Mamdani’s opponents want to grow NYC’s gifted programs. Attracting students isn’t easy.

2025-10-17T16:54:51+00:00

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When mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani reiterated his intention in Thursday night’s debate to eliminate gifted programs for the city’s youngest students, his opponents quickly shot back with promises to move in the opposite direction.

Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Cuomo pledged to open up more gifted classes.

“We don’t have enough slots,” said Sliwa, the Republican nominee, who pledged to double the size of the kindergarten program.

Cuomo, the former New York governor running as an independent, touted his plan to expand gifted and talented programs.

Meanwhile, a group of state and city lawmakers are hoping to go even further, introducing legislation last week that would force the Education Department to scale up gifted classrooms across the city.

But funneling more students into gifted classrooms, which disproportionately enroll white and Asian American students, might be easier said than done.

Three years ago, Mayor Eric Adams made a similar pledge to expand accelerated learning opportunities. The city opened dozens of gifted programs in underserved areas, with 38 schools hosting new gifted programs for rising third graders and eight more programs for kindergarteners, which has historically been the main entry point, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of Education Department data.

Supporters of gifted programs argue these classes help keep families in the public school system. Yet the overall number of students formally admitted to gifted programs citywide fell by more than 1,000 between 2019 and 2023, the Chalkbeat analysis found.

To fill empty seats, schools have moved students to gifted classrooms even if their families didn’t apply, more than offsetting the decline. With those students included in the total, nearly 18,000 students, about 5% of elementary students, were enrolled in gifted classes last year, an increase of about 2,000 children since 2019, department officials said.

New programs are slow to gain traction with families

According to city data, 44 of the schools offering the program — around a third of the citywide total — had fewer than 18 students enrolled in at least one of their gifted classes last year. Over half those schools were newer programs, Chalkbeat’s analysis found.

Experts and educators point to several factors that have made it difficult to grow the program through the formal admissions process. Many families don’t know gifted tracks are available. Another major reason: The third grade entry point adds logistical hurdles for families.

“It’s harder for parents to make a decision to change schools in third grade because of friendships, because of siblings, because of convenience and location reasons,” said Allison Roda, an associate professor at Molloy College who has studied the city’s gifted program.

An Education Department spokesperson said the agency has tried to make it easier for families to learn about and apply to gifted programs by making it part of the regular kindergarten application process.

Adams argued it is fairer to assess students for gifted programs after they’ve had a few years of formal schooling, and experts have criticized the city’s practice of tracking students at age 4, which few other school districts do. Mamdani has indicated he plans to keep the program starting for third graders.

It can take time for schools with new gifted offerings to establish enough of a reputation to attract applicants from other communities, Roda said, noting that some white families have expressed reluctance to accept a gifted seat if it means switching to a school that is predominantly Black and Latino.

About 62% of students in gifted classrooms are white or Asian American, even as they represent just 35% of the public school system as a whole. And while more Black and Latino students are now enrolling in gifted programs, they continue to be vastly underrepresented.

P.S. 279 in Crown Heights opened a gifted program starting in third grade in recent years, but had only admitted nine students as of 2023, according to city data. Outside the school on a recent weekday, several parents said they had no idea the program existed.

Caesar Ashley, a parent at the school, said his daughter was placed in the program last year even though the family never applied.

“If you do good on your work,” his fourth grader said, “they’ll put you in the class.”

Typically, second graders in the top 10% of their school based on report card grades are eligible for gifted programs that begin in third grade. In the wake of the pandemic, city officials eliminated an admissions test for kindergarten gifted programs and now rely on nominations from prekindergarten teachers.

Schools are allowed to move students into gifted classrooms without an application as long as they use “academic criteria,” a department spokesperson said.

Some principals may be reluctant to encourage their students to enroll in gifted programs elsewhere, because school budgets are directly tied to student enrollment. If a student leaves and isn’t replaced, that means fewer dollars for art, music, and afterschool programs.

Underenrolled gifted programs end up costing the city more. Schools usually cover the costs of gifted classes from their own budgets, which are based on student headcount. But for schools without enough students enrolled in gifted classes to cover the cost of a full-time teacher, the city chips in to make up the difference, paying out roughly $2.9 million to 44 schools last year.

Research on whether gifted programs benefit students who attend is limited, though one study focused on New York City found the programs can meaningfully boost reading and math scores, particularly among Black and Latino children. The Education Department’s own research on that question is less conclusive.

Families may not see clear benefits to sending their students to gifted programs, which sometimes move at a faster pace but often use the same curriculum as traditional classrooms, said Roda, who has interviewed numerous families about gifted programming.

“There’s skepticism among parents about what is actually different,” she said.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.