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Unlike most districts, New York City’s mayor exerts near-complete control over the school system, allowing the chief executive to unilaterally select the schools chancellor and dictate education policy priorities.
Zohran Mamdani, the current frontrunner in November’s race, has campaigned on ending mayoral control and giving students, parents, and educators more influence over the school system — though he has shared few details about how that would work.
Now a group of progressive education advocates is releasing a slate of policy proposals to make the school system more responsive to local communities in the hopes of influencing the next mayor. Their coalition may have sway with Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as he devises an education agenda. Among their top priorities is rethinking the search process for the next schools chancellor, typically a new mayor’s first major education decision.
If Mamdani takes the helm at City Hall, how he picks his schools chief could offer an early barometer of whether the 33-year-old Queens assembly member will follow through on his biggest education promise: to reduce mayoral power over the Education Department.
“This is a big test,” said Jonathan Collins, a professor of political science and education at Columbia University Teachers College. “In a system like New York’s, you are who you appoint.”
The chief of New York City’s public schools is one of the most visible and coveted education jobs in the country. The chancellor oversees a $41 billion budget, roughly 150,000 employees, and influences policy that is often closely watched by other districts. The decision could be even more consequential if Mamdani wins because he has not outlined a clear vision for improving the city’s public schools.
“If education is going to be the stepchild, then whoever he appoints is probably going to have a lot of freedom to be creative because it’s just not a top priority,” Collins added.
The policy blueprint is from New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools, a coalition of advocacy groups. It calls on the next mayor to create a search committee made up of students, parents, educators, and representatives of City Council and the comptroller’s office to vet chancellor candidates and devise selection criteria.
The report also proposes a series of town hall meetings in each borough for members of the public to offer input on the “qualities and priorities the next Chancellor should have that best represent the communities they will serve.”
The blueprint is based on feedback from more than 1,200 community members.
“I think it’s really important to have input from the people who are being directly impacted,” said Kassidy Khuu, a junior at Manhattan’s Hunter College High School and a member of New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools. “I personally go to a test-in school that happens to have a lot of school segregation and lacks diversity. That’s definitely a key issue that I would want to see addressed.”
The next schools chief should have deep policy knowledge and prior experience managing a school district or other education organization, and preferably have extensive knowledge of New York City, the report contends. The policy recommendations are set to be formally released at an event next week.
NYC mayoral candidates differ on schools chancellor search
Mamdani said last week that he plans to select a chancellor in consultation with groups who have supported his campaign, including the teachers union, and told reporters he will pick someone “who can deliver the outcomes that so many New Yorkers are in desperate need of.”
A Mamdani campaign spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether he would solicit public input.
A spokesperson for Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, said he would welcome “collaboration from all stakeholders in making these decisions” but added “it is too early to speculate about candidates for top positions or processes for choosing them.” During his primary campaign, the former governor has said he “strongly” supports mayoral control of the city’s schools.
Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running for reelection as an independent, did not conduct wide searches for either of his two schools chancellors. David Banks, his first schools chief, was a longtime friend with deep roots in the system.
Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa said in a statement that he would “welcome a more inclusive, transparent citywide search for a schools chancellor that brings parents, students, and educators to the table for what is arguably the second most important job in city government.”
Proposing a more-inclusive chancellor search process isn’t without precedent. Comptroller Brad Lander, who is widely seen as a contender for a high-level job in City Hall if Mamdani wins, said he would seek “advice and consent” from the City Council during his campaign for mayor. (Lander and Mamdani endorsed each other in the primary.)
Ilona Nanay, a teacher at the High School for Teaching and the Professions who was involved in crafting the report’s recommendations, said making the chancellor search process more open could be a first step to reducing the mayor’s power over the system. She acknowledged that soliciting public input is “a messy process and it does take time, [but] it makes for a more cohesive and informed system.”
Mamdani has remained tight-lipped about who he would consider for the top education post, or if he planned to conduct a national search.
Several possible candidates have emerged in preliminary discussions, The New York Times reported, and all of them have local roots. They include Meisha Porter, a longtime Education Department veteran who served briefly as chancellor under Mayor Bill de Blasio; Rita Joseph, the chair of City Council’s Education Committee; and Kamar Samuels, a superintendent who oversees schools in Manhattan’s District 3.
Jamaal Bowman, a former member of Congress and vocal opponent of standardized testing during his time as a middle school principal in the Bronx, has also come up in discussions, according to the New York Post.
Asked last week about whether Bowman was in the running, Mamdani indicated the process was still in its earliest stages.
“I have not started any personnel interviews as it pertains to the schools chancellor,” he said.
Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex atazimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
