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With a little more than a month before Election Day, Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that he is ending his bid for reelection, all but guaranteeing the nation’s largest school system will soon be under new management.
The move ends speculation in recent weeks that Adams would drop out, as he has consistently polled in last place in the four-way race and multiple news outlets reported that he was negotiating with the Trump administration for a potential job.
“Who would have thought that a kid from South Jamaica, Queens, growing up with learning disabilities, could one day become the mayor of the greatest city in the world,” Adams said in a brief video announcement Sunday.
The mayor, who did not immediately endorse any of the other candidates, indicated that he plans to serve out the remainder of his term and said this “is not the end of my public service.” He will still appear on the ballot on Nov. 4 as an independent because the deadline for removing him has passed.
Adams’ decision to quit the race will not likely have an immediate effect on the city’s public school system. But it raises questions about the future of his education policies once he leaves office in January, including his signature reading and math curriculum overhauls that are still being phased in on many campuses. Observers widely expect the next mayor will appoint a new schools chancellor to replace Melissa Aviles-Ramos, though she is respected by many educators and Education Department staff.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo could see a boost from Adams’ departure, though the mayor’s sinking popularity in the polls suggests many of his supporters already fled to other candidates. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa has pledged to stay in the race despite pressure from President Donald Trump to drop out to set up a one-on-one race between Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman and the current frontrunner.
“Donald Trump and his billionaire donors might be able to determine Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo’s actions but they will not dictate the results of this election,” Mamdani said in a statement.
Under New York City’s system of mayoral control, the city’s chief executive exerts enormous influence over the city’s public schools. Exactly how the next mayor will put their stamp on the system remains a question mark.
Mamdani has pledged to ensure schools are properly funded and to end mayoral control in favor of a more democratic governance model that includes input from educators and families, though he has not laid out detailed plans. He has also vowed to create a universal child care program, part of his campaign’s broader focus on affordability, but has said little about how he would improve K-12 education.
Cuomo has recently tried to draw attention to his own education agenda and attack Mamdani’s lack of detailed education plans. Last month, the former governor unveiled a plan to shut down the city’s lowest performing campuses and replace them with other school models, including charters.
Both Sliwa and Cuomo support expanding gifted programs and preserving test-only admissions to several elite high schools, programs that supporters argue helps keep families in the system but are also starkly segregated by race. Mamdani has said he favors school integration efforts and supports a study of the admissions test. He also won the teachers union’s endorsement.
The mayoral candidates have generally spoken favorably about Adams’ signature education initiative — overhauling the way elementary schools approach reading instruction. Still, they have voiced more skepticism about a related effort to overhaul how schools teach math. Schools may not see an immediate retreat from those curriculum changes, however, as the next mayor will take office in the middle of the school year.
Other elements of Adams’ education record have been more contentious. He repeatedly drew headlines for slashing early childhood education programs, including free preschool for 3-year-olds. In other areas, such as the city’s summer school program, Adams used city dollars to avoid major cuts as one-time federal emergency relief dollars ran out in the wake of the pandemic.
In his video announcement Sunday, Adams said he felt “immense pride” in the accomplishments of his administration and hoped his successor would continue and expand his policies.
“We raised test scores and attendance through bold education reforms,” he said.
Adams’ tenure marred by scandal
Corruption investigations have dogged Adams — the first sitting mayor to be indicted in modern history — and led to the resignations of several senior officials, including at the Education Department. His first schools chancellor, David Banks, stepped down after federal investigators searched his home and seized his phone. (Banks has not been accused of wrongdoing.)
The Trump administration successfully pushed federal prosecutors to drop the charges against Adams, saying publicly that they did so to free up Adams to aid their crackdown on immigrants.
In recent days, Adams has articulated education policy views aligned with the Trump administration as well. After the federal Department of Education threatened to cancel $36 million worth of magnet school grants if the city did not scrap protections for transgender students, Adams began to publicly question the city’s own policies that allow trans students to use bathrooms and other facilities in line with their gender identity.
To some in Adams’ orbit, the mayor’s rightward shift has undermined some of the administration’s accomplishments.
Adams’ growing connection to the Trump administration “has tarnished his image and almost usurped so much of the work that was done,” Banks said in an interview with Chalkbeat before Adams dropped out of the race. “I’m sad about the fact that there were so many good people who gave such good work and a lot of their reputations kind of got sullied.”
Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate and a frequent Adams critic, said he was once hopeful the mayor could improve the city but has instead watched the administration fall into disarray.
“Sadly, his tenure has been marked by an inability to self-reflect or course-correct after sustained and continued bad decisions,” Williams wrote in a statement. “There is no joy in today’s announcement, even if there is some relief.”
Cara Fitzpatrick contributed.
Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
