When Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office on Jan. 1, he’ll preside over the nation’s largest school system — but one facing significant challenges, including shrinking enrollment and potential budget crunches.
And his opposition to mayoral control of the city’s schools has raised big questions about what would come in its wake.
What You Need To Know
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will take over a school system facing sugnificant challenges, including falling enrollment
He has said he’s opposed to the current system of mayoral control of the city’s schools
But it’s unclear what an alternative system might look like
“If he had an off-the-shelf solution, I think he would have presented it,” Aaron Pallas, a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, said. “We’ve not heard that, but what we have heard is a desire to uplift the voices and experiences of stakeholders such as parents, community leaders.”
The next mayor won’t be the only person to shape what future governance of schools would look like: It’s ultimately up to Albany, where State Sen. John Liu, another mayoral control critic who endorsed Mamdani, chairs the committee on New York City education.
The current state law authorizing mayoral control expires June 30 — and if it weren’t renewed, the city would revert back to a much-maligned system of decentralized school boards.
“There is no chance that that’s going to happen,” Liu said.
Liu says the real question is whether the state legislature will simply extend the current system as is, and if so, for how long — or if lawmakers will make modifications, or even scrap it entirely for something new. Any significant changes would need to be phased in, he says.
In recent years, state lawmakers have made tweaks, including expanding the citywide Panel for Educational Policy. But Liu notes much of the mayor’s power comes from unilaterally hiring and firing the schools chancellor, something Mamdani has not necessarily seemed eager to give up.
“As magnanimous as he may be for input, I haven’t heard him thinking of relinquishing his power to appoint and to force the schools chancellor, but we’ll see,” Liu said.
Choosing a chancellor will be Mamdani’s first big decision when it comes to city schools. Whoever he picks will have to deal with a system that has seen declining enrollment. This fall, the student population fell by 2.4%, to 884,000.
Pallas says there may be many reasons for that.
“Migration patterns both in and out of the city. There are changes in birth rates so that we have smaller cohorts, not just here in New York City, but all over the country. And systems that have become accustomed to having stable enrollments and have budgeted for particular numbers face some challenges when the numbers drop,” he said.
The city has so far not penalized individual schools financially for lower enrollment than they expected — but that may not last forever.
“There may need to be some recalibration in the budget for the department, which of course is a significant portion of the city’s overall budget at around $41 billion total. That may that may need to come down. That’s not going to be fun,” Pallas said.