For years, New York City\u2019s schools operated under \u201cmayoral control.\u201d Now, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is rebranding it \u201cmayoral accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
What that means, exactly, may not be what you think.<\/p>\n
Mamdani, who opposed<\/a> mayoral control throughout his campaign, and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels now describe their oversight not as \u201ccontrol,\u201d but \u201caccountability.\u201d<\/p>\n That sounds great, except they link the phrase to family empowerment and community voice \u2014 a fair enough goal but no substitute for real accountability.<\/p>\n \u201cMayoral accountability and family empowerment are not mutually exclusive,\u201d notes Samuels.<\/p>\n He\u2019s right. But they\u2019re clearly different concepts: Family empowerment is about participation. Accountability is about responsibility for student outcomes.<\/p>\n At the Legislature\u2019s recent budget hearing, Mamdani said a four-year extension of \u201cmayoral accountability\u201d would create a system \u201cwhere communities and parents have a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Giving parents a voice is about taking their opinions into account in making decisions. Again, that\u2019s fine; parents\u2019 input is vital.<\/p>\n But accountability is about who owns the final numbers \u2014 on student achievement, attendance, etc.<\/p>\n The original case for mayoral control<\/a> made clear who was responsible: If the schools failed, parents could blame the mayor \u2014 and push to have him voted out of office.<\/p>\n Before mayoral control, authority was centralized and diffused, and so was the blame for failure.<\/p>\n Trouble is, when blame is spread to everyone, it rests with no one.<\/p>\n But now, Mamdani claims to back control, or at least \u201caccountability.\u201d<\/p>\n Great. So where are his numbers? What\u2019s his target for reading and math proficiency and for reducing absenteeism?<\/p>\n And if his benchmarks aren\u2019t hit, will the mayor own the failure?<\/p>\n True, parents\u2019 views help enforce \u201caccountability\u201d: When test scores lag, for example, parents can express anger and exert political pressure.<\/p>\n But Mamdani must know that, parental pressure or not, accountability means he\u2019s still responsible for improvement.<\/p>\n Family empowerment is not a substitute for performance.<\/p>\n If \u201caccountability\u201d is the goal, Mamdani should start by noting the facts.<\/p>\n In 2024, only 23% of eighth-graders scored proficient in math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the nation\u2019s report card.<\/p>\n Just 29% of eighth-graders were proficient in reading.<\/p>\n More than two-thirds of city students are not meeting national proficiency benchmarks.<\/p>\n Attendance is also a problem. One in three students missed at least 10% of the 2024-2025 school year.<\/p>\n Altogether, this reflects hundreds of thousands of students not on track.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n If \u201cmayoral accountability\u201d is real, he should explain how he plans to improve things.<\/p>\n How much will reading and math proficiency rise \u2014 and how will he accomplish that?<\/p>\n Will chronic absenteeism fall? And will families be able to track that progress for themselves?<\/p>\n So far, the emphasis has been on strengthening the community voice. That fits with the mayor\u2019s socialist philosophy.<\/p>\n Yet talk about improving performance \u2014 let alone setting concrete targets \u2014 is utterly nonexistent.<\/p>\n More meetings won\u2019t raise reading scores.<\/p>\n Accountability means enforcing attendance and not treating school as optional.<\/p>\n It means improving instruction and backing teachers who deliver results for students.<\/p>\n And, yes, challenging policies that put adult interests ahead of students.<\/p>\n New Yorkers deserve to know what success looks like, how Mamdani plans to achieve it and what happens if he doesn\u2019t. That\u2019s accountability.<\/p>\n The education budget for the 2025-26 school year roughly exceeds $30 billion<\/a>, and enrollment is approximately 793,300 K-12 students<\/a>.<\/p>\n The public deserves more than cheery, boilerplate rhetoric for its money.<\/p>\n Taxpayers deserve to know not just how much is being spent, but what it is producing.<\/p>\n Which programs are working and which aren\u2019t? Will money be redirected accordingly?<\/p>\n