{"id":375162,"date":"2026-10-16T21:34:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T21:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/375162\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T21:34:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T21:34:56","slug":"bruce-blakeman-hammers-gov-hochul-for-school-rankings-and-vows-to-boost-stem-scores-have-gone-down-down-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/375162\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Blakeman hammers Gov. Hochul for school rankings and vows to boost STEM: ‘Scores have gone down, down, down’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican Bruce Blakeman on Friday ripped Gov. Kathy Hochul for New York students\u2019 dismal test scores<\/a> under her watch \u2014 vowing to place STEM initiatives at the heart of public education if he wins in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to elevate our kids. Kathy Hochul has no clue how to do that,\u201d Blakeman said during a campaign stop in The Bronx.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s had an opportunity for the last five years, and the test scores have gone down, down, down,\u201d he railed. \u201cIt\u2019s not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruce Blakeman speaks in The Bronx with to discuss his proposals for public school reform in New York City, Friday. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, also hammered Hochul for her infamous 2024 claim <\/a>that \u201cyoung black kids in the Bronx\u201d don\u2019t know what a computer is \u2014 insisting youngsters in the borough \u201cknow more about a computer\u201d than the governor will \u201cever know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe doesn\u2019t know what is going on our communities. She doesn\u2019t even know what\u2019s going on in our school system,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is we have to support our children\u2019s education and not put them down. We have to elevate them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blakeman was joined by Bronx community leader and educator Sheikh Musa Drammeh, who highlighted New York\u2019s bleak 17th-place national education ranking in US News & World Report \u2014 and questioned how that was possible when the state spends more per pupil than any other in the country.<\/p>\n

The nearly $40,000-per-pupil spending in 2025 didn\u2019t translate to equally soaring results, Blakeman and Drammeh noted.<\/p>\n

Blakeman highlighted the state\u2019s 17th place nationwide education ranking and said he\u2019d focus on STEM in schools. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Instead, New York 4th graders scored 22nd in the nation for reading while 8th graders scored 24th, according to the gold standard National Assessment of Educational Progress exam. <\/p>\n

Fourth graders also scored 38th in math<\/a> and 8th graders scored 27th.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the teachers\u2019 fault. It\u2019s the fault of the curriculum, the Board of Regents, the Chancellor of Education and Kathy Hochul,\u201d Blakeman said.<\/p>\n

The Long Island pol said New York public schools should be zeroing in on science, technology, engineering and math \u2014 known under the acronym STEM \u2014 and said he\u2019d make those subjects the core of the state\u2019s curriculum if he wins the gubernatorial race on November 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the future of America. That is the future of New York State. That is the future of New York City. And it\u2019s the future of our children and grandchildren,\u201d Blakeman said, adding that he\u2019d work closely with Drammeh to help roll out such education initiatives in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Blakeman making the announcement in the Bronx also appeared to be a highly deliberate \u2014 in addition to highlighting Hochul\u2019s inflammatory computer comment throughout the campaign, he has been making a concerted effort to pitch himself to voters in the Boogie Down.<\/p>\n

Hochul is seeking a second, full, four-year term in the November 3 election against Republican opponent Blakeman. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

The borough largely voted Democrat in the 2024 presidential election, but it also had the sharpest swing right from 2020 to 2024 across the entire state. The Bronx went 69% for Joe Biden in 2020 in his winning race against Donald Trump, then just 22% for Kamala Harris in 2024, when she lost to Trump, thanks in large part to Latino voters, Politico reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Blakeman was polling about 10 points behind Hochul earlier this week, though it\u2019s unclear if his lauded showing in their sole debate on Tuesday could<\/a> move the needle.<\/p>\n

With the election less than three weeks away, Blakeman has been frantically trying to get his message out to voters, urging them not to elect the incumbent Democrat governor to a second, full, four-year term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to concentrate on the things that will give our kids a better future,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to lay the foundation and create the foundation for them to be successful in their future life here in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul\u2019s team didn\u2019t immediately comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican Bruce Blakeman on Friday ripped Gov. Kathy Hochul for New York students\u2019 dismal test scores under her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,1626,426,57,9,24,13895,63,209,5271,129,131,130,58],"class_list":["post-375162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny-governor-election-2026","tag-nyc","tag-public-schools","tag-schools","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}