Zohran Mamdani is the newly elected mayor of New York City, beating out Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. He won over 50% of the votes, with 1,114,184 votes for the 34 year old. With this new change to New York, what does it mean for schools here in NYC?
Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist who recently ran for mayor of New York City against an Independent former Governor of New York backed by President Trump, Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. This election took place on a night to be remembered in history since Mamdani is the first self-described democratic socialist mayor of New York City who will take office on January 1,2026 .
New York is home to the largest school system in the world, with more than 1,500 schools and an annual budget of $41 billion. Mamdani has put major emphasis on the importance of the education department, so what will he do to prioritize this and its immense need for support?
One of the biggest questions citizens have for Zohran is whether he will end mayoral control over schools or appoint an official from the department to oversee it. Before this system, which has run for over 20 years, the Board of Education had power over school systems, which brought up many questions regarding corruption, abuse of power, and patronage. Mamdani, throughout his campaign, put emphasis on the current policy, stating that it gave little say to parents and educators on actual decisions that had an impact on them. Also stating specifically, “I remain opposed to mayoral control.”
The UFT, or the United Federation of Teachers, endorsed Mamdani during the race. Mamdani has stated that he will heavily utilize the advice and opinions of the UFT to aid the education system in New York and inform his decisions, alongside his proposed structures for the NYC school system.
Though vague, what is known of Mamdani’s plans for the education system can be found on his platform, which states he will ensure that funding is equal to the public school system and resources are equally distributed. Alongside this, he plans to eliminate child care costs for New Yorkers that are aged from 6 weeks to 5 years old (Zohran for NYC).
Soon, NYC will learn more about Mamdani’s plans for the education system.
