New York City education advocates say Mayor Zohran Mamdani has not yet established a sufficiently clear agenda for the city’s public schools, nearly 10 months into his term. Their criticisms, reported by Fox News Digital on Oct. 27, focus on class sizes, declining enrollment, racial segregation and how the city allocates school funding.
David Bloomfield, a professor emeritus at Brooklyn College and former general counsel for the New York City Board of Education, said the administration had not made education a prominent enough priority. He argued that continuing the city’s system of mayoral control without a defined plan leaves major challenges unresolved. Under that system, the mayor has broad authority over the public-school system and its leadership, including Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.
Leonie Haimson, founder of the advocacy group Class Size Matters, said parents and education advocates had expected a stronger shift from the prior administration of former Mayor Eric Adams. She said Mamdani’s approach to K-12 education appeared to show few changes so far. Both Haimson and Bloomfield called for the mayor or chancellor to articulate a more detailed strategy.
The city has allocated $38.6 billion to public schools serving nearly one million students. The source cites a New York Post analysis saying New York spends 50% more per student than Los Angeles and Chicago, the country’s other two largest school districts. Bloomfield questioned whether the funding is reaching the schools with the greatest needs. He said some schools with falling enrollment continue to receive funding while other campuses face overcrowding.
Class-size limits are another point of contention. A New York state law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul requires city schools to cap classes at between 20 and 25 students, depending on grade level. Mamdani, who supported the law while serving in the state Assembly, has sought a two-year extension of the deadline for compliance, which would move full implementation to 2030.
Haimson criticized the request for more time, saying she had expected the administration to present a plan for creating the space needed to meet the limits. She said lowering class sizes had been one of Mamdani’s prominent education commitments before he took office.
On enrollment and segregation, Bloomfield said he saw no comprehensive administration strategy addressing those issues, alongside overcrowding and academic performance. He said the city needed improvements in areas including reading and math. The advocates’ comments reflect their assessments; the material provided does not include a response from the administration addressing those specific criticisms.
The report also cited a Chalkbeat analysis comparing education-related press releases during each mayor’s first six months in office. It counted 21 such releases under Adams, including announcements on gifted-and-talented programming and dyslexia screening, and 11 under Mamdani during the comparable period. The tally measures press releases, not the full range of education policies or actions.
Haimson credited Mamdani with launching the city’s first 2-K initiative, a program to expand early education and child care to 2-year-olds in partnership with Hochul. However, she said the administration had given limited attention to students older than 5 and their K-12 education.
Both advocates said they wanted Mamdani and Samuels to devote greater attention to the public-school system and explain how the administration would address longstanding concerns. Fox News Digital reported that neither Mamdani nor Samuels responded to its requests for comment.
