The $40 Billion Issue the N.Y.C. Mayoral Candidates Aren't Discussing

New York Times

24-04-2025

For decades, politicians have cast education as a great equalizer and cornerstone of a thriving society. But in New York City's competitive mayoral race, it is attracting scant attention.
With less than nine weeks until the Democratic primary, none of the major candidates has released a plan centered solely on elementary and secondary education. Across their campaign pages highlighting big issues, the contenders each spend an average of about 75 words talking about education, and 'pandemic' is rarely among those words, even though that health cataclysm still exacts a toll on younger generations.
In a city notorious for its divide between opulence and poverty, public education represents both a potential engine of social mobility and one of the biggest ways that local government reaches the everyday lives of New Yorkers.
The school system is charged with educating more students than the entire population of San Francisco, preparing them for college or the work force. The city's Education Department, with more than 130,000 staff members, is among the region's top employers. Its $40 billion budget is an unrivaled chunk of spending, exceeding that of the police, fire and health departments combined.
But there is little to suggest how the major Democratic candidates for mayor would address the city's middling academic performance, despite the latest results of a gold-standard federal exam that revealed alarming declines in reading and math skills among the city's lowest-performing children.
Most candidates have not offered a robust plan to tackle chronic absenteeism after more than a third of students missed at least 10 percent of school days during the last academic year. Their platforms often fail to address the desperate need for more bilingual staff in schools, even though enrollment of children still learning English is ballooning.
And in a district with student outcomes sharply divided along income and racial lines, desegregation — or any other means of large-scale school improvement — does not appear to be on politicians' minds.
Education experts said the absence of bold ideas was especially striking in New York, one of fewer than a dozen major U.S. cities in which the mayor retains full control over the school system — and a place with a deep tradition of driving national conversations about education.
'The fact that it's now become a footnote is shocking in terms of the time, expense and effort that we put into public education,' said David Bloomfield, an education law and policy professor at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Many of the mayoral candidates have emphasized alleviating a major housing shortage, lowering the soaring costs of raising families and expanding access to free child care. The city's affordability crisis has pushed many parents to move, especially Black families.
The lack of focus on the nuts and bolts of teaching and learning in New York reflects a national political shift, in which fewer Democrats — once trailblazers on classroom matters — have elevated elementary and secondary education as a priority compared with the 2000s and early 2010s.
Thomas Kane, a Harvard economist who studies education policy, said that 'improving student outcomes has long been a progressive goal,' pointing to the 1960s, when the creation of federal funding for schools with low-income students was a centerpiece of President Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty.
But in the past decade, Mr. Kane added, voters have split into polarized factions over hot-button subjects such as charter schools, standardized testing and admission to gifted and talented classes for elementary students.
In the process, Mr. Kane said, 'a lot of Democrats have become uncomfortable talking about student achievement.'
Many of the New York City mayoral candidates have promised to invest in school-based social services, reduce class sizes or expand programs that introduce teenagers to real-world careers. Andrew M. Cuomo, the former governor, declares in his platform that after public safety, City Hall has 'no higher calling' than education.
Two candidates — State Senator Zellnor Myrie and Scott Stringer, the former comptroller — point to research showing that their child care proposals, which include expanding after-school programs and extending the school day, could boost academic performance and attendance.
But few have put forth comprehensive plans for students from kindergarten through high school. Several education experts said that history has shown that piecemeal reforms often fail to produce major change.
Outside the classroom, young people face troubles that have gone largely unaddressed, including a pervasive mental health crisis. Nine percent of high schoolers in New York reported attempting suicide in 2021.
Marielys Divanne, the executive director of Educators for Excellence-New York, a teachers' group, said in an interview that she helped organize a political forum on literacy this month in part because of how little attention was being devoted to education.
'We were not getting the public discourse that we felt we needed,' said Ms. Divanne, whose group has pressed candidates to commit to building upon Mayor Eric Adams's efforts to overhaul reading and math instruction.
'There's a lot at stake, and ignoring that is a missed opportunity,' Ms. Divanne said.
At the literacy forum, candidates were each given two minutes to share their vision for the school system. Mayor Adams and Mr. Cuomo were invited but did not attend. Spokesmen for their campaigns did not respond to requests for comment. Curtis Sliwa, a Republican candidate for mayor, was also invited to the forum but did not attend.
Zohran Mamdani, the progressive state assemblyman who has been rising in polls and whose platform does not yet discuss K-12 education, pledged to increase funding for schools and libraries.
Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker and a late entrant in the race, promised to push local colleges to ensure that aspiring educators are better trained to teach reading.
Mr. Stringer said he would provide more children with access to tutors. And Brad Lander, the city comptroller, said he wants to evaluate schools not solely on academics but also by other measures of student well-being and success.
Still, Mr. Lander acknowledged, 'We're not spending anywhere near enough time in this race talking about New York City's public schools.'
It wasn't always like this.
Education was a centerpiece of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's legacy as he shuttered low-performing schools, embraced charters and sought to toughen teacher evaluations.
A decade later, Mayor Bill de Blasio's creation of a free preschool program for all 4-year-olds — meant to provide children another year of rigorous early education — became a national model. He also bet big on a plan to improve the city's lowest-performing schools, which ended without producing substantial achievement gains.
Mayor Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent, brought new reading curriculum into elementary and middle schools, though he has not fulfilled a campaign promise to ensure that all students with dyslexia are better identified and taught.
Jorge Elorza, the chief executive officer of Democrats for Education Reform, an advocacy group, said that Democrats' failure to embrace education as a primary issue adds to the 'narrative from the last election that the Democrats have lost touch' with blue-collar and low-income voters.
'The working class cares disproportionately about education,' said Mr. Elorza, whose organization was co-founded by Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund executive who is running for mayor. 'Education is the ticket to a better life.'
Some powerful politicians have signaled that the failure to address education could affect their endorsements. Representative Adriano Espaillat, an influential Dominican American lawmaker, said at the literacy forum that school issues deserved a greater spotlight: 'It's important to elect a mayor that will put education first.'
Many experts speculated that Democrats in cities including New York are making a political calculation.
Voters rarely rank education among the issues that matter most in local, state and national elections. In New York, efforts to transform the school district often spark public outcry, such as when the city recently tried to overhaul admissions at its most prestigious high schools.
Jeffrey Henig, a professor emeritus of political science and education at Teachers College at Columbia University, said campaigns might see a choice between standing out in a crowded field and steering clear of third rails that 'could blow you off at the knees.'
'Right now,' Mr. Henig added, 'the story is avoiding trip wires.'