Ask parents of school-aged children who have fled New York City why they did, and chances are they\u2019ll point first to housing costs \u2014 then to poor public schools.<\/p>\n
So far, the mayoral race has focused heavily on the former while neglecting the latter.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a big problem: Every New Yorker \u2014 not just parents \u2014 has a stake in ensuring their tax dollars give the city\u2019s kids a strong foundation, and give families a reason to stay put.<\/p>\n
Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani has said practically nothing about how he would run the city\u2019s massive $41.2 billion<\/a> Department of Education.<\/p>\n What he has said suggests that he\u2019d put the interests of its teachers\u2019 union \u2014 which endorsed him<\/a> last month \u2014 above those of parents.<\/p>\n Start with charter schools, whose teachers are almost all non-unionized.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mamdani opposes expanding charters<\/a>, even as 60% of city parents want more of them<\/a>.<\/p>\n Families are increasingly choosing charters over traditional public schools because charter-school students score far better in reading and math than their DOE counterparts \u2014 at less than half<\/a> the per-pupil spending.<\/p>\n But Mamdani plans to audit charter schools that operate in the same buildings as DOE schools, potentially looking for excuses to restrict them.<\/p>\n Worse, the Democratic Socialist wants to dismantle centralized mayoral control over the city\u2019s public schools \u2014 one of former Mayor Mike Bloomberg\u2019s signature achievements.<\/p>\n Mamdani could return NYC to the bad old days when schools were governed by a dysfunctional patchwork of 32 school districts outside of the mayor\u2019s oversight.<\/p>\n The results were disastrous: Schools were run more for the benefit of teachers and corrupt district officials than for students, who suffered the consequences.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s just what the United Federation of Teachers wants<\/a> \u2014 the union can easily dominate low-turnout district board elections while avoiding the responsibility to deliver better outcomes, a divide-and-conquer strategy.<\/p>\n Mamdani has backed away from his previous support for abolishing<\/a> the city\u2019s specialized high-school exam, but once in office there\u2019s no telling what he\u2019d do to weaken gifted and talented education in the name of equity.<\/p>\n A campaign spokesperson said that kids can\u2019t learn \u201cdownstream from poverty.\u201d Tell that to the 80% of charter students<\/a> and 55% of specialized high school students who are low-income.<\/p>\n In sum, Mamdani wants to wash his hands of the responsibility to educate New York\u2019s kids while cutting off their escape routes to charter schools.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a recipe for intergenerational poverty \u2014 all to preserve UFT jobs.<\/p>\n If city and state leaders were serious about ensuring a quality education for every child, they would seek to boost DOE school performance while offering parents private, parochial and charter options.<\/p>\n Gov. Kathy Hochul can give families more of these choices at no cost to the city or state \u2014 but only if she resists teacher-union pressure.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act contains a generous dollar-for-dollar tax credit up to $1,700 for donations to K-12 scholarship organizations<\/a>.<\/p>\n These nonprofits provide scholarships students can use to enroll in private or religious schools.<\/p>\n Students with a family income below 300% of the area\u2019s median gross income \u2014 in the five boroughs, that\u2019s a $309,000 cutoff \u2014 will be eligible.<\/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