We were very disappointed in the reversal of Zohran Mamdani’s position on this crucial issue even before he took office, so our President Naila Rosario testified about this and why the system needs fundamental refor at the recent City Council hearings.

NYC Kids PAC Testimony before the City Council Education Committee on Mayoral Control 

February 10, 2026 

My name is Naila Rosario, and I am the President of NYC Kids PAC, that was established  more than a decade ago, and is the only parent-led Political Action Committee focused on supporting candidates based on their positions and records on supporting our city’s public schools.

We enthusiastically endorsed Zohran Mamdani for Mayor in the primary and the general election, based on his progressive positions on a variety of important education issues, including school funding, class size, the need to support our immigrant students, and more oversight to stem the abuses of charter schools.

But one of the major reasons we enthusiastically supported Mamdani was his stance on Mayoral control.  He was one of the few candidates for Mayor over the last twenty years to recognize that this system of governance is inherently flawed, and needs to incorporate more checks and balances, parent and community voices, and more democracy in place of the current  autocratic decision-making that has too often wreaked havoc on our public schools.

Here is what Mamdani wrote on our candidate questionnaire concerning this issue:

“I am opposed to Mayoral control and envision a system instead in which parents, students, educators and administrators work together to create the school environments where students and families will best thrive. Whether governing with or without mayoral control (a decision determined by Albany), I would work to create a more participatory educational system — strengthening co-governance through the PEP, SLTs, DLTs, and CECs in particular.” [1]

He then checked off several boxes, saying he would support the following reforms to the current governance system:

• A directly elected Board of Education, as more than 95% of the school districts throughout the country have; and as Chicago is phasing in and Detroit and Newark have re-established.

• A reconstituted Board of Education (the legal name of the Panel for Educational Policy) with a majority of members not appointed by the Mayor

• Municipal control, so that the City Council would have the same legislative authority over the Department of Education as they currently have over other city agencies

• Expanding the powers of Community Education Councils and allowing School Leadership Teams (SLTs) to regain their authority to develop school based budgets and to provide them more input on the appointment of principals.

That’s why we were so disappointed when he appeared to have switched his position on this critical issue, shortly before taking office.[2]

Mamdani also promised us he would make other changes to ensure that the Department of Education would be more transparent and accountable.

• He promised to audit DOE spending with the goal of rooting out inefficiencies, corruption and fraud.

• He wrote that he would “examine contracts and processes around curriculum—we spend a massive amount of money outsourcing curriculum and professional development services, creating material that often does not align with teachers’ needs or experiences.”

• He pledged to require that all proposed DOE contracts be placed on the PEP agenda at least 30 days before their vote, and to make these contracts publicly available upon request beforehand.

• He said he would prioritize transparency by improving the DOE’s Freedom of Information process, which is completely dysfunctional at present.

• He wrote that he understood how the School Construction Authority needs fundamental reform and more transparency and would bring it into compliance with basic governance requirements, as set forth in the New York Public Authorities Law.

We are waiting to see if he will fulfill these other promises, as well as prove more responsive than previous Mayors to the voices of NYC parents, and the needs of our children who deserve more equitable and accountable educational policies and spending priorities.

Thank you for your time.

[1] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bjazxfsUKHrtuNnQpkxW3OGFNJdRwPVD/view

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/nyregion/mamdani-nyc-public-schools-mayoral-control.html