Mamdani, Cuomo and Charter Schools

In December, 1998 Governor Pataki called a lame duck session of the NYS legislature with two items on the agenda: the creation of charter schools and a substantial raise, guess what happened.

The Board of Regents (BoR) and the Charter School Institute, part of SUNY, are authorizers. Charter Schools fall into two categories, the network charter schools, example the Success Network, fifty-seven schools, richly funded, tax deductible contributions, the IRS 990 Reports list the external funding and the salaries of the officers, Eva Moskowitz, the leader of the Success Network, a million while the neighborhood charters struggle.  Charter schools were closely monitored, no longer. Many charter schools pay lobbyists, with tax dollars?  Pushing out low achievers commonplace and “assists” on standardized testing?, who knows?

 Legislation forces NYC to either provide space for charters (co-locate) in existing schools or pay for the rental of space.  

Although the only authority of Community Education Councils (CEC) is zoning the siting of charters is not considered a zoning issue.

Over the years charter schools have expanded their reach and political influence, see the NYSED Charter Fact sheet here.

At the UFT Spring Conference the candidates (with the exception of Adams) chatted with UFT President Mulgrew before an audience of over 1,000 UFT members.  Cuomo posted an impressive 25-Point Education Plan (Read here ) although in his campaign he doesn’t reference the plan and the plan makes no mention of charter schools.

Mamdani’s specific proposals and rationale,

• Opposition to expansion: Mamdani has stated he would “oppose efforts by the state to mandate an expansion of charter school operations in New York City”.
• Opposition to co-location: In an August 2025 questionnaire, he expressed opposition to co-locating charter schools within public school buildings.
• Review of existing funding: For charter schools that are already co-located, Mamdani’s administration would “undertake a comprehensive review of charter school funding to address the unevenness of our system”.
• “Siphoning” of resources: A campaign spokesperson stated that charter schools “siphon resources away from public education, often without real accountability or oversight”.
• Equity concerns: Mamdani has cited “equity” issues and higher suspension rates for students attending charter schools. 

After the UFT endorsed Mandami Cuomo came out as a supporter of charter schools, see the NY Post here.

In the world of politics it’s never over until the referee raises your hand, the date for dropping out, September 11th, has passed and the NY Times poll has Mamdani far ahead. See NYTimes here.

Even President Trump sees Mamdani as the winner,

President Trump appears increasingly resigned to a potential victory by Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee.

In an appearance on “Fox and Friends” in New York on Friday morning, the president said that former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo could still have a path to defeat Mr. Mamdani if two other candidates dropped out, but he bemoaned the quality of Mr. Mamdani’s opponents.‌

“I’m not looking at the polls too carefully, but it would look like he’s going to win,” Mr. Trump, a Republican, said of Mr. Mamdani. “And that’s a rebellion. It’s also a rebellion against bad candidates.”

The president called Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, “my little communist,” and suggested he was already thinking about the leverage he could exert over him as mayor.

A group of advocates are setting up a proposal re: How to Pick a Chancellor; however I expect Mamdani will campaign, door to door, hand shaking, continuing to enlarge his army of volunteers, and, if/when he is victorious announce his Transition Team(s).  Maybe somebody like Dean Fulelhan who served as de Blasio’s deputy mayor and has been deeply entrenched in local government for decades.

Remember mayoral control,, a state law, sunsets on 6/30/26 and the Governor and both houses of the State legislature must extend, amend or allow the law to default to the pre-mayoral control structure, and, with all state electeds on the ballot will out of NYC democrats want to support a “socialist” NYC mayor?

Winning the election is the first step, governing comes next, and, on the national scene the control of Congress at stake, will Mamdani be an asset or an anchor?