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New Yorkers have voted for change — and as this new administration begins to take shape, no issue will test its leadership more than the governance of our public schools.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has said he opposes mayoral accountability, calling it undemocratic. But real democracy in a city of 9 million people and a school system serving 1 million students isn’t about diffusing power: It’s about making responsibility clear. Democracy depends on knowing exactly who is in charge and giving stakeholders the ability to demand results.

Under the current system, parents and voters have a direct line to leadership. They can advocate to the person responsible for the system. And if that leader fails their children, they can vote them out. That’s democracy in action: clear, direct and fair.

New Yorkers must not forget the chaos that mayoral control replaced. Before 2002, New York City’s schools were governed by 32 local boards that often worked at cross purposes and sometimes in open conflict. Decisions about budgets, staffing and curriculum were fragmented and inconsistent from one district to the next.

Some boards were run by dedicated community members, but too many were dominated by political operatives. Nepotism and corruption were rampant. Jobs went to friends and relatives instead of qualified educators, and investigations uncovered board members steering contracts to allies or hiring individuals with criminal records to work in schools. 

Millions of dollars meant for classrooms vanished into a cloud of bureaucracy and self-dealing. Parents were left powerless. When a school failed, they didn’t know whom to call: the local board, the superintendent, the central office or City Hall? No one was clearly responsible, so everyone passed the buck. Student performance stagnated, and inequities deepened. Children in wealthier neighborhoods got attention, while kids in lower-income communities were left behind. 

That system was nothing like a democracy — it was dysfunction junction.

Mayoral accountability changed that. It created a single, unified chain of command: one person with the authority to make decisions, drive reform and be held responsible for outcomes. This clarity made major progress possible. Under mayoral accountability, the city’s graduation rate rose from 46% to over 81%, while the share of graduates earning Advanced Regents diplomas increased by more than 20%. SAT participation nearly doubled, and pre-kindergarten enrollment skyrocketed from fewer than 14,000 to over 64,000 children. Even overcrowding declined, with fewer schools exceeding capacity at every level. 

These gains didn’t happen by accident; they happened because a single accountable leader could coordinate agencies, funding and policy to get results for students.

Critics claim that mayoral control concentrates too much power in one office. In truth, it concentrates responsibility — and that is the foundation of public trust. A system serving a million students with diverse needs cannot govern its schools by committee. It requires decisive leadership that is ultimately answerable to voters.

That doesn’t mean the system is perfect. It must become more transparent, more responsive and more inclusive of parent and community voices. But strengthening transparency is not the same as dismantling the structure that makes improvement possible.

Ironically, without mayoral accountability, even Mayor-elect Mamdani’s own priorities, from expanding equitable access to early childhood education to addressing systemic inequality, would be undermined. Without clear authority to align city agencies and resources, those goals risk becoming aspirational rather than achievable.

Mayoral accountability is not the enemy of democracy. It is the mechanism that makes democracy effective. Parents deserve a system where they know who to challenge, who to advocate to, and who to hold responsible for results.

As City Hall and Albany debate the future of this system, one message should be clear: New York cannot afford to go backward. Dismantling mayoral accountability would not restore democracy, it would simply revive dysfunction. New York City’s students deserve a school system that is transparent, coordinated and accountable. The next chapter of educational progress depends on leadership that embraces those principles, not abandons them.

With an open mind and a broad vision, Mayor-elect Mamdani has an opportunity to build on what works, fix what doesn’t, and continue moving our schools forward. The future of 1 million children — and the faith of millions of parents — depends on it.

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