Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani vowed to end the city’s Gifted and Talented public school program for children five years and younger, his campaign confirmed to amNewYork on Thursday.
The democratic socialist’s pledge, which he first revealed responding to a questionnaire in a New York Times article, quickly drew a notable rebuke from his rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who called it “destructive” and suggested Mamdani was acting hypocritically given his prior education at a specialized high school.
The program has been criticized among some education advocacy groups for exacerbating school segregation by creating majority white and Asian classrooms while shutting out Black and Latino students, as Chalkbeat previously reported.
Mamdani’s spokesperson Dora Pekec said the plan is aimed at eliminating a program that inequitably separates children at a young age and replacing it with a universal child care system that will benefit all students.
“Zohran knows that five-year-olds should not be subjected to a singular assessment that unfairly separates them right at the beginning of their public school education,” Pekec said. “His agenda for our schools will ensure that every New York City public school student receives a high-quality early education that enables them to be challenged and fulfilled.”
The program would still be in place for grades one through five under Mamdani’s plan.
Implementing universal free childcare for youngsters aged six weeks to five years old is one of the three core campaign pledges that helped Mamdani secure the Democratic nomination. Similar to other items in his agenda, Mamdani promises to pay for the expansion by hiking taxes on corporations and millionaires — something which would require approval from Albany.
Mamdani, in a statement to The Times, said he plans to follow through on former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s move to end the Gifted and Talented program, which was announced shortly before the former mayor exited office in 2021. The action was part of de Blasio’s efforts to desegregate city schools.
The outgoing mayor, Eric Adams, reversed that decision when he took office in 2022 and has since expanded the program, although he did eliminate a controversial admissions test for it. Adams announced on Sunday that he is no longer seeking reelection.
Cuomo says, ‘Don’t eliminate the program’
Cuomo released a Thursday statement blasting the frontrunner’s pledge as “emblematic of a deeper problem in today’s Democratic Party” — that the “surface level appearance of a solution is sufficient.”
The former governor argued that the large volume of applications for the Gifted and Talented program, which has limited space, means it should be expanded rather than eliminated. He added that, according to Department of Education survey data, a sizable portion of families who left the public school system reported doing so because of a lack of academic rigor.
“The answer isn’t to say good riddance to those families,” Cuomo said. “If there are issues with how young children are selected, then fix that and expand opportunities — give more at the start of education and more on-ramps later. Don’t eliminate the program.”
Cuomo also chided Mamdani for “flipflopping” on his position on the specialized high school exam — known as the SHSAT.
Mamdani, an alumnus of The Bronx High School of Science, one of the city’s specialized schools, once advocated for eliminating the test, but has since shifted to saying it should remain in place.
“That’s not leadership, that’s pandering,” Cuomo said. “Our kids deserve clarity, not chaos, when it comes to their education.”
