Opponent Of Mayoral School Control Expects Adams Will Retain Power

QUEENS, NY — A northeast Queens leader skeptical that the city's public school system should remain under Mayor Eric Adams' purview conceded this week that the mayor will likely stay at the educational system's helm.

"I expect that [Adams] will retain control [of NYC schools] so the public, including parents, educators, activists, and legislators can hold him accountable," said State Senator John Liu Tuesday, after meeting one-on-one with Adams during his trip to Albany.

Liu, who chairs the Senate Committee on NYC Education and represents Bayside, previously said he believes stakeholders are dissatisfied with the existing system, which grants the mayor control over the Board of Education and its mostly mayoral-appointed members.

New York City public schools were formerly controlled by elected members of the Board of Education and community school boards (amid which corruption ran rampant).

Adams has said for months that he should keep control over the nation's largest public school system, campaigning in March to have mayoral control granted in the passage of the state's budget — a move that Governor Kathy Hochul said she supported, but which did not happen.

Instead, the decision of mayoral control has fallen on state lawmakers, who have to renew Adams' control when it expires on June 30 (the system requires renewal every couple of years) or come up with a new system.

"I expect a resolution on the issue of mayoral control soon," Liu said. "We won’t see a return to the local school board system of 20 years ago, nor will we see a 4-year extension of mayoral control without any changes."

Education stakeholders, namely including parents and educators, have criticized mayoral control for giving more of a voice to officials and mayoral-appointees than other community members.

While he expects that the system of mayoral control will be renewed, Liu said it won't be without changes that meet some of those demands.

"There will also be changes so that parents will have more meaningful input into how our schools are run," he said.

Related Article: Mayor Should Control NYC Public Schools, Adams Says In Bayside