POLITICS: NYC’s failing schools need a mayor to fight the selfish UFT

Fixing our public schools is one of the most important jobs facing New York City’s next mayor: At $41 billion, education spending is the single largest item in City Hall’s gargantuan $115 billion budget.

But in both televised debates of the Democratic mayoral primary, my opponents offered only platitudes and teachers-union talking points.

Last Thursday, I was the only candidate on stage to argue against the foolish class-size mandate secured by the United Federation of Teachers.

The policy may sound good, but as I noted it will cost $1.6 billion — and having to suddenly hire thousands of teachers who are less experienced and less qualified than the teachers we have will undercut any possible benefit of smaller classes.

When it comes to education, we can’t afford to repeat the same tired slogans and tinker around the margins.

But the UFT’s self-interest makes real reform impossible.

Fighting for kids — and taking on the adults who run our educational system for their benefit — has been my life’s mission.

It’s why I helped start Teach for America and Democrats for Education Reform, and why I served on the board of NYC KIPP charter schools for more than two decades.

Now that I’m running for mayor, I am the only candidate who has made fixing our schools a core part of my pitch to voters.

I have a simple message to the city’s parents: Our Department of Education is ripping you off — and lying about it.

The facts are damning: Every year, New York City spends upward of $40,000 per student — more than any other district in the country — but nearly half (46%) of our fourth-graders lack basic reading skills.

Shockingly, fourth graders in our nation’s poorest state, Mississippi — which spends just $12,000 per student — are now reading at a higher level than their peers in the five boroughs.

The results for New York City’s black and Latino kids are especially alarming. In 2024, 58% of black fourth graders and 62% of Latino fourth graders in New York City public schools lacked basic reading skills, compared with 27% of white students and 25% of Asian students.

Fourth grade is a critical time, because that’s when the curriculum pivots from learning to read to reading to learn.

Most children who struggle to read as fourth-graders fall further and further behind — and end up living lives of poverty and hardship.

But to cover up its failure, NYC’s public schools lie to parents, telling them their children are doing fine and passing them along year after year.

That’s why I’ve pledged to end this “social promotion” after third grade. If the school system hasn’t taught a child to read after five years, it needs to keep trying.

The good news is we know what works: Establish high standards and a rigorous curriculum, hold all schools and educators accountable, reward excellence and give parents greater freedom to send their kids to schools of their choosing.

Against the objections of the UFT, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg expanded high-quality charter schools and other innovative public schools, made all schools take responsibility for their students’ performance and greatly expanded parents’ choices.

The results spoke for themselves: The portion of fourth-graders lacking basic reading skills declined from 53% in 2002, Bloomberg’s first year in office, to 38% in 2013.

NYC’s next mayor should expand on Bloomberg’s approach.

Charter schools, which educate about 15% of New York City’s public-school students, are rigorously evaluated every five years. They must demonstrate that they’re delivering for their students — and if they’re falling short, they can be put on probation or even closed.

All public schools should be held to those standards. As mayor, I would establish similar accountability for every school in the system.

To make sure we hire and retain the best teachers in the country, we need to pay teachers based on how much they inspire and educate our kids, not on their years in the system or the number of certifications they have.

The next contract with the UFT must include differential pay based on merit and other measures that actually benefit our kids. And as mayor, I’d fight to overturn the UFT-engineered class-size mandate.

Unlike the other candidates, I can make that promise — because I’m not seeking the UFT’s endorsement, and therefore I don’t owe it anything.

It’s not too late for my fellow Democrats to join me in standing up to this self-serving special-interest group. Our children’s future depends on it.

Whitney Tilson, a businessman and education activist, is a candidate in the Democratic mayoral primary.