Educators to Lawmakers: Extend Mayoral Control

Dear Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Heastie, and Members of the Legislature,

We are members of the Educators for Excellence New York’s (E4E-NY) Teacher Leader Steering Committee, representing classroom teachers from across New York City and E4E-NY’s 18,000 members. Every day, we serve students with diverse needs, backgrounds, and aspirations. We are writing to express our support of extending mayoral control of New York City’s public schools for the next four years.

Mayoral control creates coherence, something we as educators know is essential to success in classrooms and professional learning communities. When instructional priorities are clear, curriculum is aligned, and professional learning is consistent, we are better able to support our students. Mayoral control makes that level of system-wide coherence possible, at the scale and complexity that New York City demands.

We have seen this most clearly through initiatives like NYC Reads and NYC Solves. Rather than leaving curriculum decisions to individual schools—creating confusion, inconsistency, and opening the door to low-quality materials for students—mayoral control has enabled systemwide investment in high-quality curriculum and aligned professional learning that helps educators meet the needs of all learners. Just as mayoral control made these initiatives possible, it is also essential to continue, grow, improve, and sustain the progress already underway for the city’s nearly one million students across more than 1,800 schools.

Mayoral control also creates clear lines of accountability that matter to educators. When there is a single point of responsibility, it is easier for teachers, families, and advocates to push for improvements—whether that is stronger curriculum implementation, better professional learning, or more targeted support for struggling students. In a more diffuse system, it becomes harder to know where decisions are made and how to influence them, which ultimately slows progress for students. 

We know this because we recently met with the Chancellor and left feeling seen and heard. It demonstrated that mayoral control can go hand in hand with authentic, transparent, and responsive engagement. We’re eager to partner with city and state leaders moving forward to strengthen mayoral control through this kind of engagement, as well as to bolster strengthening and empowering structures like Community Education Councils, so that more families and educators can meaningfully participate in decision-making in their communities.

As Chancellor Samuels sets his vision, after 100 days of listening, we see an opportunity to build on the progress already underway—expanding literacy efforts to older students, strengthening math instruction by expanding NYC Solves to elementary schools, and continuing to invest in a diverse and high-quality educator workforce. The state’s decision on mayoral control will determine whether our new mayor and chancellor have the conditions necessary to deliver on these commitments in a coherent and sustained way.

We urge the legislature to extend mayoral control for four years and provide the stability, coherence, and accountability needed to serve our students, and continue the progress our classrooms are making across New York City.

Sincerely,

The Educators for Excellence-New York Teacher Leader Steering Committee

• Leigh Ercole
• Sheren Jadallah
• Eli Levine
• Ashraful Islam
• Lauren Devita
• Valerie Green Thomas
• Erica Boyce
• Stephanie Vasquez
• Tatum Booth
• Erica Addy
• Miguel Alls
• Simone Gordon
• April Rose
• Leton Hall
• Sadiki Waithe
• Lisa Watson
• Patrick Sprinkle
• Amarilis Torello
• Patricia Broderson
• Dr. Danielle Point Du Jour
• Kate Gutwillig
• Shaakira Johnson