Mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani recently introduced an ambiguous proposal aimed at reducing waste within the city’s Department of Education. This comes just days after he revealed a plan to invest $12 million into hiring more teachers.
Mamdani, who leans left, collaborated with Upper West Side City Councilwoman Julie Wong and state Sen. Robert Jackson to address the growing $46 billion budget within the DOE.
He mentioned, somewhat vaguely, that the cost of his plan would be minor compared to the potential savings, though specifics were lacking.
The Queens lawmaker, touting a socialist agenda, asserted that his approach could potentially slash wasteful spending by 10%, but didn’t provide clear figures to back it up.
It’s important to note that the public funds may be redirected toward the goal of hiring 1,000 new public school teachers each year, which is intended to comply with state requirements for smaller classroom sizes.
As for the $12 million initiative he announced last week, his plan included trimming wasteful contract expenses.
“We’ll fund this by tackling nearly $10 billion spent annually on various contracts and consulting within the education system,” he previously stated. He criticized the existing contracts for being outdated and often benefiting vendors based more on connections than quality of work.
During the latest announcement, Mamdani outlined a plan called “Curing Procurement,” which would feature annual audits of major vendors and a revamp of procurement structures by establishing hubs in all five boroughs.
When pressed for concrete examples of contracts to eliminate, he pointed to significant tech deals made by the Department of Energy during the pandemic when online schooling became necessary.
“These contracts were established with no proper system to manage inventory,” he explained.
Wong, who leads the Legislature’s Contracts Committee, supported Mamdani’s initiative, suggesting it could fund various proposals, such as universal child care, which she estimates would cost around $5 billion.
Despite his ambitions, Mamdani has not provided thorough details regarding his education policies, and his stance on abolishing mayoral control of public schools has been met with backlash, including from election opponents like former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
Cuomo, at a separate event, reiterated his proposal for the city to oversee the MTA’s extensive capital projects, arguing that the current management structure is unwieldy.
He criticized Mamdani’s remarks by recalling his own contentious tenure running the MTA, including the notorious “summer of hell” transit service issues and budget misallocations.
Mamdani responded to Cuomo’s criticisms by highlighting the detrimental impact of Cuomo’s decisions on New Yorkers, referencing the unreasonably high costs of subway construction and the diversion of funds during his governorship.
In response, Cuomo’s press secretary, Rich Azzopardi, countered that Mamdani lacks the experience necessary for such significant roles.
“Mamdani has no experience running even a small establishment, let alone managing the MTA,” Azzopardi asserted. “Governor Cuomo has delivered projects that have been long awaited by politicians.”
