New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has announced plans to phase out the city’s Gifted and Talented program for elementary school students, a move that would undo policies reinstated by Mayor Eric Adams in 2022, as reported by The New York Post.
Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and the Democratic nominee for mayor, told The New York Times that his administration would eliminate the Gifted and Talented track beginning at the kindergarten level.
While existing classes would continue through the current school year, no new kindergarten gifted classes would be available starting next fall.
The plan marks the first step in a broader proposal to fully dismantle the program across the city’s elementary schools. The decision is likely to renew debate among parents, who have been sharply divided on the issue since former Mayor Bill de Blasio attempted to end the program in 2021.
“I will return to the previous policy,” Mamdani told the outlet.
“Ultimately, my administration would aim to make sure that every child receives a high-quality early education that nurtures their curiosity and learning.”
The Gifted and Talented program, which has long identified students through a testing process to provide accelerated coursework, has faced criticism from progressive groups who argue it creates inequities in the city’s public education system.
Parents who support the program contend that it offers crucial opportunities for high-achieving students that cannot be replicated in general education classrooms.
Mayor Eric Adams reinstated the program shortly after taking office in 2022, expanding access while promising reforms to address concerns about fairness and representation.
The Department of Education has not yet commented on Mamdani’s proposal, but education leaders and parent organizations are expected to weigh in as the policy becomes a major campaign issue.
The announcement comes as Mamdani, currently serving as a state assemblyman from Queens, continues to lead in early polling for the mayoral race.
His education platform emphasizes universal access to early childhood education and restructuring programs that he argues create disparities within the school system.
If elected, Mamdani’s proposal would likely represent one of the most significant shifts in city education policy since the debate over specialized high school admissions testing.
Sure those are funds he can use to better himself.
If NYC elects this guy mayor then I don’t want to hear people there crying about what he is going to do to them. CA crying about what Newsom is doing to them. IL crying about what Pritzker is doing to them. MN crying about what Walz is doing to them. It goes on and on. People elect these leftists then complain when the leftist does what leftists do.
This really troubles me that a major American city is seriously going to vote for an outright communist muslim. I guess it shouldn’t since Vermont has been sending an outright communist to the senate every six years for decades.
And who here thinks the NY public education system is capable of providing a quality education? You know, that would turn out students trained and capable of thinking on their own… not trained to parrot his marxist talking points?
Educated people eventually see through the fog of communism and reject it. The African marxist needs uneducated drones to vote for him. They will get exactly what they voted for the very next day after the election. Just have the Feds cut off the cash to this wanna be african dictator and see how long his Utopia lasts and the peasants t show up with pitchforks and torches.
Why would anyone vote for this whacko
He’s going for the stupid vote. And in New York city that’s going to get him handily elected. The Jew hating bigotry is just stupid icing on the stupid cake.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has announced plans to phase out the city’s Gifted and Talented program for all candidates for political power. AOC 2028!
Mamdani is just afraid the truth will come out that many kindergarteners are smarter that he is.
Of course he wants to end the Gifted program. He is a communist. Anything that raises one person over another is anathema to communism. Anything that recognizes and encourages achievement is anathema to communism. For Mamdani, education is indoctrination to a system where cookie-cutter children are taught to revere The State and inform on parents or neighbors who do not toe the party line. My heart goes out to the decent city dwellers who are trapped and can not move away to a sane society. For those who vote Democrat, you deserve everything that’s coming your way. Crime is a tool of the communist. It allows them to stoke fear and demagogue. That is why Democrat cities are cesspools of violence, poverty, and drugs. That’s the Democrat bread and butter. When most businesses pull out of the City rather than bend the knee to Mamdani, it will be too late and I pray that the Federal Government refuses to send one penny to this misbegotten metropolis.