He has been asking for the last few weeks and Mayor Eric Adams did it again on Tuesday in front of his high school alma mater. 

“If anyone should be in charge of our school system, it should be two kids from the public school system,” Adams said.

Adams wants Albany to extend full mayoral control of the public schools for him and his chancellor David Banks once the current measure expires on June 30.

What You Need To Know

  • New York City mayors have enjoyed full control of public schools since 2002

  • Every few years, Albany renews the measure that allows the mayor to control the public school system

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul included a four-year extension of mayoral control in her state budget proposal
  • Some lawmakers are asking for larger role of parents in schools' decision-making process

“We are two Black men, and the overwhelming amount of the public school students are Black and brown students,” Adams added.

Since 2002, renewing mayoral control of city school has regularly happened in Albany, but only after some lobbying and drama.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has included a four-year extension in her state budget proposal due on April 1, but some lawmakers want to see changes before they give their go-ahead.

A larger role for parents in the decision-making process is a key issue for people like State Senator John C. Liu, even more so now after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Parents feel that City Hall hasn’t been listening to them," Liu said. 

Some of those parents want more time for a discussion on how a new system would look like. 

“Let’s not consider mayoral control or the extension of mayoral control as part of the budget, so let’s pull it out,” Tom Sheppard, a member of the Panel for Educational Policy, said.

But others are willing to change their views and give the mayor and his chancellor a chance.

“I think that with this, our new mayor and our new chancellor, that they are of and from the people,” Nicole Hammond, Education Council President in District 29, said.

The legislature will likely extend the measure in the coming months, but it’s still early to say for how long and whether they will do it as part of the budget negotiations or later in the spring.