Education Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos is laying out why she should continue running the nation’s largest school district, articulating her vision of how she could implement Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s vague calls to end mayoral control of schools.
Aviles-Ramos said she’s open to boosting parents’ and educators’ voices within the existing school bureaucracy. She said the Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP, which votes on school contracts, as well as a range of citywide and district-based parent advisory councils could be strengthened.
During the campaign, Mamdani made broad statements about his vision for the city’s public schools, which serve nearly 900,000 students, saying he is “opposed to mayoral control” but that the buck ultimately stops with the mayor.
“If I'm hearing him correctly, what he's saying is one person should not have control without insight from the community,” Aviles-Ramos said.
“Community engagement in a very authentic way is something that we must continue to improve,” she said. “I don't necessarily know that we need new infrastructure. We have the structures. … What we need to do is stop treating them like they're compliant.”
Aviles-Ramos’ careful remarks in an interview Wednesday with Gothamist highlight big questions surrounding the incoming mayor’s education platform. The chancellor said she’s the best person for the job, even after spending a year running a system that Mamdani has criticized as too dismissive of parents and rank-and-file teachers.
“We've started some amazing work and I think there's room for expansion,” Aviles-Ramos said, referring to her accomplishments overseeing the school system.
The chancellor met with Mamdani last week to discuss their visions for the school system. Mamdani is also reportedly considering former de Blasio administration schools chancellor Meisha Porter, as well as other candidates.
“Anybody who's in a commissioner level or a chancellor level position has a difficult job trying to advocate for themselves to stay,” said Ester Fuchs, professor of public affairs and political science at Columbia University. “However, I think she is in a reasonably good position to do that advocacy because she came in at the tail end of [Mayor Eric Adams'] administration, and in fact, is one of those people who's been keeping things together.”
Fuchs helped then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg secure mayoral control of schools 20 years ago in response to what he argued was an inefficient, corruption-prone system of school boards that yielded wildly different outcomes for students depending on where they lived.
In recent years, parents and educators have said the top-down government structure separates decision-makers from the reality on the ground and lacks transparency. Critics have complained that education priorities shift depending on the administration, creating a “start-from-scratch” approach every four to eight years that leaves teachers reeling.
Mamdani has indicated he thinks those criticisms have merit. On his campaign website, he called for “an end” to mayoral control of schools.
“I believe the mayor’s accountable for that which happens in the city. I will not shirk that accountability even when we put together a system that has greater involvement for parents and educators and students,” he said at the last mayoral debate in October.
Mamdani has not detailed how he plans to realize his vision of ending mayoral control.
Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew, at right, says he's told Zohran Mamdani he should keep Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos in her post.
“I'm still in favor of creating a system that has more involvement for parents, for students and teachers,” he said to reporters Thursday. “I'm still just as critical as I've been, and frankly, it's a criticism that comes out of an exhaustion of having seen so many try to participate in a system of our public education, only to see decisions being made without any of their input taken into account.”
Fuchs said she believes Mamdani can change the education governance structure without abolishing it. “He can fix it in a way that expands engagement by other stakeholders. But to give up this idea that in the end the mayor is responsible for education policy, (that) would be an enormous mistake,” she said.
Fuchs placed Mamdani’s statements in the context of other incoming mayors who sought to distinguish themselves from their predecessors.
Aviles-Ramos, who met with Mamdani last week, sees the Panel for Educational Policy and other education panels as a way to implement Mamdani’s vision.
She cited the PEP’s recent rejection of a long-term contract extension for oft-criticized school bus companies as a sign of the panel’s independence. The panel approved a shorter, three-year agreement.
“I agreed with them on the contract,” she said. “But then there are times when I don't agree with them and they still won't vote in favor of something that I want. And that kind of productive struggle is what holds us accountable.”
She said community education councils — composed of parents in each district — should also have more power, though she didn’t specify how. Recently a handful of councils have grabbed headlines over controversies tied to Israel’s war in Gaza and trans kids in school sports. The education department has sought to address the controversies by encouraging more parents to participate.
“ My point is that it's not just us designing these initiatives and then going to all the parent leaders and saying, ‘Hey, sign off on this. We need your signature.’ We need to engage them at the design phase,” she said.
Aviles-Ramos touted her work implementing Adams’ overhaul of literacy instruction and math, which appear to be lifting test scores. Mamdani has praised the chancellor’s initiative focused on supporting homeless students, which he said he wants to expand.
Aviles-Ramos stepped into her role as the Adams administration was rocked by corruption scandals and federal investigations. Her predecessor, David Banks, stepped down just weeks after the FBI seized his phones. Banks was never charged with any wrongdoing.
While running the education department, Aviles-Ramos released supportive statements about undocumented students and trans kids in school sports. Her remarks hinted at daylight between her and Adams, who took a softer approach to Republican President Donald Trump after the Justice Department moved to dismiss corruption charges against him.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, is among the influential education leaders encouraging Mamdani to consider keeping Aviles-Ramos.
“She absolutely should be up for consideration for the work she has done,” Mulgrew said.
