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# Make the Governor Responsible for New York’s Schools
- URL: https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/make-the-governor-responsible-for-new-yorks-schools-2/
- Published: 2026-10-14T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-14T15:59:59.000Z
- Description: Learn from mayoral control, and from other states
- Author: Daniel Weisberg
- Tags: Education, Governor, Accountability

Mayor Zohran Mamdani was grilled recently on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” about the state of New York City’s public schools, after journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones publicly pressed him to respond to her viral essay on her daughter’s experience in a low-rigor, high-poverty city school. To his credit, the mayor didn’t dodge: He called the piece “devastating,” acknowledged the system had failed her child, and[ promised a plan to address segregation](https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026/09/29/mamdani-nyc-school-segregation-nikole-hannah-jones/?ref=vitalcitynyc.org).

Of course, Mamdani didn’t have much choice. Under the mayoral control system New York City has operated under since 2002,[ he appoints the schools chancellor and a majority of the Panel for Educational Policy](https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025/12/31/zohran-mamdani-taps-kamar-samuels-as-chancellor-and-reverses-mayoral-control-stance/?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), the body that oversees the system. When city schools fail a child, reporters know who to call.

The picture at the state level is fundamentally different. New York spends more per student than any other state in the country —[ $31,918 per pupil in the 2023-2024 school year](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/school-system-finances.html?ref=vitalcitynyc.org). Yet on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federal exam given to a sample of fourth- and eighth-graders in every state, just 31% of New York’s fourth-graders and 31% of its eighth-graders[ scored proficient in reading](https://ies.ed.gov/use-work/resource-library/report/statistics-brief/naep-reading-2024-state-and-district-snapshot-reports?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), while only 37% of fourth-graders and 26% of eighth-graders[ were proficient in math](https://ies.ed.gov/use-work/resource-library/report/statistics-brief/naep-mathematics-2024-state-and-district-snapshot-reports?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), leaving New York ranked 28th nationally in eighth-grade math.

Even after adjusting for student demographics — poverty, race, special-education and English-learner status — New York’s performance is still only middling at best: the Urban Institute’s [demographically adjusted NAEP rankings](https://www.urban.org/research/publication/states-demographically-adjusted-performance-2024-national-assessment?ref=vitalcitynyc.org) put the state 10th in 4th grade reading, and 16th in 8th grade reading. Massachusetts — another high-cost-of-living northeastern state — posts a[ fourth-grade reading proficiency rate nine points higher](https://ies.ed.gov/use-work/resource-library/report/statistics-brief/naep-reading-2024-state-and-district-snapshot-reports?ref=vitalcitynyc.org) than New York’s (40% to 31%) while[ spending roughly $7,000 less per student](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/school-system-finances.html?ref=vitalcitynyc.org).

So if a journalist wanted to ask New York’s leaders the kind of tough questions Mamdani just faced, where would they go? Not the governor — she has no say in who sits on the Board of Regents that sets state education policy, nor in the selection of the commissioner who runs the state’s Education Department. Not the voters either:[ Commissioners are elected in some states, but not in New York](https://www.ecs.org/50-state-comparison-k-12-governance-archive-2020/?ref=vitalcitynyc.org).

In New York, in a system uncomfortably similar to the one that selected the old city Board of Education, the Regents are[ chosen by a vote of the combined houses of the state Legislature](https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EDN/202?ref=vitalcitynyc.org); the Regents, in turn, appoint the commissioner. It’s a byzantine arrangement, unique among the states so far as I can find, and it means there is no single, clear line of accountability for the quality of education New York’s children receive. So who is really in charge? Arguably the chancellor, who chairs the Board of Regents; or maybe the state commissioner, who heads the state Education Department; or maybe the leaders of the state Assembly and Senate. These “maybes” mean no one is in charge, and that absence of accountability has coincided with decades of educational failure.

Clear lines of accountability — and authority — create a platform for real change. New York City itself, under mayoral control, still has a long way to go before all its schools provide a quality education. But its graduation rate,[ which hovered around 50% before mayoral control took effect in 2002](https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2024/03/21/nyc-graduation-rates-dipped-slightly-last-year/?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), has[ climbed to over 80% today](https://infohub.nyced.org/reports/academics/graduation-results?ref=vitalcitynyc.org) — and its state-exam proficiency rates [meet or exceed](https://infohub.nyced.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ela-math-science.pdf;?ref=vitalcitynyc.org) [the state's](https://www.nysed.gov/news/2026/state-education-department-releases-preliminary-data-english-language-arts-mathematics-and?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), even though city schools serve[ a much higher share of economically disadvantaged students](https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/reports/nycps-data-at-a-glance?ref=vitalcitynyc.org) than[ schools statewide (75% in the city vs. 60% statewide, 2024-2025)](https://data.nysed.gov/enrollment.php?ref=vitalcitynyc.org).

In Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana, governors, legislators and state commissioners have led sustained campaigns on literacy: funding coaches, providing technical assistance to districts, and using the bully pulpit to build support for ambitious goals. (Mississippi and Tennessee give their governors far more control over their state education systems; Louisiana’s board is elected — but either model is clearer than New York’s.) Mississippi passed legislation mandating literacy screeners for every K-3 student and retention for third-graders reading below grade level, funded literacy coaches for its 50 lowest-performing schools, and sustained the strategy for more than a decade.[ On NAEP’s fourth-grade reading assessment](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/kids-reading-scores-have-soared-in-mississippi-miracle?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), the state has climbed from 49th in the nation in 2013 to 21st in 2022.[ Adjusted for student demographics, Mississippi is the top state](https://www.urban.org/research/publication/states-demographically-adjusted-performance-2024-national-assessment?ref=vitalcitynyc.org) in the country in fourth-grade literacy. Louisiana followed a similar long-term strategy and,[ on fourth-grade NAEP reading](https://edsurge.com/news/2025-02-25-louisiana-s-naep-score-a-victory-for-the-science-of-reading?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), moved from 42nd to 16th.

What’s stopping New York from running the same playbook? I’d argue the answer is structural — a governance system so convoluted that no one owns the problem. Every year, the same dismal results come in from across the state, representing hundreds of thousands of young people denied a real shot to excel. And every year, those results are met with silence from state leaders and resignation from public school communities.

The dysfunction was laid bare just weeks ago, when[ the Board of Regents voted to authorize the state Education Department](https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026/09/14/new-york-graduation-requirements-regents-exams-overhaul/?ref=vitalcitynyc.org) to move forward with eliminating Regents exams in four core subjects as a high school graduation requirement — tests that, for decades, have been the only statewide, objective measure of what a diploma actually certifies. The exams are set to disappear by 2027, replaced by …[ no one seems entirely sure what](https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/in-partial-defense-of-retiring-n-y-s-regents-exam-requirement/). Moments before the vote, the board’s own chancellor admitted as much: “I was trying to understand what the action was we were voting on,” he said. “I’m a literate person, and I didn’t get it.” Another Regent asked state officials what resources and guidance would be available to families navigating this “purgatory period” of transition — officials did not offer a clear timeline. The measure passed unanimously anyway.

If we’re going to break this cycle, we need to change how we govern education. The state board and the state commissioner should answer to the governor.[ Education comprises about 25% of the state’s budget](https://fiscalpolicy.org/understanding-foundation-aid-how-public-school-funding-works-in-new-york-state?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), but unlike with state departments responsible for health care or roads, the governor has no authority over this crucial function.[ New York’s Constitution guarantees the existence of the Board of Regents](https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CNS/A11S2?ref=vitalcitynyc.org), but it says nothing about how its members are chosen — meaning a simple change in state law, not a constitutional amendment, could let the governor select the Regents, who would in turn select the commissioner.

This isn’t a panacea. There will be no quick fixes for the New York families whose kids have been robbed of a quality education. But they would finally know whose door to knock on — during election years and every year in between.

When a governor is clearly in charge, there’s real potential for serious leadership on education: a vision in which every neighborhood school offers a warm, welcoming place and rigorous academics taught by educators who are well paid and well supported; big goals for literacy, math, and college and career readiness; a mandate to adopt Mississippi’s literacy playbook; a priority on middle school math and strong career preparation in high school — all implemented by leaders who answer to her (or him). That kind of leadership would give hope to communities across the state that the current dysfunctional system has left behind, and give confidence to the entire state that even when plans fail, there’s finally a desk where the buck stops.