The New York City teachers’ union endorsed Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani for mayor Tuesday night — despite his radical platform to cede City Hall’s authority to oversee the nation’s largest public school system.
The United Federation of Teachers’ resolution recommending Mamdani’s endorsement applauded his pledge of “revamping mayoral control [of schools] to give more say to educators and parents.”
Mamdani’s education platform “supports an end to mayoral control” in favor of “co-governance.”
A state law approved under then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg in 2002 gave City Hall authority to oversee the schools system to replace the dysfunctional, much-maligned Board of Education.
Successive mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams have fought to keep City Hall in charge of the schools.
The Post first reported last week that the UFT would endorse Mamdani after he won a crowded June Democratic primary by a dominant margin. The union was neutral in the primary.
“As a union, we have to protect public education, public employees, and public service from attacks from Washington, DC,” UFT president Mike Mulgrew said following the vote.
“We have to make New York City safer and more affordable for working- and middle-class families,” he went on. “We have to make the jobs of educators and nurses more attractive with better pay and benefits, and retain those already doing the work. We need a mayor who understands the task before us and who will help us get it done.”
The resolution also said Mamdani committed to full implementation of the class-size reduction law and funding for pre-K and 3-K programs.
While the resolution passed with 63% of the vote, some teachers staunchly opposed backing Mamdani — among them Jewish educators who took issue with Mamdani’s anti-Israel stance. Many of them recently backed Mulgrew’s re-election as union president.
“We understand that Mamdani’s campaign promises are attractive to the UFT, but many feel let down with this selection,” said Moshe Spern, president of the United Jewish Teachers.
“Mulgrew was supported by many Jewish educators because of Ant-Zionist candidates against him. Now he’s chosen to support an Anti-Zionist mayoral candidate,” Spern said. “The UFT has made it very clear that getting on Mamdani’s good side is more important than supporting those that supported him.”
