NYC’s Education Panel Now Flexes Its Muscles. City Hall: It’s Your Move.

This is an opinion column by David Bloomfield, a professor emeritus and former general counsel to the city's old Board of Education. It looks at New York City's Panel for Educational Policy (PEP). He argues that Mayor Zohran Mamdani's school agenda is still largely undefined after more than nine months in office, and that the panel may step into that gap. The column says the school system spends about $38 billion this fiscal year, employs over 120,000 full-time staff and serves more than 800,000 students.

Bloomfield explains that the panel's power is limited by the 2002 state law that created mayoral control. Under that law the mayor appoints the chancellor, handles collective bargaining and, with City Council approval, sets the budget. The mayor also named eight of the panel's original 13 members. A 2009 amendment let the panel rule on building use and many vendor contracts above $1 million. A 2023 change enlarged it to 23 members, gave parent councils several appointments, required a chair nominated by the state, and barred removal of members over their votes.

The author says the panel has recently turned down the chancellor on an AI-themed school and a school merger. It first rejected, then approved, an Oracle contract. He describes the Mamdani appointees as experienced and independent, and notes that Alan Ong is the new chair. He urges the mayor, chancellor and panel to cooperate, warning that open conflict would hurt students.