Mayoral candidates clash over opinions on education, NYC's Gifted and Talented program
LOWER MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) -- The issue of education has become front-and-center in the race for New York City mayor, as the candidates presented starkly different plans for the future of the city's Gifted and Talented program.
In the nation's largest public school system, 75% of the students are Black or Latino, but in New York's Gifted and Talented programs, 75% of the students are White or Asian.
If elected, Democratic frontrunner Zohran Mamdani has pledged to change that, eliminating those programs for the city's youngest students.
"Zohran knows," said his campaign spokeswoman, "that 5-year-olds should not be subjected to a singular assessment that unfairly separates them right at the beginning of their public-school education."
Mamdani would not open the programs to students until the third grade. Brooklyn College professor David Bloomfield.
"The argument for gifted and talented is there is a small group of students who deserve a segregated situation so that their learning can be accelerated into the early elementary grades, and that the rest of the students should have a regular kindergarten curriculum," said Brooklyn College professor David Bloomfield. "The argument against that is it's very hard to sort out who is really deserving of that kind of special attention when they're 4 years old."
Parents and educators protested after then-mayor Bill de Blasio moved to eliminate them in 2021. But it was among his last acts as mayor, and the decision was largely reversed by incoming mayor Eric Adams, who expanded the programs.
If he's elected, former Governor Andrew Cuomo says he would expand them further.
"The Democratic ideal has always been about providing more opportunities for historically marginalized students to access these programs-not eliminating academic excellence altogether," he said.
Republican Curtis Sliwa agreed.
"I would not only maintain gifted and talented, because I saw it up-close and personal, I would expand it," he said.
Experts on both sides of the issue agree that children learn at different rates, and gifted children need to be challenged in a curriculum that provides for it.
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