A New York GOP leader criticized Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to phase out gifted programs, warning it could lower expectations and test scores citywide.
New York Young Republican President Stefano Forte is criticizing Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s education agenda, warning that a plan to phase out gifted and talented programs for younger students could reduce academic opportunities and weaken outcomes across New York City schools.
Mamdani has proposed moving away from the city’s gifted and talented programs over concerns about inequity, according to Fox News Digital. Critics of the proposal argue that the programs serve high-achieving students, including children from low-income families, and that eliminating them could narrow rather than expand opportunity.
Forte told Fox News Digital that his chief concern is what he described as a move away from merit and competition in public education. “The lack of merit and the lack of competitiveness…is going to lead to test scores declining and the quality of our education declining significantly,” he said.
The dispute underscores a broader fight over how New York City should balance selective academic programs with concerns about fairness and access. Gifted and talented programs have long been politically sensitive because admission systems can shape which students receive accelerated coursework at an early age.
Forte argued that Mamdani and his appointees would “gut” the program and replace it with a system driven by equity goals, racial considerations and lotteries. Those are Forte’s characterizations of the mayor’s direction; the captured source material does not include a response from Mamdani’s office to those specific claims.
The criticism also extends to Mamdani’s personnel choices. Shortly after taking office, Mamdani appointed Kamar Samuels, a longtime New York City educator and Manhattan superintendent, as schools chancellor. Fox News Digital reported that critics objected to the appointment because of Samuels’ history of efforts to dismantle the gifted and talented program.
Forte also raised concerns about teacher unions and teacher training programs, saying unions could gain influence under Mamdani and arguing that politics should be kept out of classrooms. The American Federation of Teachers was also contacted by Fox News Digital for comment, according to the report.
Mamdani was already facing education-related criticism after announcing that his first veto as mayor would block a bipartisan bill aimed at combating antisemitism by expanding protest security safeguards for places of education. The next test for his schools agenda will be how the administration defines any replacement for gifted programs and whether it can answer concerns from families who view selective academic tracks as essential opportunities.
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