‘Mamdani the Commie’ to declare war on NYC charter schools if elected mayor

Democrat New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani reportedly intends to declare war on charter schools if he wins November’s election.

Prior to the Democrat mayoral primary in June, Mamdani filled out a Staten Island Advance questionnaire in which he made his feelings about charter schools abundantly clear, according to the New York Post.

“I oppose efforts by the state to mandate an expansion of charter school operations in New York City,” he wrote in the questionnaire.

“I also oppose the co-locating of charter schools inside DOE (Department of Education) school buildings, but for those already co-located my administration would undertake a comprehensive review of charter school funding to address the unevenness of our system,” he added.

BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani says he’ll declare war on charter schools if elected mayor.

He’s vowing to block new schools — even ones serving low-income Black and Hispanic kids — and won’t let them share public buildings.

Where is the outrage? pic.twitter.com/cYDoQ25Uzi

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) August 6, 2025

Mamdani reportedly believes that charter schools benefit the wealthy at the expense of poorer families, but critics say the socialist/communist mayoral candidate has no clue what he’s talking about.

If anything, they say, charter schools provide poorer families, in addition to minority families, with a pipeline to better quality schools for their children.

Take, for instance, the family of Mano, a 10th grader who was transferred into a local charter school after being bullied in the public school system.

“I don’t understand why Mamdani would be hostile to charter schools,” his mother, Arlene Rosado, told the Post. “I think he’s very misinformed. Charter schools are helping kids in the community. You should always have a choice. Taking that choice away is not cool.”

Rev. Raymond Rivera, the founder of the Bronx’s Family Life Academy charter school network, added that Mamdani MUST support charter schools if he truly cares about minority children.

“Ninety-five percent of children in our charter schools are students of color,” he said. “We believe our parents should have a choice.”

I believe in public education.

Daniel Loeb is a hedge fund billionaire who said the first black Senate Majority Leader in New York history is worse than the KKK because she doesn’t like charter schools.

His PAC is funneling cash to my opponent.

She should return that money. pic.twitter.com/DkjfzXknn9

— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) June 17, 2020

Mamdani’s charter school views have also been made clear during the four years he’s been serving in the New York State Assembly.

“As a member of the Assembly, Mr. Mamdani has made clear that he was not supportive of charter schools or even the families that chose them, but he has recently and repeatedly said he would be a mayor for all New Yorkers — and that, of course, has to include the nearly 150,000 charter school students and their families,” NYC Charter School Center CEO James Merriman said.

He added that he’d like to meet Mamdani to correct the “misinformation” he’s been spreading about the city’s charter schools.

Meanwhile, Arthur Samuels, the executive director of the Math, Engineering, and Science Academy (MESA) Charter High School, argued to the Post that charter schools are beneficial because they’re making school affordable to struggling families.

“I can’t think of anything more empowering to those families than providing choice and agency,” he said.

They’re also grossly outperforming public schools.

“Students in charter schools typically outperform their counterparts in traditional schools on the state’s English Language Arts and math standardized exams,” the Post notes. “Most charters have a longer school day and school year than traditional schools, and their teaching staff are non-union.”

“Last year, 58.2% of charter students scored proficient on the ELA test — 9.1 percentage points higher than their district counterparts at 49.1%. Meanwhile, 66.3% of charter students passed the math test, compared to 53.4% of traditional public school students — a nearly 13 percentage-point gap,” the report continues.

Besides being against charter schools, Mamdani also wants to wrest NYC’s education away from the mayor’s control.

“[H]e has maintained that the mayor should not act as ‘a monarch,’ but rather as a partner ‘with the very people who keep the system running,’” according to The New York Times.

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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