As it appears on his website, it's 171 words in all, most of which don't have to do with what goes on in the classroom. And it's strikingly devoid of planks addressing deep-rooted problems. How will Mamdani fill in the blanks?
What was striking last night was how many candidates didn't have the substance to fill even 30 seconds, or revealed in that time an under-appreciation of the problems that are going on. I remain convinced that candidates still treat a host of school-related issues as taboo.
How the history profession narrowed over time. Who became marginalized. The importance of valuing things other than the production of book-length manuscripts on narrowly defined subjects.
The governor assures New Yorkers that there is a budgetary surplus that can fund a tax cut and that there’s even money to fund universal, state-wide pre-K without a tax increase. But would the money be available if the governor were honoring what the state’s highest court has determined to be the funding level necessary to meet the obligation to provide a “sound basic education” to all students?