Mamdani revives DEI goal of ending gifted and talented program in NYC schools

New York City’s leading candidate for mayor pledges to start phasing out the city’s gifted and talented program in elementary schools in the name of equity.

It’s part of a nationwide push by the left to purge classes for the ultrasmart because they don’t enroll enough minorities.

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani announced his plan after other school districts sought to equalize accelerated learning programs long populated by mostly White and Asian students.

For at least a decade, school districts across the country have moved to scrap highly selected, gifted and talented-style classes in favor of broader enrichment programs that use enrollment formulas to increase the number of Black and Hispanic students. Other districts have softened enrollment requirements to increase diversity.

“It’s certainly becoming a trend, this idea that you have to have racial balance in all things,” said Erin Wilcox, a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm that targets government overreach.

“Racial balance is just a word for discrimination, and it’s so often leveled at gifted and talented programs because it’s White and Asian kids that are typically a higher proportion of kids in those programs,” she said.

For Mr. Mamdani, eliminating schools’ gifted and talented programs is part of a socialist-inspired agenda that includes free city bus services, a rent freeze in rent-stabilized housing and government-run grocery stores to control food prices.

His plan for gifted and talented classes would pick up where former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio left off.

Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, sought to end the program for the city’s elementary schools because of racial inequity. He first lowered admission standards to boost minority enrollment and later eliminated the program, starting with kindergarten through second grade.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, reversed the move and sought to expand the program. He dropped his bid for a second term this month.

Mr. Mamdani, who leads the race by double digits over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat running as an independent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, said he would restart Mr. de Blasio’s plan.

“Zohran will ensure our public schools are fully funded with equally distributed resources, strong after-school programs, mental health counselors and nurses, compliant and effective class sizes, and integrated student bodies,” his campaign website says.

Mr. Mamdani did not respond to an inquiry from The Washington Times.

Ms. Wilcox said eliminating the program could violate the 14th Amendment because Mr. Mamdani “is suggesting he’s going to end a public program because he doesn’t like the race of the people who are using it, and that’s just unconstitutional.”

Mr. Cuomo, who is trailing Mr. Mamdani by 13 percentage points in the latest poll but is his closest opponent, proposes more classes for gifted and talented students.

He said he would expand gifted and talented programs in every borough and build eight specialized high schools “to create opportunity for all students.”

The idea that DEI, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, should extend to accelerated learning programs has gained traction in liberal-leaning school districts across the U.S.

One of the nation’s top schools, the once highly selective Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, eliminated its standardized entrance test in 2020. The Alexandria, Virginia, school replaced the test with “a holistic review” that considers grades and experience factors, including students who are “economically disadvantaged, English language learners or special education students.”

In Montgomery County, Maryland, public school officials changed the selection process for popular gifted and talented programs that once relied heavily on testing and teacher recommendations. Now, students are evaluated on several factors, including test scores and in-class performance, and a broader group of students is automatically screened for admission. The changes were aimed at enrolling more minorities.

At Montgomery County Schools and Thomas Jefferson High School, the changes reduced the number of Asian students enrolled in the programs, leading to accusations of discrimination and lawsuits.

Pacific Legal sued the Fairfax County School Board on behalf of a coalition of families who said the changed admission policy at Thomas Jefferson discriminated against Asian American students, who made up 73% of admitted students in 2020. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their argument, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Ms. Wilcox said she hopes the high court will consider the matter when a future case is litigated.

“Racial balancing is illegal. And it’s unconstitutional,” Ms. Wilcox said.

Proponents of changing programs for advanced learning in public schools say moves to widen diversity, such as universal screening of students and altering other admission standards, have helped enroll qualified minority students who might otherwise be overlooked.

Over the past several years, the change in admission standards at Thomas Jefferson has increased the number of Black students to 7%, up from 1%, while the number of Hispanic students enrolled at the school increased from less than 5% to 11%. According to school data, nearly 12% of students in the class of 2027 are “economically disadvantaged,” and 3% are “English language learners.”

The changes at Thomas Jefferson worsened outcomes for other minorities.

The percentage of White students has remained about the same, but Asian American student enrollment has plummeted from 73% to 54%.

The school’s national academic ranking also dropped. Ranked No. 1 in 2022, Thomas Jefferson dropped to number 14 in 2024.

In some liberal school districts, parents have joined administrators in the push to close accelerated learning programs that do not serve enough Black and Hispanic students.

In Portland, Oregon, parents are circulating a petition to shutter the district’s two gifted and talented schools to stave off cuts to other school programs.

The parents pointed out that “inequities” are behind the push to close the schools, which enroll more students from higher-income ZIP codes than lower-income neighborhoods.

The Seattle school district has begun dismantling its Highly Capable Cohort program for gifted students, citing racial imbalances. The program is being replaced with individualized learning plans within regular classrooms.

In the 2022-2023 school year, 52% of students in the program were White, 16% were Asian and 3.4% were Black.

“The program is not going away; it’s getting better,” school district officials announced last year. “It will be more inclusive, equitable and culturally sensitive. In particular, students who have been historically excluded will now have the same opportunities for services as every other student and get the support and enrichment they need to grow.”

In New York, some liberal groups support the phase-out.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New York called the public school system’s gifted and talented program “highly segregated” and said it serves mostly White or Asian students.

“We need to move away from a system where children are labeled and sorted into cohorts, and toward one where each student’s individual needs are met, speed of learning is respected, and talents are cultivated,” said Johanna Miller, director of the NYCLU Education Policy Center.

Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education reform think tank, said New York City’s gifted and talented program for students in kindergarten through second grade is unique because it starts so early.

“Many high-quality gifted education programs around the nation start in second or third grade, so it’s not unreasonable for New York’s to do the same, as Mamdani has proposed,” Mr. Petrilli said.

Mr. Petrilli criticized a later comment by Mr. Mamdani’s campaign spokesperson, Dora Pekec, who said the candidate does not want 5-year-olds taking an assessment that could separate them from other students. Mr. Petrilli said that indicates a lack of concern about whether all children, including the ultrasmart, have the opportunity to be challenged every day.

“If Mamdani really cares about ‘equity,’ he would work to expand gifted education to every elementary school in New York, not work to end it,” Mr. Petrilli said.