Lawmakers reject NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ bid for mayoral control extension: ‘Teachers know best how to educate’

Albany pols dealt New York City Mayor Eric Adams a major blow Tuesday, leaving him increasingly alone in his bid to extend his control over Big Apple public schools.

Lawmakers left an extension of mayoral control out of their spending proposals, released late Monday and early Tuesday, casting significant doubt on the provision being included in a final budget deal in the coming weeks.

“The teachers know best how to educate. It’s not one guy at City Hall who knows best, it’s the teachers!” state Sen. John Liu (D-Queens) told a crowd of hundreds of educators from the United Federation of Teachers gathered in Albany Monday.

The NYC-centric teachers’ union is one of the fiercest and most powerful opponents to mayoral control, citing Adams’ record of school budget cuts and opposition to a law passed last year mandating class size requirements.

“We need real checks and balances. It cannot just be one person ‘whatever I decide that’s it, doesn’t matter. Research, facts don’t matter. It’s just what I want.’ We don’t believe that that should be,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told The Post hours before the state Senate and Assembly budget plans were released.

Adams defended his control of the schools at last weekend’s SOMOS conference in Albany.

Fielding questions from the crowd, including several teachers, Adams said mayoral control allows him to adapt quickly to challenges like the influx of around 30,000 migrant families into the school system.

“Hold me responsible. We’re going to move the needle. We’re going to move the needle,” Adams repeated. “But we can’t have a pseudo mayoral control.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul had pleased Hizzoner by floating a four-year extension of mayoral control in her budget proposal earlier this year.

Lawmakers could still pass a mayoral control extension outside the budget, as it did the last time it expired in 2022.