As someone who has spent his career dedicated to helping young people, I was especially moved by how Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for mayor sparked engagement among a younger generation that too often feels unseen and unheard. But now more than 900,000 students and their parents across New York City have yet to hear a clearly laid out vision for their education and their future. Allow me to offer several priorities that our incoming mayor should consider.
If New York wants to reshape its future, literacy must remain at the center of the work. NYC Reads has put our school system on the right track. This year, state reading scores rose by seven points citywide, with 56% of students in grades three through eight demonstrating proficiency. For our youngest learners, the gains were even more striking. Fifty-eight percent of third graders demonstrated proficiency, a nearly 13-point increase from the previous year.
Children who cannot read well by the end of third grade face significantly higher risks of dropping out of high school and struggling in adulthood. While the results are promising, the work remains unfinished. New administrations often feel pressure to replace existing initiatives simply because they did not create them. The city would do well to stay committed to NYC Reads and focus on strengthening its implementation rather than starting over.
Another area that deserves sustained leadership is career-connected learning. NYC Public Schools has begun to reimagine what the student journey can look like by integrating strong academics with real-world experience. Through initiatives like FutureReadyNYC, students are now exploring pathways to careers in technology, health care, business and education while developing the digital and financial literacy skills that prepare them for the modern economy. Many students are earning college credits early, gaining industry-recognized credentials and participating in paid internships that give them a genuine head start on life after high school.
A practical way to advance this work is to invite employers across the city to adopt a pathways program in a school or district. Businesses, unions, hospitals and tech firms can help shape curricula, host students onsite, offer paid internships and provide mentors who guide young people into meaningful careers. This kind of shared responsibility would deepen partnerships and make career-connected learning a central part of the city’s long-term economic mobility strategy. The city should expand this work so that every student leaves high school prepared for both college and a career that leads to economic security.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already transforming the world we raise and educate our children in. Used responsibly, AI can create new forms of support in classrooms by helping teachers differentiate instruction and reduce administrative burdens. A well-designed AI tutor can help a struggling student practice foundational skills and push advanced students toward enrichment. Our new mayor and chancellor should convene technology and business leaders to determine how New York can lead the nation in deploying AI to promote equity and strengthen teaching and learning.
There is another responsibility that looms large. Racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of extremism are escalating. Young people are encountering global conflict and misinformation before they have the skills to process it. Schools must be places where students learn to think critically, debate respectfully and respond to differences with humanity. The city’s leadership must set the tone and provide the curriculum, training and clarity that will allow schools to guide students through these difficult moments. Neutrality is not an option when the stakes involve the social fabric of our city and our nation.
Civic engagement is a part of that same work. The energy that powered Mamdani’s campaign revealed something important. Young people are not disengaged. They are hungry to participate in shaping the future of our city.
Young people engaged in school-based civic projects, joined voter registration efforts, debated issues facing their communities and learned how to advocate for the people they care about. These experiences matter. They help students understand their role in their democracy and help strengthen the habits of participation that our nation urgently needs. At a time when misinformation spreads quickly and trust in institutions is fragile, we cannot afford to let civics education fade.
New York has chosen a new leader. An educational vision must focus on literacy, real pathways to opportunity, the promise of technology, confronting hate and strengthening civic life. If we do, our students will flourish and our city will rise with them.
Banks is the former chancellor of New York City Public Schools.
