Elected leaders and education advocates gathered in Bensonhurst on Friday to throw their support behind city's Gifted and Talented program, now a hot-button mayoral election issue.
State Senator Stephen T. Chan, Assemblymember Lester Chang, representatives for Assemblymember William Colton and City Council Member Susan Zhuang, along with education advocates rallied in front of P.S. 205, the Clarion School about the importance of the G&T program, and condemned mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's plans to eliminate the program if elected.
"Our education is being targeted," Chang said. "They can never, ever be canceled out just because of the will of a potential mayor candidate that doesn't like the program. And what's worse, [he] never consulted a parent. Never consulted a school. The G&T program works, and I do know it works. We're here to alert the public to make sure that parents know that what's in danger."
Implemented in the 1970s, the program provides "challenging, standards-based instruction to students with exceptional academic capacity or creative talent," according to the Department of Education. But in 2021, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to cease the program because Black and and Latino students were largely unrepresented at the time, and still are. Those plans were scrapped after Mayor Eric Adams took office, and now there are 140 schools that have G&T classes with about 18,000 public school elementary students enrolled, according to Chalkbeat.
"We're here not to think that everybody needs to go through a Gifted & Talented program," said Larry He, the chief of staff for Assemblymember William Colton. "Neither do we say that's the way of being achieving success. But we urge the public and legislator to consider, preserve this opportunity. I don't think we should be ashamed of it. We should be proud of this, right?"
Chan mentioned his two daughters were G&T students, and how the city's specialized high schools have produced 15 Nobel prize winners.
"We have a mayoral candidate that says he basically hates everybody," Chan said. "He hates rich people, he hates white people, he hates Asian people. He hates everybody. Is there anybody that this guy likes? He is declaring war on our children. He is declaring war on excellence by taking away merit."
The press conference also drew attention to a state bill that would require the program's expansion in all school districts citywide. Legislation A1881, introduced by Colton in January, calls for G&T classes from kindergarten through fifth grade in elementary schools, and sixth grade through eighth for middle schools. Schools with four or more classes per grade would qualify. Schools with fewer than four classes per grade, Chang said, should rely on their school leadership for implementing academically-challenging classes.
Yingzi Huang, a mother of a G&T student, said she agrees with Mamdani that every child should have a quality education. But what concerns her is the lack of an alternative to the G&T program.
"Removing early G&T risks leaving our advanced learners unchallenged, disengaged and underserved," she said.
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo consequently said he wanted to expand the G&T program in all boroughs.
"Education is the great equalizer – we should be expanding opportunities for our children to thrive and grow, not stifling them," Cuomo said in a statement on Saturday. "Together we can and we will make New York the nation’s leader in academic excellence.”
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa is also on board with expanding the program.
"I will expand specialized high school seats, expand Gifted and Talented, and give teachers and kids the tools to excel," he said on X.
The Mamdani campaign did not respond to requests for comment about the rally.
