Mamdani to End Kindergarten Gifted Program

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral front‑runner in New York City, announced he would end the Gifted & Talented program for incoming kindergarten students and phase it out of the earliest grades while allowing currently enrolled kindergartners to remain and keeping third grade as an entry point. He framed the change as a return to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2021 approach, saying five‑year‑olds should not be judged by a single assessment and presenting it as part of a broader push to expand universal, high‑quality early childhood education. The proposal has reignited a pre‑election debate, with rivals including Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa criticizing the plan and calling instead to expand G&T. Advocates and critics point to longstanding equity concerns — White and Asian students have been overrepresented in the program — and note that the Adams administration shifted admissions away from 4‑year‑old testing toward teacher screening and lotteries. Mamdani’s campaign has provided limited implementation details on integration, timing, or how the changes would be carried out alongside his other education and fiscal proposals.