Mayor Zohran Mamdani is putting his stamp on the body that helps steer New York City’s public schools, appointing 13 members to the Panel for Educational Policy as the panel begins its 2026-27 term. The move gives the new mayor control of the board’s mayoral majority after months of working around holdover appointees from the Eric Adams era.
As reported by amNewYork, the appointees are Karla Cordero, Dr. Maddy Fox, Tariq Khan, Lucas Koehler, Primo Lasana, Mehrain Mahdi, Alan Ong, Courtney Rajwani, Raysa Rodriguez, Marjorie Dienstag, Kristin Jefferson, Amy Fair and Crystal Vera-Montalvo. Mamdani said the panel has a “vital responsibility” to guide the school system with transparency and accountability, while Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said collaboration should keep children at the center of its work.
What NYC’s School Policy Panel Actually Controls
NYC Public Schools describes the PEP as a 24-member voting body overseeing the nation’s largest public school system. Under the department’s governance bylaws, 13 members are appointed by the mayor, five by the borough presidents, five are elected by Community Education Council presidents and one independent chair is selected by the mayor.
The slate mixes education researchers, parent leaders, nonprofit executives and longtime city operators. Cordero is chief of staff at WE ACT for Environmental Justice; Rodriguez leads Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York; Fox teaches at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center; and Rajwani is a former NYC Public Schools early-childhood official, according to the outlet’s report. The group also includes Mahdi, founder of Little Leaping Leaders; Ong, a former District 26 CEC president; and Dienstag, a mother whose children have attended both public and private schools.
Mamdani Finally Gets His Own School Board Majority
Earlier this year, Chalkbeat reported that Mamdani inherited most of Adams’ PEP appointees because the panel’s one-year terms had not yet expired. That left the newly elected mayor navigating a board he could not immediately reshape, an unusual situation under the city’s mayoral-control system. With the new appointments, Mamdani now has direct control over all 13 seats assigned to the mayor.
New Appointees Face Immediate Governance Fights
The PEP’s decisions can reach far beyond symbolic resolutions: a New York City Council resolution says the panel handles major school-utilization changes, including closures, phase-outs and co-locations, along with certain large contracts and budget matters. The new members’ first scheduled meeting is Wednesday, July 29, at 6 p.m., according to the official meeting schedule.
That meeting arrives as lawmakers and parent advocates continue debating whether mayoral control gives families enough influence over school decisions. For Mamdani, the 13 appointments turn a promise of more collaboration into a governing test: whether a mayor-controlled panel can function as something more than City Hall’s echo chamber.
