In 2020, as a public school parent, I fought to reopen New York City’s schools. I realized parents didn’t have a seat at the table, and we still have none today.
Defending Education’s new state ranking on integrity in education now puts New York 35th of 51, behind Michigan and Pennsylvania, which tie at 33rd. I came to Brooklyn from the Soviet Union at age six and raised my two daughters in these public schools, so I know what this city promises, but fails to deliver.
New York does not lack money. The city’s budget now works out to about $44,000 per student, the New York Post reported. Even the Census Bureau’s narrower count, $35,796 per pupil in fiscal 2024, is the most of the nation’s 100 largest districts. The national average is $17,619.
The results do not match the bill. In 2024, 28% of New York City fourth graders reached proficiency in reading, and 23% of eighth graders did in math. Statewide, math proficiency trails the national rate. We pay double the national price for below average results.
Teachers’ unions explain part of the gap. The ranking gives New York zero on collective bargaining and zero on right-to-work. The United Federation of Teachers reported $4.5 million in political activities and lobbying in fiscal 2023. That is money the union spends to protect its power in Albany.
On parental rights, New York ranks 41st, with zero points for telling parents when a child adopts a transgender identity at school. That is the pattern I saw when schools closed. Things have only gotten worse since then. Four years ago, my 12-year-old daughter’s seventh-grade class called her AFAB and her male classmates AMAB, short for assigned female and assigned male at birth. How is a child supposed to make sense of that?
On gender and sexuality policy, New York ranks 40th. The state earns zero for restricting boys who identify as girls from girls’ sports, and after the Supreme Court upheld state bans, the city announced that nothing changes here.
Parents who asked questions paid for it. In 2024, Maud Maron’s council passed Resolution 248, which asked the city to review that policy. Chancellor David Banks rejected it. He later removed her from the council over separate comments, and a judge restored her seat. Voters did not return her in June 2025. The new council then rescinded the resolution, and she lost her race for Manhattan district attorney. My film Uncancellable follows that campaign. New York City is moving backward.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani now wants to end gifted admission at kindergarten, a program that serves about 18,000 elementary students. Some families are already looking at private schools.
New York scored zero on foreign influence, and only 11 states scored above zero. In 2011, a Chinese government agency granted money for a Confucius Classroom at a Flushing public middle school. Qatar pays too. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies reports that Qatar Foundation International, which the Qatari royal family finances, gave more than $1 million to two Brooklyn public elementary schools. Federal law makes universities report foreign gifts over $250,000, but K-12 schools face no such rule. The only government that should be running America’s schools is America.
Gov. Kathy Hochul faces Bruce Blakeman on November 3. She also ordered children as young as two to wear masks in child care. Parents should weigh that record. She can earn back our trust by signing a law that requires schools to tell parents when a child changes gender identity, and another that requires schools to disclose foreign funding. If she will not, voters can decide.
Defending Education looked at the policies of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and scored each against one rubric. That work lets parents compare states before they choose a school or a city to build their lives in. Tennessee ranks first, and its parents can see what their state got right. Parents in New York can see what ours left undone, and they can demand that Albany fix it.
Natalya Murakhver is co-founder and executive director of Restore Childhood and the director of 15 DAYS and Uncancellable.