Education Quiet since Sep 17 Updated Sep 17, 2026
The shrinking-school reckoning
New York City enrollment has fallen to 885,000 students from over a million a decade ago, leaving 219 public schools with fewer than 200 students and about 30,000 students in small or under-enrolled schools concentrated in Northeast Brooklyn, Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx. Comptroller Mark Levine is urging the Mamdani administration to plan mergers and closures, and Chancellor Kamar Samuels has convened district working groups, setting up a fight over whether the city ends 'hold harmless' funding and how many schools close or merge.
The story so far
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Sep 17, 2026 Latest
City data showed 219 New York City public schools with fewer than 200 students and about 30,000 students in small or under-enrolled schools, with enrollment down to 885,000 from over 1 million a decade ago. Comptroller Mark Levine urged the Mamdani administration to plan consolidations, Chancellor Kamar Samuels said mergers and closures are coming and has convened working groups in five districts including Bed-Stuy, and the Citizens Budget Commission called for ending the 'hold harmless' policy that funds schools at pre-pandemic enrollment levels.
Gothamist
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