Add The New York Post on Google The math ain’t mathing.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani bragged about eliminating unneeded spending in the Big Apple’s bloated school budget as kids returned to class Thursday — even though the savings added up to a fraction of a percent.
Hizzoner crowed about the $100 million in contract savings over two years by cutting duplicative services or sending deals out for a new bidding process, but provided scant details about the cuts.
“We are canceling the contracts that no longer serve our students, teachers, and school staff,” Mamdani said at first-day-of-school news conference at Highbridge Recreation Center in Queens.
NYC Mayor Mamdani and NYS Gov. Hochul point to seated children at the Highbridge Recreation Center in Manhattan on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. Robert Miller for NY Post “These changes will save more than $100 million over the next two years alone — $100 million we will be able to reinvest in our school system and use to support our educators, our staff and students as they prepare for another year of school.”
The savings this year, though, will only account for 0.12% of the Department of Education’s overall budget and 0.38% of the cost of outside contract spending, which comes in at $13 billion each year.
Neither City Hall nor DOE could immediately point to any specific contracts that were nixed.
The Mamdani admin approved a $38.9 billion schools spending plan early this year, after quietly adding $700 million during budget negotiations, and failing to address a major campaign promise to get contract spending under control.
Parents leave a Mamdani press conference at the Highbridge Recreation Center. Robert Miller for NY Post “When you look at the DOE with a $40 billion budget, about $10 billion goes to contracts and consultants, some of those are for incredibly important things, and some of that spending is also spending that can be reduced when you take a real look at the duplicative processes,” Mamdani told The Post during the SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico just days after the election.
“We have to always ensure that every dollar of that budget is being spent effectively.”The contracts have been a point of contention between City Council Speaker Julie Menin (D) and Mamdani.
The admin stonewalled the speaker for weeks over requests to review the massive tranche of outsourced contracts before eventually handing over.
