By Stanley Litow

In the upcoming mayoral election at the top of the list of concerns is making the city more affordable and safe. But connected to both, affordability and safety, and in fact all issues, are the quality of the city’s public schools.

An effective public school system is critical to making the city safe, affordable and economically and socially sound. Students who complete college are likely to earn more than $1 million more in the workforce and their tax revenue supports a thriving economy.

The leading candidate, Zohran Mamdani, has publicly announced his commitment to the elimination of mayoral control of the schools, and yet I can say from direct and personal experience, that this is not in the city’s best interest….

….Also, there has been a national movement to improve pathways from school to college, and career. During President Barack Obama’s tenure, he highlighted in his State of the Union address a school called PTECH, begun on Albany Ave. in Brooklyn. The model school combines high school and college via concurrent enrollment with a clear path to both degrees and high wage careers in technology, health care and green jobs.

PTECH has increased college completion and the successful model has spread to 15 states and 28 countries globally with more than 500 schools following the model begun with one school in Brooklyn. But in New York City, more than a dozen years later, there are only about 12 PTECH schools despite Obama saying that PTECH should be offered to all students across the U.S. and an independent evaluation conducted by the nationally-recognized MDRC, documented clearly its success. This too, is not a budget buster.

This is another opportunity for the next mayor to fulfill Obama’s mission by offering the PTECH program across the city….

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