The Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, commonly known as the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The department administers the City School District of the City of New York, the largest public school district in the United States, with approximately 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,800 separate schools. The department covers all five boroughs of New York City, and has an annual budget of around $38 billion.
The department is run by the Panel for Educational Policy of the Department of Education and the New York City Schools chancellor. The current chancellor is Kamar Samuels.
History
In the Maclay Act in 1842, the New York State legislature established the New York City Board of Education. It gave the city an elective Board of Education empowered to build and supervise schools and distribute the education fund. It provided that none of the money should go to the schools which taught religion. The fast-growing Irish Catholic community objected, but after decades of trying they did not get government funding. By 1870, 19% of school-age children attended Catholic schools.Ravitch (1975) pp 3–76.Joseph McCadden, "New York's School Crisis of 1840–1842: Its Irish Antecedents." Thought: Fordham University Quarterly 41.4 (1966): 561–588.
1960s–2010s Beginning in the late 1960s, schools were grouped into districts. Elementary schools and middle schools were grouped into 32 community school districts, and high schools were grouped into five geographically larger districts. One each for Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, one for most of Brooklyn, and one, BASIS, for the rest of Brooklyn and all of Staten Island. In addition, there were several special districts for alternative schools and schools serving severely disabled students.Yet Another Reorganization of New York City's Public Schools – Center for New York Affairs
On February 3, 1964, in protest over deplorable school conditions and segregation, over 450,000 students boycotted New York City public schools. In 1969, on the heels of additional protests, strikes, and demands for community control, New York City Mayor John Lindsay relinquished mayoral control of schools, and organized the city school system into the Board of Education (made up of seven members appointed by borough presidents and the mayor) and 32 community school boards (whose members were elected). Elementary and middle schools were controlled by the community boards while high schools were controlled by the Board of Education.
In 2002, the city's school system was reorganized by chapter 91 of the Laws of 2002. Control of the school system was given to the mayor, who began reorganization and reform efforts. The powers of the community school boards were diminished and the Board of Education was renamed the Panel for Educational Policy, a twelve-member body of which seven members are appointed by the mayor and five by Borough Presidents. Although that legislation itself made no specific reference to a "Department of Education of the City of New York", the bylaws subsequently adopted by the Board provided that the 13-member body "shall be known as the Panel for Educational Policy", which together with the Chancellor and other school employees was designated as the "Department of Education of the City of New York". The education headquarters were moved from 110 Livingston Street in downtown Brooklyn to the Tweed Courthouse building adjacent to New York City Hall in Manhattan.
In 2003, the districts were grouped into ten regions, each encompassing several elementary and middle school districts, and part of a high school district. In 2005, several schools joined the Autonomous Zone (later Empowerment Zone) and were allowed to use part of their budgets to directly purchase support services. These schools were released from their regions. In 2007, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced the dissolution of the regions effective June 2007, and schools became organized into one of several School Support Organizations. In 2009, future New York State Assemblyman Micah Lasher was the Executive Director of Public Affairs and a lobbyist for the New York City Department of Education."Elizabeth Mann, Micah Lasher," The New York Times, August 21, 2009.
Since 2009, the NYS Assembly has passed incremental laws keeping NYC Mayoral control over the DOE.
Trump era In March 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stripping funding from the federal Department of Education and mandating that any school which receives federal funding must end all diversity, equity, and inclusion related programs and anything promoting "gender ideology", having already brought legal action against states whose schools have failed to comply. In response, the NYCDOE said that they would not change any of their policies or programming to comply with Trump.
In October of that year, the Trump administration stripped $47 million of funding from the NYCDOE, on the grounds that NYC public schools did not force transgender students to use facilities corresponding to their assigned sex. In response, the NYCDOE sued the Trump Administration.
The department has argued for the use of artificial intelligence in education, publishing guidelines on its use in March 2026. In April 2026, plans to open an artificial intelligence-focused high school were cancelled due to public opposition.
Management Territory NYCDOE is the school district of all five boroughs.School district maps from the 2020 U.S. census: – Text list – Text list – Text list – Text list – Text list all of the city is assigned to schools in the NYCDOE school district except for a small section of the Bronx, which is instead assigned to the Pelham Public Schools with tuition supported by the city government.()
Curriculum Beginning in 2003, New York City public schools citywide implemented a mathematics "core curriculum" based on New York State standards for grades K-Up Higher. To graduate high school, students must earn at least six credits in mathematics. All NYC public school students are taught through the Common Core curriculum. To receive a Regents diploma, students must score at least 65 on a Regents math exam.New York City Department of Education website, visited April 9, 2012, "Mathematics," http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/Mathematics/default.htm
Health and nutrition The city has started several initiatives to reduce childhood obesity among students, including promoting exercise and improving nutrition in school cafeterias.
During Mayor Bloomberg's first term, white bread was entirely replaced with whole wheat bread, hot dog buns, and hamburger buns in cafeterias. In 2006, the city set out to eliminate whole milk from cafeteria lunch menus and took the further step of banning low-fat flavored milks, allowing only skim milk (white and chocolate). The New York City school system purchases more milk than any other in the United States. Although the dairy industry aggressively lobbied against the new plan they ultimately failed to prevent its implementation.
In October 2009, the DOE banned bake sales, though some schools continued to have them. The DOE cited the high sugar content of baked sale goods and that 40% of city students are obese. However, vending machines in the schools operated by Frito Lay and Snapple continued to sell high processed empty calorie foods such as Doritos and juices. As part of the DOE's program to create healthy diets among students, Frito Lay was obligated to put Reduced Fat Doritos in machines. The DOE considers Reduced Fat Doritos a healthy snack based on its June 2009 request for healthy snack vending machine proposals. However, the school lunch menu still contained numerous highly processed foods and high sugar content foods including chicken nuggets, French fries, French toast and syrup. The New York State Assembly published a report that the NYCDOE failed to maintain or improve playgrounds, instead turning them into ad-hoc additional classroom space or parking lots.
In January 2011, the DOE began a pilot program called Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health (CATCH) that offers some reproductive health services to students in grades 9–12. Services include providing access to birth control such as condoms, emergency contraceptives, and birth control pills. Starting with 13 high schools, it has grown to serve 90 high schools by 2022.
New York City began to offer free lunch to all students in 2017. In 2018, the city piloted a "Meatless Monday" program across 15 Brooklyn schools, serving only vegetarian meals on Mondays. In 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio expanded the program citywide, saying it would lower disease risks and reduce food-based greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, the DOE implemented "Plant-Powered Fridays", with all meals served on Fridays being fully vegan except for cheese sandwiches and milk. Following the implementation of Meatless Mondays and Plant-Powered Fridays, the DOE's overall food-based carbon emissions fell by 42% per student.
Teachers Beginning in 2000, the DOE instituted a number of innovative programs for teacher recruitment, including the New York City Teaching Fellows, the TOP Scholars Program, and initiatives to bring foreign teachers (primarily from Eastern Europe) to teach in the city's schools. Housing subsidies are in place for experienced teachers who relocate to the city to teach.
In the course of school reorganizations, some veteran teachers have lost their positions. They then enter a pool of substitutes, called the Absent Teacher Reserve. On November 19, 2008, the department and the city's teacher union (the United Federation of Teachers), reached an agreement to create financial incentives for principals of new schools to hire ATR teachers and guidance counselors.
Budget The one hundred largest school districts in the nation (by enrollment) spend an average of $14,000 per pupil every year. However, census data from 2017 shows that the NYCDOE easily placed first in the list, by spending $25,199. Only the Boston Public Schools came close to this figure.
$3 billion (15.6%) of the budget goes for the 19 percent of those who attend Non City schools. This includes $1.09 billion to pre-school special education services and $725.3 million for School-Age non DOE contract special education. Another $71 million goes to non-public schools such as yeshivas and parochial schoolsTalk:New York City Department of Education#Do political connections help non-public school? less than $300 per private school student and $1.04 billion is paid for the 70 thousand studentsNew York City Charter School Center, as accessed October 2, 2013. attending charter schools. "In school year 2012–2013, 241,900 students attended nonpublic schools, 19 percent of the city K-12 total." The $1.04B for 70,000 students in charter schools calculates as $14,285; the $71 million for the 241,900 not in public school is less than $400 per student.
$4.6 billion of the budget pays for pensions and interest on Capital Plan debt.
Organization
Although the 2002 reform legislationChapter 91 of the Laws of 2002 made no specific reference to a "Department of Education", the bylaws subsequently adopted by the New York City Board of Education provided that the board "shall be known as the Panel for Educational Policy", which together with the Chancellor and other school employees was designated as the "Department of Education of the City of New York".
New York City Panel for Educational Policy