UFT Town Hall Notes (7/7/25)
Mulgrew talks about federal cuts and not-so-subtly pushes for a Mamdani endorsement
Editor’s Note: In a rare summertime all-member UFT Town Hall, UFT President Michael Mulgrew covered many important issues. The two most prevalent were the UFT’s mayoral endorsement for the general election and the Big Beautiful Bill and its potential impact on NYC public schools.
Mulgrew did not say who we would endorse, as that will be decided by the DA tomorrow, but he did everything short of wearing a “Vote Mamdani” sandwich board around his neck. Mulgrew reiterated over and over that we need to endorse the person who is in our best interest in terms of public education and that we (the union) need to disregard personal views and other issues.
It seems as though Mulgrew is legitimately scared of the forthcoming cuts to public education because he would not have so brazenly pushed Mamdani like this at any other point, especially considering the fact that Unity accused ARISE of being funded by DSA during the UFT elections just a few months ago. The Big Beautiful Bill can very well be a disaster for public education if the thoughts expressed by Mulgrew during today’s Town Hall are any indication.
Town Hall notes (in full)
MM - I don’t like when newspapers tell our members what we’re doing. There’s a process. Delegate Assembly tomorrow for the sole purpose to consider if we want to do an endorsement for the general election.
Last month in the primary, we did not endorse anyone. The DA made that decision.
We won 90% (41 out of 44) of City Council races. Won Mark Levine for Comptroller and Jumaane Williams for Public Advocate.
Big Beautiful Bill. We now have a national voucher bill. States can adopt it. Disconcerting to have a national voucher bill because it shows they want to prioritize charters over public schools.
Trying to unpack all the cuts coming to NY. Mostly Medicaid. How will this impact overall education budget for state and city?
Fewer than 2,300 members responded to the Democratic primary survey. Retirees voted Cuomo with Stringer a soft second. For in-service, Mamdani was first with Stringer a soft second.
Union endorsements aren’t about telling members who to vote for. It’s about choosing the candidate we’re recommending based on their views on public education.
Membership was not the #1 issue for membership. Top 3: Quality of life, affordability, federal government. Education was 4th.
Top priorities for UFT:
Preserving high-quality, premium-free healthcare
Protecting NYC from Trump
Making NYC more affordable
Defending workers’ rights
Reforming mayoral control
Reducing class size
Funding universal pre-K and 3K
Fixing Tier 6
Passing the “RESPECT check”
All candidates are flawed. No perfect candidate. You do the best you can do and figure it out.
Tomorrow (at the DA), we will decide if there is a candidate we want to endorse.
Newspapers give bad information to our members. We don’t tell them anything. It’s none of their business.
We will open up in September with a paraprofessional crisis. Speaker and her staff didn’t want RESPECT check bill to go through.
Q&A
UFT’s position on antisemitism in Mamdani campaign?
MM - Told Mamdani there are a lot of concerns. Mamdani said he’s been misrepresented in the press. MM told him we need him to clarify. Need to know your position on these specific issues. Mamdani has been clarifying lately. Mamdani has been clarifying for us but members still will have their own opinions. Hopefully we’re making decisions based on the best interests of our members and our profession.
Mamdani went the furthest saying mayoral control doesn’t work and needs to change and that we need to build schools quicker to abide by the class size law.
Will there be major changes to healthcare in coming months? What are we asking the potential endorsee in terms of helping us?
MM - Need to handle that federally. We want a partner who will go back to agencies and tell them they need to work with the workers.
Tier 6. How can next mayor be an ally in fixing Tier 6?
MM - Go to Albany. Use bully pulpit. Tell the truth. City can’t fulfill job openings because of Tier 6. Not normal for a mayor to say that but it would make our work much easier. Mayor usually wouldn’t want to advocate for fixing Tier 6 because they’d have to pay out of NYC budget. At the Spring Conference, many candidates said we need to fix Tier 6, both age and contributions.
Update on RESPECT check bill? What are we asking the candidate we’re endorsing to do to get that passed?
MM - There was a June 28 deadline to get a hearing. We pressed hard. Politics involved. The speaker (Adrienne Adams) and her staff backed off after saying they would endorse. We pressed them, they got angrier. Got notice that they set a committee hearing for 12/19, basically their way of telling us to go F ourselves.
A lot of people still frustrated with curriculum. How can we apply pressure on the mayoral candidate to help us?
MM - Fire anyone who pushed the last curriculum. People inside DOE giving rules to superintendents saying we had to follow curriculum with fidelity, word for word, page for page. That is gross incompetence. Don’t tell us we can’t change pacing. No support. It was a mess. Those people need to be gone. Trying to protect the children. Need to tell the mayor it’s not hard to roll out a curriculum. There’s a process in how to do it correctly.
Does the UFT think there will be any shifts in mayoral control? What would we like to see?
MM - Mamdani went furthest at the Spring Conference. Said it has to be a partnership with the mayor, community, and people who work in the schools. Nobody else has gone that far. That’s the UFT’s position. The rest said we need to “tinker” or “I’m going to be a better mayor.”
Cell phone policy. Concerns from people that their schools don’t have a plan in place.
MM - We like the law from Albany. Bell to bell. Children can’t have access. Can’t tell child to put it in their backpack. Cell phones need to be away where children can’t get to them. The Chancellor knows that’s the rule.
One thing to consider when passing these laws is that in NYC, we’re not a regular school district. It has to be passed by the PEP panel, a large process where it’s looked at, then 30 days of public input. PEP hasn’t passed it yet because of timelines in mayoral control. Just read the law. Bell to bell, no access to phones. Two choices: collect phones or children don’t have access. Pouches, small lockers, etc. 2-3 months after implementation everything will quiet down. Students will be able to focus, have face-to-face conversations. Phones causing major damage.
How will big federal bill impact our staff? How can the mayoral candidate help us fend off some of this?
MM - They’re going to move public education money to vouchers. Medicaid cuts will lead to education cuts. NY has largest Medicaid population and money will be needed to cover. Need to push back against federal government through legal processes. Need the Attorney General to push against them. Medicaid is a Federal program now shifting to the State, who will have to use their money to solve the problem.
Majority of Medicaid services in schools are IEP related so they legally have to stay. The federal debt is exploded, services taken away from children who need it more than anyone else. Tax breaks for the wealthy.
Class size. Update where we are? What will happen if we don’t have enough teachers to fulfill the vacancies? What can the mayoral candidate do to help us with this law?
MM - Move quicker on capital plan - building new schools or annexes. We believe that has been deliberately slowed down. Want schools to come up with plans. A couple thousand teachers have already been hired. We need to stay focused. It’s a law. Waivers aren’t permanent. There needs to be a plan. Plenty of funding, just no capital plan. Important to have a comptroller who will push the city to get this done. I believe we have that in Mark Levine. Over 700 schools created their own plans. We will be working with them. But we have challenges. Medicaid cuts. Shifting money from public to private schools with vouchers. We’ll deal with the numbers and come up with the plan. It’s all political.