When Andrew Cuomo took office as New York’s governor, one of his first actions was sold as a major win for homeowners: a property tax cap under the guise of curbing runaway local property taxes. But behind that policy was a decision that would effectively strangle school funding, devastating public schools, especially in low-income, immigrant, and Black and Brown communities. The cap severely limited the funding available for education and, by extension, restricted the resources local schools could allocate to their students. Rather than offering real relief, Cuomo’s actions turned into a decade-long squeeze on public education in New York State.
At the same time, Cuomo made deep cuts to education, slashing nearly $3 billion in his first two years in office. Meanwhile, public schools in New York were confronting the challenges of meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse student population, including an increase in English language learners and students living in poverty. Instead of investing in these schools, Cuomo’s cuts fell hardest on the communities that had already been historically underfunded and neglected by the state’s education system. Black, Brown, low-income, and immigrant children saw their opportunities for a quality education diminished because Cuomo’s priority was balancing the state’s budget on the backs of our children, while refusing to tax the ultra-wealthy.
What is worse is how Cuomo justified these cuts: He successfully claimed that New York was “spending too much” on public education while getting too little in return. However, Cuomo’s penny-pinching rhetoric conveniently ignored a key fact: At the state’s wealthiest schools, like those his own children attended, and where taxpayers were spending upward of $40,000 per student, every student graduated and went on to attend a four-year college. The disparities were clear. The schools with the resources were able to support and challenge their students, equipping them with the skills necessary to succeed as adults.
While his own children were receiving the best education public money could provide, Cuomo worked to deny similar opportunities to children across New York. At the same time as his administration was preventing the full funding of public schools via Foundation Aid (money that was constitutionally owed to local school districts), they worked overtime to create a public perception that public schools were failing, ineffective, and a drain on state resources. When public pressure mounted over the state’s failure to meet its constitutional obligation to fund schools equitably, Cuomo deflected. He insisted the state owed no such responsibility — even as courts and advocates said otherwise.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with billions of dollars in federal relief going to states to support education, Cuomo attempted to cut an additional $1 billion from the state’s education budget in 2020, a plan that would have further starved schools already facing a crisis. It took widespread outcry from parents, teachers, and students who rose up to stop him.
Cuomo’s political career ultimately came to an end by the bravery of women who came forward with accusations of sexual harassment, but much of the damage he inflicted on New York’s education system remains. Today, as Cuomo re-enters the political spotlight, attempting to position himself as a savior ready to lead again, we must ask: Who exactly is he trying to save? Because we know it isn’t our kids.
Cuomo’s record on education speaks for itself. As governor, he repeatedly put politics and optics ahead of children’s needs. He balanced budgets on the backs of students, and he promoted a myth that struggling schools were failing not because he was undermining them, but because they didn’t deserve more.
We do not need Andrew Cuomo back in office to finish what he started as governor. New York’s children deserve better than Cuomo’s indifference — a man who used their futures as a pawn in his budget balancing act. They deserve leaders who believe in public education and are willing to fund it equitably, fully, and without excuses. We need bold investment, not more austerity. We need to put children’s education first, and to ensure that all students — regardless of their ZIP code or background — have the opportunity to succeed.
Marina Marcou-O’Malley is co-executive eirector of the Alliance for Quality Education, where she has led work on education justice and fiscal analysis since 2008. With a background in early childhood education and a career as a longtime advocate, she continues to be driven to advance equity and opportunity for Black, Brown, and lower-income students and families in New York State.