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Elections to NYC parents council see persistently low turnout after culture war controversies
By
Jessica Gould
Published Jun 17, 2025
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DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
By
Jessica Gould
Published Jun 17, 2025
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Culture wars on the city's local education councils prompted a spike in candidates this year, but overall turnout remained very low, leading some education advocates to call for changes in how New York City runs the races.
The parents or guardians of more than 900,000 public school students are eligible to vote for nominees to Community Education Councils, which approve school zoning boundaries, but are otherwise advisory. Winners were announced Monday – and just 18,158 votes were cast for seats on the council. That’s below the 19,000 votes cast two years ago.
Brittany Kaiser, an organizer with the Alliance for Quality Education, a progressive advocacy group, said the education department could do more to get out the vote.
“They should be working on voter engagement and voter turnout even before the election cycle starts, and they should be making sure that the average parent understands what a CEC does,” she said. “We haven't seen that at a deep enough level and so we are very, very concerned about low turnout.”
Education department officials emphasized that while turnout went down, the number of candidates jumped 25%. The department had urged more people to run for the councils after two devolved into dysfunction over Israel’s war in Gaza and trans students’ participation in school sports.
“Our schools continue to thrive because of committed parent leadership,” schools chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said.
In an effort to publicize the councils, the education department hosted a “voting party” at its headquarters this spring. But critics said the effort didn’t go far enough, while technical glitches and errors on some ballots marred voting.
There are 32 Community Education Councils, one for each of the city’s community school districts, plus citywide councils covering high schools, English Language Learners and special education. Each council has 12 members, composed of parents, two borough president appointees, and occasionally high school seniors.
In recent years, several councils have become embroiled in culture war issues. Many parents and lawmakers condemned a resolution in Manhattan’s District 2 about trans students that called on the city to revisit guidelines on transgender students in sports.
Maud Maron, one of the leaders of that resolution, lost her seat on the parent council. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She’s currently running to unseat District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The city’s rules allow students to play sports according to their gender identities, and the education department dismissed the resolution, but the issue mobilized multiple groups to support challengers.
“We are proving one election cycle at a time that we can effectively fight the far right by engaging everyday people in hyperlocal politics,” said Megan Madison, part of a coalition called Aunties and Friends 4 Liberation that supported challengers to Maron, as well as other District 2 members who backed the resolution.
The group also rallied behind candidates across the city to challenge CEC members who were endorsed by Parents Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education, or PLACE, which has pushed for the preservation of selective admissions policies.
PLACE member Deborah Alexander said just over 50% of their endorsed candidates won seats.
“Given the 24% increase in candidates *and* a very vocal opposition determined to minimize PLACE's influence, I could not be happier,” she said in an email.
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new york city
Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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