ADAMS UNDER FIRE FOR POTTY MOUTH: Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine attacked Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday over his push to reevaluate school bathroom gender policy as the Trump administration threatens federal funding cuts over the guidelines.
In a letter to the mayor, Levine urged Adams to stop using rhetoric that “undermines our city’s values of inclusion” and to identify emergency funds for any school “that has grant dollars immediately revoked.”
“I am deeply concerned about recent comments from the Mayor regarding trans rights and access to gender-affirming care and education,” wrote Levine, the Democratic nominee for city comptroller. “Such remarks are harmful to our public school students and risk sending the wrong message to vulnerable young people who need to know that their city and school communities stand fully behind them.”
The letter was also addressed to Gregory Faulkner, chair of the Panel for Educational Policy, the DOE’s governing body.
The Trump administration is withholding millions of dollars for magnet schools after the city’s school system missed a Tuesday night deadline to change its guidelines to comply with a federal, sex-based discrimination statute. Levine credited the DOE with beginning to “forcefully push back,” urging the agency as well as the education panel to “remain steadfast in their defense of trans and gender-expansive students.”
The mayor — who’s running a long-shot reelection bid — cannot change city policy given protections under state law.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a City Hall spokesperson accused the federal government of “threatening to defund our children’s education as a tool to change policies it doesn’t like.”
“While Mayor Adams may not agree with every rule or policy, we will always stand up to protect critical resources for our city’s 1 million students,” Mamelak Altus said in a statement. “We are reviewing all of our options here — including litigation — to safeguard these important resources for our children.”
The funding at stake covers specialized curricula, after-school education and summer learning, and it affects 8,500 students, the school system said. Jenna Lyle, a DOE spokesperson, told Playbook it was “deeply disappointed” the federal Education Department denied its request for a 30-day extension and pointed to consequences like canceled courses. She referred Playbook to City Hall when asked about the letter.
“School boards across the country have to take a stand and say, ‘No, we’re not going to be blackmailed,’” Faulkner said. — Madina Touré
Letter from Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine to the Adams Administration: https://www.manhattanbp.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Mayor-DOE-PEP_Title-IX-Protections_09.24.25.pdf
Letter from the Chairperson of the Panel on Educational Policy in Response to BP Levine: https://www.manhattanbp.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Letter-to-Borough-President-Levine-25-September-2025.pdf
