Two New York City Council members are calling for major changes to admissions at the city’s specialized high schools, arguing that the current system has produced persistent racial disparities, particularly among Black and Latino students.
Council members Nantasha Williams and Lincoln Restler are urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels to reconsider the role of the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT), which currently serves as the sole admissions criterion for eight of the city’s specialized high schools.
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The push follows the release of the latest admissions figures in July. At Stuyvesant High School, just three Black students and 21 Latino students were among the 777 students admitted to the incoming freshman class. By comparison, 534 Asian students and 133 white students received offers. Citywide, Black students accounted for about 3.5 percent of roughly 4,000 specialized high school seats, despite representing 19 percent of the public school population. Latino students received about 6.5 percent of seats while accounting for 42 percent of students citywide.
Williams and Restler are proposing that the SHSAT no longer be the only admissions measure at five schools: Brooklyn Latin School, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, and Staten Island Technical High School. They suggest combining a minimum SHSAT score with students’ grades, teacher recommendations, essays, and background information.
The council members also want the city to expand specialized-school enrollment by thousands of seats and redirect preparatory programs toward students in the city’s poorest communities. Other recommendations include making advanced mathematics courses more widely available in middle schools and supporting a resolution calling for the repeal of the state law governing SHSAT admissions.
State law specifically requires the SHSAT to determine admission to Stuyvesant, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School. The law also extends the testing requirement to similar specialized high schools that may be established, creating a legal barrier to broader changes at those schools.
The debate comes as NYC Public Schools continues to use the SHSAT as the admissions mechanism for eight specialized schools, with offers made according to students’ scores and school preferences. The city’s ninth specialized high school, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, uses auditions rather than the SHSAT.
Mamdani, who attended Bronx Science, has previously acknowledged concerns about relying on a single test to identify talented students. He has called for stronger academic preparation from the elementary and middle-school levels while emphasizing the need to ensure that Black and Latino students have greater opportunities to succeed.
Williams said she wants changes made as soon as the upcoming admissions cycle, if possible, while Restler described the existing system as “profoundly flawed.” The council members are pressing the administration to act as the city continues its broader efforts to address racial disparities in education.
