New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in a news conference Friday said he sees the redistribution of wealth as an important factor toward ending structural racism in education. "I’d like to say very bluntly our mission is to redistribute wealth," he said. "A lot of people bristle at that phrase.That is, in fact, the phrase we need to use." He added the government needs to "more equitably redistribute resources" throughout the school system, which he said would include pre-K and 3-K for all and advanced placement courses in every high school.
The mayor said that minority students have been most affected by coronavirus school closures, adding his office would focus on closing the "COVID achievement gap," that disproportionately hurts kids.