Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox.New York City’s school board failed to approve a technology contract advanced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration this week, a month after Mamdani’s slate of board members began their terms.The $1.65 million contract would allow the Education Department to continue using Oracle software that supports “mission critical” functions including an HR help center serving more than 150,000 employees and an enrollment support center fielding roughly 1,000 calls a day about issues ranging from student transportation to special education, officials said. Losing access to the software could result in the loss of data and prevent families from accessing enrollment information online, a department spokesperson added.But after fierce pushback against Oracle and its co-founder Larry Ellison during the board’s public comment period, including over the company’s investment in artificial intelligence, city officials could not muster the votes to approve the contract.Two mayoral appointees to the Panel for Educational Policy, as the board is known, abstained from the vote. Three other mayoral appointees did not attend the meeting. The contract failed with nine votes in favor, six opposed, and two abstentions, falling four votes short of the 13 needed to pass.Shortly before the vote, Deputy Chancellor Lindsay Oates, who oversees human resources, urged the board to approve the contract. She argued that the Education Department relies on Oracle for HR systems that are essential as the city welcomes thousands of new hires to the nation’s largest school system. “Many of them are coming in and calling the call center with questions about their benefits,” she said. “We are worried about the disruption of service if this contract is tabled.”Education Department officials said the service would run through September. They did not elaborate on whether they have backup plans to avoid disruptions. The contract represents a small part of the roughly $13 billion the Education Department spends on outside vendors. But the administration’s inability to secure enough votes for the deal suggests the board may not be a rubber stamp for the Mamdani administration’s agenda. Under previous administrations, the board has generally voted in line with the administration’s proposals, with some notable exceptions.The vote also suggests that growing pressure on the panel to scrutinize AI and technology contracts could complicate efforts to continue using existing education technology or adopt new tools. Education Department officials have promised to release new guidelines for artificial intelligence and technology before the first day of school on Sept. 10.In the run-up to the vote, several educators and other tech skeptics criticized the Oracle contract and Ellison, who has embraced AI and supported Donald Trump’s 2024 election bid. Liat Olenick, a parent, educator, and climate activist, said she worried about the company’s environmental footprint connected to growing AI use. Though the city’s contract with Oracle indicates it would not include student- or teacher-facing AI products, Olenick wondered if there might be other AI applications embedded in it.“Will Oracle services include AI use by administrators?” she asked before the vote. “Is it necessary to contract with a company that’s fueling the climate crisis and putting New York City students’ health and futures at risk?”An Education Department spokesperson said there is “no AI use associated with this contract.” Reps for Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.Others raised concerns about how Oracle would protect sensitive data, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers. Education Department officials implemented Oracle’s cloud software service “as a proactive measure to safeguard this information,” rather than relying on email, according to contract documents.One board member said she was reluctant to vote against the contract in part because Education Department contract documents say Oracle would be required to delete the department’s data from its systems within 90 days of the contract’s expiration. Raysa Rodriguez, whom Mamdani appointed last month, said she took concerns about Oracle “very seriously” but felt it would be riskier to let the contract lapse. She said a new agreement would “further protect the data that we have.”The two mayoral appointees who abstained, Crystal Vera-Montalvo and Karla Cordero, did not respond to requests for comment. Primo Lasana, another mayoral appointee, said he wished the contract had been tabled until a future meeting so the board could consider it more carefully. He ultimately voted in favor.Some panel members elected by parent leaders said they voted against the contract because they believed the city should control its sensitive technology systems. “The staff that manages it should be public servants,” said panel member Naveed Hasan.Panel chair Greg Faulkner, whose term ends in September, said in an interview that he was frustrated by the vote and worried the Education Department would be forced to scramble to fix its HR systems. But he acknowledged that panel members are feeling pressure to be cautious around tech contracts. “Anything we do with technology gets scrutinized,” Faulkner said.Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
