Following massive backlash at the ballot box, most Democrats have attempted to distance themselves from the “Defund the Police” movement. But a recent effort from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to slash funding for school safety officers is just the latest evidence that Democrats never truly abandoned their war on law enforcement and public safety.
The self-avowed “democratic socialist” Mamdani unveiled his Fiscal Year 2027 budget earlier this month, coming in at a whopping $124.7 billion – $10 billion more than the entire state of Florida, despite Florida having three times as many people as the Big Apple.
But despite all that money, Mamdani apparently couldn’t find any room for school safety agents – even as felony assaults in city schools are up five percent over the first half of this year compared to last year, according to the New York Post. Mamdani’s proposed budget would cut 264 of these positions.
While school safety agents are unarmed, they fall under the New York Police Department. “School safety agents are NYPD civilian employees who monitor city schools, prevent students from carrying weapons or drugs onto school grounds and intervene in fights,” the Post explained. The agents also act as frontline eyes on the ground, according to the city’s website. Duties include “patrolling and operating scanning equipment, verifying identity and escorting visitors [and] challenging unauthorized personnel.”
In other words, the agents make sure that only people who are actually supposed to be in the schools are there, while also enforcing basic safety rules and preventing guns and illicit substances from making their way into school buildings.
Apparently, however, Mamdani doesn’t see any value in this role.
The cuts would mean “that schools would not be able to fully staff” the positions, Democrat Councilman Eric Dinowitz warned. Dinowitz is a former teacher in the New York City school system and chairs the education committee on the City Council.
“Currently, having just one School Safety Agent for every thousand students is not uncommon,” Dinowitz said. “Students are routinely late to class because of delays at scanners, and there are not enough SSAs who speak the languages of the students and families they serve.”
The lack of metal detectors and a strong security plan was made painfully obvious in January when three students at three separate schools were all found with guns on them, according to CBS News.
“We’re down 2,000 school safety agents, and it’s only getting worse,” Gregory Floyd, the president of Local 237 Teamsters representing school safety agents, warned. “We need scanning equipment that works. We need more bodies.”
Parents also see the situation getting worse if Mamdani’s defunding plan goes through.
“This makes me feel very uneasy for my child’s safety,” one parent said. “If the number of safety agents are cut, who would their responsibilities fall upon? The admin? Staff? They already have their hands full.”
The Post notes that not only are felony assaults up in schools, but “[t]here were nearly 20 weapons arrests of people younger than 21 years old in the first quarter of 2026 with 16 knife possession arrests and two box cutter possession arrests.”
For those who have followed Mamdani’s meteoric rise, this attack on school safety agents should come as no surprise – and is likely only the beginning of a much more systematic dismantling of New York City’s public safety infrastructure.
In March, Mamdani announced “a new office dedicated to community safety” which PBS called “a tentative first step toward fulfilling a key campaign pledge to reduce the role of police in responding to mental health emergencies.”
That followed Mamdani’s previous open support for defunding the police. As reported by CNN, Mamdani tweeted in June 2020, “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.”
Like any good leftist, Mamdani changed his tune when he was actually campaigning for office in 2025, insisting that he was “not running to defund the police.” But the fact that he is now trying to reduce the presence of safety agents in city schools should be a concerning sign for New Yorkers that more public safety cuts are coming.
As it is, using unarmed school safety agents is a less-than-ideal situation, particularly amid documented instances of students having guns in schools. Armed and expertly trained police officers are the surest way to prevent and minimize tragedies and stop violence. Defunding frontline safety agents is a move in the wrong direction and will only embolden potential troublemakers.
Some Democrat apologists may insist that Mamdani’s hostility toward law enforcement is an isolated case that does not represent the Democrat Party as a whole. But his thinly veiled disdain for police of any kind is hardly a one-off.
Last fall, for instance, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called law enforcement a “sickness.” A few months after that, a group of Senate Democrats wrote a letter to the National Park Service demanding that the agency halt plans to hire more park police. And earlier this year, of course, Democrats shut down the Department of Homeland Security over opposition to funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
Democrats may recognize that the “Defund the Police” label is politically toxic. But as Mamdani is proving once again, the ideological heart of the party is still firmly opposed to the brave men and women who keep our streets – and schools – safe.
Matt Lamb is an AMAC Newsline contributor and associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
