TRS Election Count - No Final Results Until June 2

Friday, May 27, 2026

The TRS election in the schools was held two weeks ago and the vote count started at 65 Court St. on Tuesday and adjourned. Final results are not expected until June 2. With a massive campaign and enormous pressure Unity-endorsed Tom Brown is expected to win. How big a win is the question. 

From what I'm hearing, Tom Brown wanted to retire but Mulgrew pushed him to run once David Kazansky announced. Mulgrew never seemed to have much love for him but felt threatened to run an unknown against him and felt Brown was their best chance despite his being 75 and wanting out. Are they just kicking the can down the road because within another year Brown may well retire and they will have to do this all over again, meaning there could be two TRS elections next year?

When all votes are counted, each candidate receives a tally for each school with a breakdown of how many votes each candidate got. This information, if used correctly, can provide maps of each candidate's strengths and weaknesses. This has scared the Unity faithful, especially at the district rep level into hustling votes for Brown and they rode herd over their chapter leaders, especially during the petition period when Brown came in with 30k. (Only 1k was needed.) So yes they have run a very effective campaign.

While some people lament the fact that there were two non-Unity candidates running I take the long view and see this in a positive light. The prime directive is ending the Unit monopoly of the UFT and bringing a voice independent from Mulgrew to the TRS. Both David and Frank had been Unity loyalists and were fired for no obvious reasons. But they still have people loyal to them in the Unity ranks who secretly support them. 

New information has been flowing in response to my last blog TRS Election Pre-Outcome Analysis, info that exposes the toxicity at the top of the Unity and UFT hierarchy. I've tried to piece together the story from various insider accounts and will publish the story as all the blanks get filled in. Therein lies a tale of Mulgrew and crew taking more control over the pension and TRS, an area formerly dominated by old timers such as Mel Aaronson and Sandy March, a process over the past 10 years as loyalty to the leadership took precedence over competence. This is part 1. 

Recent History of TRS Elections

• 2014 Tom Brown replaces Mona Romain who retires.
• 2015 David Kazansky replaces Mel Aaronson who retires and recruited David. Mel had been the guru of pensions (though still with a staff job)
• 2016 Debby Penny replaces Sandy March who retires. Penny is Mulgrew's agent in the pension department and was brought in to gain control. With strong figures like Mel and Sandy March gone Mulgrew gets his shot at a complete takeover of the pension and TRS.
• 2022 Victoria Lee replaced Debby Penny - no election.
• 2024 - David removed and replaced by Christina McGrath who defeated Ben Morgenrath in first TRS election in 40 years. At the time McGrath and Victoria Lee are close.
• 2025 - Victoria Lee wins re-election based on challenging Ben Morgenroth's petitions and winning on a technicality.  Her next election will be in 2028.
• 2026 - Tom Brown who wanted to retire but is pressured to run after David Kazansky announces a run. A leading pension consultant Frank Panebianco also runs. Both he and Kazansky had been full-time UFT employees until fired in 2025.
• 2027 - Christina McGrath is scheduled but she and Victoria Lee do not get along and if Lee maintains her dominance, she will look to dump McGrath unless Mulgrew backs her.

For decades there was no a TRS election because of only one candidate and whoever was chosen by UFT leadership to "run" was anointed with no one opposing. This bothered me - and others. Why let Unity get away with an easy win? Make them work for this patronage job. Two years ago, Mulgrew pulled David Kazansky from TRS after 9 years and installed an unknown, Christina McGrath, who even within Unity, caused people to scratch their heads. Apparently she was a friend of Victoria Lee. Rumors were that David was not the yes-man Mulgrew wanted at TRS. (My follow-up post to this one will get into the ugly details.) 

An informal independent group of us organized an election campaign with Ben Morgenroth as a way to force an election. And we learned a hell of a lot about the process - a trial run for future elections.

Last year everyone was busy with the UFT election and didn't pay much attention to the TRS election, though Ben Morgenroth ran but had his petitions challenged on a technicality and Vicky Lee celebrated at a UFT pension dept meeting bragging about her successful challenge after fidning Ben had made a mark at the bottom of his petitions and shouting, "I won. It doesn't make a difference how you win as long as you win." 

This year's election is the most complex ever, with 3 candidates.  

David Kazansky, former 9-year TRS member beginning in 2015, removed by Mulgrew in 2024 and fired from his UFT job in June 2025 due to having been friends with Amy Arundel, and now teaching at an elementary school in the Bronx.

Frank Panebianco, former 13 year full-time pension rep, fired in 2025, now teaching in the Bronx. 

 

Tom Brown, incumbent since 2014,endorsed by UFT leadership and Unity Caucus. Brown told numerous people he intended to retire and not run again and urged Panebianco to run before he was pulled back into running by Mulgrew once David Kazansky announced he was running.  

 

Teacher Retiree System reps are elected by in-service active members of the TRS, which includes PBS and the CSA and a few other unions, but the UFT makes up the largest contingent, thus getting all 3 reps in staggered 3 year terms.

 

TRS reps are a UFT patronage job and elections are a threat to their control. They seem fine with letting decisions be made by financial people with no questioning them. Apparently David schooled himself and asked questions which may have annoyed some people at the top.

 

What does TRS teacher rep job entail and how are they paid? That is not exactly clear. There is a meeting every third Thursday of the month at TRS HQ. We get no info about those meetings or what is discussed or what decisions are made.

 

Are they employees of the city, not the UFT? Yet why do they work out of 52 Broadway and are on the UFT payroll and they work UFT 10-6 hours instead of the city 9-5? Some go to the schools to do pension clinics. Some choose to stay around HQ. 

 

What are their obligations? The only one seems to be to attend Thursday meetings.

 

From the TRS Site

Usually meets at 3:30 p.m. on approximately every third Thursday in each month. Composed of seven members as follows: Chairperson, Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) and the Comptroller, Ex Officio; two members appointed by the Mayor, one a member of the Panel for Educational Policy; three members of the Teachers’ Retirement Association elected from the contributors for terms of three years. No salary. Chair selected by Board Members. 

Note it says no salary. What decisions can they allowed to make? Who knows? 

 

Many of the trustees on the retirement boards do not receive an additional salary. They receive their regular salary from their city employer. However, the 3 trustees receive additional money from the UFT.

 

These are all issues to ponder. Part 2 will get into more detail on how Mulgrew gained total control over pension and TRS matters,