Embattled New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks will step away from his post in the next few weeks — months earlier than previously planned, The Post has learned.
Banks announced his retirement from the top post in the Department of Education on Sept. 25, just weeks after the feds raided the home he shares with Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright.
“Over the past several days it became clear to the mayor and the team that then New York City schools will be best led by Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos,” a source with knowledge of the decision said Wednesday.
“This was not the chancellor’s decision,” the source said, adding that the mayor made the call.
A City Hall spokesperson said Aviles-Ramos would take over on Oct. 16.
“Chancellor Aviles-Ramos is a lifelong educator and public school veteran whose talent, experience and compassion will lead the school system well through this next chapter,” the spokesperson said.
“We thank Chancellor Banks for his service to the city and nearly 1 million public school children.”
Banks’ early send-off comes after sources told The Post that Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, told Hizzoner he needs to clean house.
It’s unclear if the outgoing school chief was among the officials that Hochul alluded to.
Adams was federally charged last week in an alleged bribery and straw donations scheme by the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office.
Banks was initially supposed to retire at the end of the calendar year, claiming in a resignation letter to Adams last week that he always planned on leaving around that time “after ensuring the school year got off to a good start.”
The educator is the latest top official in the Adams administration to leave.
Earlier this week, controversial aide Tim Pearson informed Adams he was stepping down from his post with his last day this Friday.
During the wide-ranging Sept. 4 raids that targeted multiple top city officials, cellphones belonging to Banks and Wright were confiscated by the feds.
Following the raid, Banks claimed he wasn’t a target of the intensifying probe.
Agents also seized the phones of Banks’ brother Terence Banks, a former MTA official-turned-consultant, and another brother, Philip Banks, who is Adams’ deputy mayor for public safety.
The Banks brothers have been longtime friends of Adams, who served in the NYPD with their father.
The expedited exit for Banks comes after he married Wright on Saturday on Martha’s Vineyard, leading to whispers the pair tied the knot to claim legal “spousal privilege,” which is the right for husband and wife to refuse to testify against each other.
But Banks insisted he and his new bride had been “planning the marriage for a while” and that their “parents getting older and having some health issues” prompted the wedding.
“We made the right decision to do it when we did and any suggestion otherwise to me is just ridiculous on its face,” he said.
