Their relationship is spinning out of control.

A four-year extension of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s control over city schools could be in jeopardy as tensions rise with Gov. Kathy Hochul, insiders revealed.

Mayoral control over schools could be reduced to two years or dropped altogether, according to four sources close to the talks.

The rumored change came as Mamdani last week tried to squeeze more dough out of Albany, effectively refusing to accept several victories that an increasingly peeved Hochul handed him in his quest to close the city’s projected $5.4 billion budget shortfall.

“She holds the cards. She has the tools. What Mamdani doesn’t understand is that the city is a ward of the state and the governor has ultimate control over what the city does,” longtime Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf told The Post.

Since 2002, New York City’s public schools have been under mayoral control – which gives direct responsibility over the schools to the mayor instead of an often slow-to-act school board.

Hochul had proposed to extend mayoral control by four years in her spending plan, but insiders said a shorter span has become an option as talks over the state’s $263 billion budget drag on between the governor and lawmakers.

Whether Hochul pushed the change remained unclear, but it comes as Mamdani unrelentingly presses Albany for more cash.

A source with knowledge said Hochul was upset after Mamdani reached a deal with Council Speaker Julie Menin to not only delay the city’s budget deadline to mid-May, then joined forces to push the state to cut down a tax credit in hopes of raising about $1 billion in revenue. 

“I think it’s crystal clear that we already have helped them,” Hochul said in response last week.

A Democratic source didn’t know whether the proposed mayoral control rollback came from Hochul, but said the governor is clearly fuming.

“She’s pissed. She was not happy over the weekend,” the source said. “(Mamdani) was supposed to get her all these things and he’s been dragging his feet.”

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Another New York City Democrat with knowledge of budget talks bet that the proposed mayoral control rollback came from Hochul.

“I think she’s really angry at him, because I think she doesn’t like being blamed for the fact that they are late, and he hasn’t made any progress on savings,” the Dem said.

“Mayoral control has been used in the past as a carrot and a stick, and if someone is not behaving then it is taken away. I think she is angry at him for how everything is portrayed, threatening property taxes increase and taxing the rich.”

Past Hizzoners had to regularly kowtow to Albany as they sought extensions for mayoral control.

Ex-Mayor Eric Adams successively begged Albany in 2024 to grant him an extension of mayoral control, though the issue had remained subdued in this year’s budget talks until recently.

The issue is being discussed in tandem with long-rumored tweaks and likely delays to a controversial law reducing class sizes, insiders said.

City education officials contend the law shepherded by state Sen. John Liu (D-Queens) will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to implement.

A veteran of Adams’ administration griped about the one-two punch of mayoral control renewal and the class size.

“People would use it to screw with our educational priorities and then, when we were finally successful at negotiating a four-year extension, John Liu came in with a class size mandate,” the vet said.

State lawmakers gave a mixed picture of where mayoral control stood in budget talks.

“I think it’s more on the table in terms of discussing an extension of mayoral control of the New York City school system,” state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris (D-Queens) said Monday of the class-size law.

“I don’t know whether it will be inside or outside the budget, but it’s all happening simultaneously,” he added about the mayoral control extension.

Assemblyman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx), chair of the Assembly Education Committee, cast the mayoral control rollback as a rumor. 

He reiterated Tuesday afternoon that he’s not hearing any updates about mayoral control being dropped from the spending plan, while arguing it should be done outside the budget process to keep it clean of concessions that Hochul may try to extract.

But he noted that lawmakers are entering crunch time, as they’re set to depart Albany on June 4.

“I think we should have mayoral control. I think it’s very important that there is one person in charge and responsible and can be held accountable,” he said.

“I would prefer that it is not done in the budget. I think it’s an important legislative prerogative and we should handle it, but it’s just getting a little close to the end now so who the heck knows what’s going to happen.”

Sheinkopf said that Mamdani and Menin can delay the city’s budget to play games with Albany, but they face a deadline of their own on July 1.

“The mayor has a problem. That budget must be struck by law by 12:01 a.m. July 1st. So playing the game with Albany is not smart for him,” he said.

The expiration date for mayoral control is June 30, right before the city’s budget deadline.