After Albany granted him a two-year extension on mayoral control of public schools, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio decided to repay with a favor to the charter schools.
This month, the mayor struck a deal with New York City charter schools that’ll make it easier for them to expand and pay for space. The news was music to the ears of charter school advocates such as StudentsFirstNY.
“Charters have been battling with the de Blasio administration for the last four years but thanks to Albany leaders, productive conversations led to an agreement that’s good for all public school kids,” said Jenny Sedlis, executive director of StudentsFirstNY, in a statement. “Parents will have access to more school options and charter operators will get significant relief. Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Flanagan, Leader Klein and Speaker Heastie deserve credit for their work on behalf of all students.”
The agreement allows the mayor to change rent reimbursement policies from the city to charter schools and even provides MetroCard subsidies to some charter students. The deal also includes an agreement that 22 charter schools that aren’t in operation can be replaced without an increase in the current cap on charters.
The agreement has raised the ire of educational activists who, despite reports that the mayor may not have won back mayoral control without this deal, feel he’s kowtowed to the charter sector.
“New York City is intending to again increase the number of charter schools without any new protections to parents, children and tax payers,” said Jasmine Gripper, legislative director of the Alliance for Quality Education, in a statement. “Just this past year the leading civil rights group, the NAACP, called for a moratorium on charter school expansion. It is irresponsible for New York to continue to open new charters without remedying the dangerous lack of accountability and transparency in this industry. The New York Times exposed the rip and repeat video where a so-called master teacher at Success charter school berated a first-grader over a math problem. This abusive teaching style is not how you build future leaders. Instead this is how to tear them down.”
Gripper continued, “In New York City, 48 of the 50 schools with the highest suspension rates are charter schools. These high suspension rates are what fuel the school-to-prison pipeline which disproportionately impacts students of color. Without new accountability measures, opening more charter schools only puts more students in harm’s way while allowing these negligent practices to persist.”
