A Chance for Choice

Voters in Brooklyn’s 17th state Senate District will actually have a choice other than Simcha Felder come Nov. 6, thanks to the tiny Reform Party.

Felder, a Democrat who caucuses with the Republicans, has the GOP’s support this fall, as well as the Conservative and Independence lines. Until this week, the only opponent he faced was a long-shot challenge in the Democratic primary.

But now Luis Rivera, a lifelong Midwood resident, has the Reform line to give every voter an option other than the incumbent. His odds are also long, but at least he’ll raise some vital issues.

Such as Felder’s hardball stand that’s killed the city’s speed cameras near school zones, and his protection of yeshivas that stand accused of not teaching secular studies mandated by law.

To be fair, the de Blasio Department of Education has been falling down badly on the yeshivas. As of September, it had vetted only six of the 39 schools it promised to investigate three years ago.

But Felder used his position as the vote that keeps Republicans in control of the Senate to soften the standards the schools must meet. Which is outrageous, as Rivera noted: “All students deserve a proper education so they can succeed in life.”

At the very least, Rivera and Reform will give voters a chance to show how many of them resent Felder’s games.