CLASS ACT BY MIKE

$750M to charter ed

Charter-school champion Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday announced a “historic” $750 million initiative to entrench and expand the sector across 20 metro areas, including New York City, over the next five years.

Bloomberg Philanthropies, the former three-term city mayor’s charitable arm, will “support the success and growth of existing charter and autonomous schools, open new high-quality charter schools and create cityand state-level conditions that will help sustain this progress,” said a release.

Calling American public education “broken,” Bloomberg said charter schools serve as educational oases amid an otherwise bleak schooling landscape.

“The pandemic hasn’t just underscored that reality — it has made it worse, and the remedy isn’t more tinkering around the edges,” Bloomberg said. “The future of our country depends on bold changes to education.”

The organization cited grim academic metrics — especially for low-income minority kids — that have decayed still further in the wake of COVID-19.

“For example, more than half of third-graders in predominantly Black and Latino schools tested at least two grade levels behind in math and reading than pre-pandemic,” the release said.

The organization argued that charter schools were better able to respond to pandemic challenges because of their independence.

The autonomous schools were equipped to “provide real-time instruction, check-in regularly with students, and monitor attendance,” the group said.

Bloomberg, who backed charter-school expansion as mayor, cited the sector’s performance during his time in office.

“Notable growth occurred among Hispanic and Black charter students in poverty, who posted stronger growth compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools,” he said.

Current state law has capped New York charterschool expansion, while political backing varies in other areas across the nation.

Mayor de Blasio openly prioritized traditional public schools during his terms and routinely skirmished with the city’s leading operator, Success Academy.

Teachers’ unions have also resisted charter school cultivation, arguing that they divert funds from traditional public schools.