Unions vs. Kids
Why NYC parents want more charter schools
AS if state legislators and union leaders fearmongering about charter-school costs weren’t enough, Mayor Adams, when he should he championing the city’s kids, is instead caving and joining that crowd.
There’s no reality to charters costing $1 billion extra in any foreseeable future, but that doesn’t stop the ridiculous narrative against the increasingly popular schools. If anything, outlays should be reduced, since district schools’ per-student cost is significantly higher than for students at the charter schools New Yorkers want.
New York City’s Asian Americans want more charter schools. So do the Big Apple’s blacks, Hispanics and whites. Public district schools have become increasingly brazen about dumbing down standards, which is why families seeking better options welcomed Gov. Hochul’s budget proposal that included a plan to enable more charter schools to open in New York City.
It’s hard to go to a parents’ gathering without hearing complaints about district schools, anguish over the poor options and stories of how they or their friends left or are planning to leave the system — whether to charter schools, parochial schools, private schools or outside the city entirely.
Charter schools deliver better results by a wide margin: 88% and 91% of city charter schools outperform district schools in English and math respectively and significantly so.
A recent survey found nearly two-thirds of New York City parents view charter schools favorably and want the charter cap lifted. As if more evidence were needed, district-school enrollment has continued to plunge while charter enrollment keeps growing.
In the long run, the demand requires lifting the charter cap itself. But the short-term solutions in Hochul’s plan should relieve some immediate pressure. Moving 85 unused allocations from upstate into the city and allowing 21 “zombie” schools’ charters to be reallocated would mean dozens of new charter schools. Some charters, already approved by the State University of New York but unable to open because of the cap, could offer students spots quickly.
Hochul’s proposal is all the more remarkable because it defies the powerful teachers union. District schools are unionized; most charter schools are not, which is why union bosses hate them.
The day after Hochul announced her plan, key education state Sens. Shelley Mayer, John Liu and Robert Jackson denounced it. A City Hall rally followed. Tellingly, United Federation of Teachers boss Mike Mulgrew was a featured denunciator. The primary complaint was that under the city funding formula — under which funding follows students — more charter schools would divert resources away from district schools.
But that’s a ruse to protect union jobs.
A student fleeing a failing district school for a charter school does not “divert” resources from the losing district school any more than if he fled for another district school. Yet only the first is condemned — because only the first hurts union jobs. Charter schools are public schools; in either scenario, the student and his funding remain in the public-school system. If anything, charter schools help the city retain students and their funding: They’d otherwise flee the public-school system, the city or the state altogether.
The problem is not students fleeing failing district schools; it’s the failing district schools. Don’t scapegoat charter schools; learn from them!
For New York’s Asian Americans, the need for good charter schools is especially resonant. Asian Americans with traditional Confucian ideals — and strong opposition to Marxist-Communist ones — appreciate meritocracy’s importance in uniting diverse peoples. They value testing and excellence, not participation trophies or dumbing down. They value duty, obligation and responsibility, not narcissism, fragility and entitlement. They value study, hard work and delayed gratification. On average, Asian highschool kids spend twice as much time per week doing homework than white kids and four times as much as black kids.
Yet in district schools, all these values are openly mocked, condemned as deviant, to be corrected by “social emotional learning” — a form of medicalization. But AsianAmerican values find support in successful charter schools. Charters now serve mostly black and Hispanic neighborhoods, but Asians also want new charters near their communities.
This is a time to show courage. Deal-cutting for the budget makes charter schools a bargaining chip. Legislators also fear the union’s wrath. But the union has displayed greater than usual selfinterest the last few years, making families and taxpayers say: Enough, we’re out, we’re voting with our feet and taxes. That will take a new budget to address!
Elected officials, especially those standing shoulder-to-shoulder with union bosses, must remember taxpayers fund schools to serve students, not unions. Once they get that, only one conclusion is possible: They must support more charter schools. It’s time for legislators, the mayor and governor to show courage and do their duty to New York families.