Foes’ kids attend elite academies
Elitist Democrats who’ve waged war against charter schools in New York are opting to send their own kids to private institutions, a move critics have blasted as hypocritical, The Post has learned.
Politicians, including Sens. Robert Jackson and Jabari Brisport and upstate Assemblymen Phil Steck and John McDonald, or their children have benefited from alternative schools, even as they fight to prevent economically disadvantaged parents from doing the same.
Jackson (D-Manhattan), who opposes Gov. Hochul’s plan to lift the charter school cap in the city, recently admitted he sends his daughter to the $56,250-ayear Dwight School on the Upper West Side.
“Our youngest daughter . . . [goes to] the Dwight School. I never hid that,” Jackson (inset) said at a Feb. 8 legislative hearing in Albany on Hochul’s budget plan. “But everyone knows I’m fighting for public schools.”
Jackson represents Washington Heights and Inwood in northern Manhattan, as well as a slice of The Bronx, and has strong ties to the anti-charter United Federation of Teachers from his days serving as a city councilman.
Jackson is against Hochul’s plan to allow more of the publicly funded, but privately run, schools to open in New York City. Her proposal would keep the limit to 460 charters that can open statewide, but eliminate a regional cap of 287 that has been reached in New York City, forcing many students onto wait lists.
“Gov. Hochul’s budget proposes lifting the cap on charter schools & reauthorizing ‘zombie charters’ in NYC. This undermines the historic investment of public school funds meant to benefit children in NYC,” Jackson tweeted, referring to closed schools that could reopen again if Hochul gets her way.
Ruben Diaz Sr., a former councilman and state senator who is founder and CEO of the pro-charter Hispanic Clergy Organization in The Bronx, ripped Jackson’s position on charters as “pure hypocrisy of the first order.” “Robert Jackson opposes charter schools for poor parents but sends his kid to a private school? How could this be!” Diaz railed. “Parents in The Bronx and Harlem cannot afford to go to the Dwight School!”
Jacquelyn Martell, executive director of the pro-charter Democrats for Education Reform, added, “It’s just disappointing to see the state senator fight so hard and put up obstacles for less fortunate families to choose the best school for their child, especially when he sends his own kid to private school.”
Brisport, another opponent of charter school expansion, has also benefited from private education, graduating from the $50,000- to $60,000-a-year Poly Prep in 2005.
Brisport declined to comment. Steck, an Albany-area Democrat who also opposes lifting the statewide charter school cap, sent his daughter to the prestigious Emma Willard School in Troy.
Another charter-opposed upstate assemblyman, John McDonald, chose to send his daughter to Cohoes Catholic School over public school.