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Why is New York Mayor Bill de Blasio undermining charter schools?

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  • Why is New York Mayor Bill de Blasio undermining charter schools?

    OP-ED


    DURING HIS successful campaign for New York mayor, Bill de Blasio (D) made clear that he had a different, less favorable view of public charter schools than did his predecessor. But even charter advocates who feared the worst wouldn’t have predicted that Mr. de Blasio would kick a high-achieving charter school out of its building, leaving hundreds of parents wondering where their children will attend classes next fall.

    Success Academy Harlem 4, whose students boast some of the highest math scores in New York state, faces an uncertain fate in light of Mr. de Blasio’s decision to deny it free space. The school, in operation since 2008, is part of the Success Academy chain, which serves minority and low-income children with impressive results. The chain’s chief executive, Eva Moskowitz, is a political rival of the mayor; during the campaign, he said of her: “She has to stop being tolerated, enabled, supported.” Mr. de Blasio also rescinded the co-locations of two planned Success schools that had been approved by former mayor Michael Bloomberg.

    The de Blasio administration has pushed back on suggestions that its decisions were politically motivated. Officials complain that decisions about school space were rushed by the Bloomberg administration so as to tie their hands; they say that the majority of co-locations, in which charters share space with traditional schools, were approved, including five other proposals from Success Academy. That is small consolation to such parents as Maria Rodriguez, who told us that she is beside herself with worry over where her three children will go if Success Academy has to shut its doors.“This is the future of my children they are playing games with,” she said, dismissing the nearby failing traditional schools as an option.

    The city’s indifference to the success of this school (shouldn’t performance be a factor in who gets space?) is, unfortunately, emblematic of Mr. de Blasio’s stance toward charters. His newly revised capital budget shifts $210 million from charter schools to boost other programs. Charter schools serve about 6 percent of the New York City student population. Mr. de Blasio is correct in saying they aren’t the silver bullet to fixing public education, but they play an important role, and it’s illogical to deny them the support merited by their importance to poor and traditionally neglected students.
    May we raise children who love the unloved things - the dandelion, the worm, the spiderlings.
    Children who sense the rose needs the thorn and run into rainswept days the same way they turn towards the sun...
    And when they're grown and someone has to speak for those who have no voice,
    may they draw upon that wilder bond, those days of tending tender things and be the one.

  • #2
    Free surplus space. That's the part nobody seems to remember. This space for charter schools is not being given to a private organization, it's being leased to public charter schools for cost.
    "Faith is nothing but a firm assent of the mind : which, if it be regulated, as is our duty, cannot be afforded to anything but upon good reason, and so cannot be opposite to it."
    -John Locke

    "It's all been melded together into one giant, authoritarian, leftist scream."
    -Newman

    Comment


    • #3
      Where do his kids go to school?
      The year's at the spring
      And day's at the morn;
      Morning's at seven;
      The hill-side's dew-pearled;
      The lark's on the wing;
      The snail's on the thorn:
      God's in his heaven—
      All's right with the world!

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by scott View Post
        Free surplus space. That's the part nobody seems to remember. This space for charter schools is not being given to a private organization, it's being leased to public charter schools for cost.
        Is that an important point, that they pay rent?
        Enjoy.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Novaheart View Post
          Where do his kids go to school?
          Daughter is in college in California. Son is at Brooklyn Tech, which is where Dan teaches.
          It's been ten years since that lonely day I left you
          In the morning rain, smoking gun in hand
          Ten lonely years but how my heart, it still remembers
          Pray for me, momma, I'm a gypsy now

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Novaheart View Post
            Where do his kids go to school?
            One's in a public high school, and one's in college.

            Dante, 16, is a junior at Brooklyn Tech, one of the city’s elite public high schools. Chiara, 18, is a sophomore at a private liberal arts college in northern California.
            Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/poli...#ixzz2vfktvxyJ
            Enjoy.

            Comment


            • #7
              From the interview I saw the other day on CNBC with people in NYC, it's more about him and Eva Moskowitz, who's his political rival. If that's true and it's all politics then that probably has added to his 39% approval rating, three months into his term.
              May we raise children who love the unloved things - the dandelion, the worm, the spiderlings.
              Children who sense the rose needs the thorn and run into rainswept days the same way they turn towards the sun...
              And when they're grown and someone has to speak for those who have no voice,
              may they draw upon that wilder bond, those days of tending tender things and be the one.

              Comment


              • #8
                The media is making a big deal out of the personal animosity, but I think there is more to it than that.
                In Rent Plan for Charters, Mayor Faces a Hard Road

                As a candidate for mayor, Bill de Blasio electrified crowds of parents and education activists with a pledge to charge rent to charter schools, one of the starkest policy departures from his predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg.

                But two months into his administration, the mayor has yet to unveil a plan, and education experts said the idea might be difficult for him to put in place.

                Mr. de Blasio will be forced to settle many prickly questions. He has said he wants to charge rent on a sliding scale, extracting the most money from schools with the greatest cash reserves. But it may be tough to gauge the wealth of charter organizations and apply a standard that would avoid legal challenges. And it is likely to touch off another battle with charter school leaders, who have turned to television advertisements, rallies and lawsuits in hopes of weakening the mayor.

                ...

                Under Mr. Bloomberg, New York City turned into an incubator for charter schools, thanks in part to a policy of not charging them rent. At a rate of $2,320 per student, the city would garner $92 million per year, according to the Independent Budget Office.

                But tensions quickly surfaced as the number of charter schools using public classrooms grew. They often took up space inside traditional public school buildings, sharing cafeterias, gyms and libraries. Today, 63 percent of the city’s 183 charter schools use space inside public school buildings, according to the New York City Charter School Center, an advocacy group.

                As mayor, Mr. de Blasio has sought to end what he saw as favoritism toward charter schools. In January, he redirected $210 million that had been set aside for charter school construction. And last month, he said he would block proposals for three new charter programs affiliated with Success Academy Charter Schools, though he allowed a vast majority of charter proposals to move forward, including most of Success Academy’s.
                Enjoy.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Norm dePlume View Post
                  Is that an important point, that they pay rent?
                  No, that the space being used for these schools is not being used for anything else. They are not consuming resources from the other schools.
                  "Faith is nothing but a firm assent of the mind : which, if it be regulated, as is our duty, cannot be afforded to anything but upon good reason, and so cannot be opposite to it."
                  -John Locke

                  "It's all been melded together into one giant, authoritarian, leftist scream."
                  -Newman

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by scott View Post
                    No, that the space being used for these schools is not being used for anything else. They are not consuming resources from the other schools.
                    Is that an important point, that it's not being used for anything else?
                    Enjoy.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The New York City schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, said she would work to accommodate students affected by a decision to deny public classroom space to a Harlem school.

                      Two of the canceled Success Academy schools were new and had not enrolled any students. The third, Success Academy Harlem 4, is an existing school that was planning to add a seventh grade in the next school year and an eighth grade in 2015. The Education Department said its expansion was canceled because it would have displaced programs for special education students.
                      Enjoy.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        The Education Department said its expansion was canceled because it would have displaced programs for special education students.
                        After reading the whole article, I don't think this is something you can take on face value.
                        May we raise children who love the unloved things - the dandelion, the worm, the spiderlings.
                        Children who sense the rose needs the thorn and run into rainswept days the same way they turn towards the sun...
                        And when they're grown and someone has to speak for those who have no voice,
                        may they draw upon that wilder bond, those days of tending tender things and be the one.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Norm dePlume View Post
                          The media is making a big deal out of the personal animosity, but I think there is more to it than that.
                          There might be more to the controversy but the hostility between the current mayor and the woman behind Success Academy is real. Not to mention, it doesn't seem like the Chancellor thought much about the charter school(s) until after she backtracked on saying “They’re charter schools. They’re on their own now.”

                          All that said, it looks like the attention that the parents have brought to the issue might just be what saves the charter schools.
                          May we raise children who love the unloved things - the dandelion, the worm, the spiderlings.
                          Children who sense the rose needs the thorn and run into rainswept days the same way they turn towards the sun...
                          And when they're grown and someone has to speak for those who have no voice,
                          may they draw upon that wilder bond, those days of tending tender things and be the one.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Two of the canceled Success Academy schools were new and had not enrolled any students.
                            The schools had already hired principals and teachers and were in the midst of recruiting students.
                            May we raise children who love the unloved things - the dandelion, the worm, the spiderlings.
                            Children who sense the rose needs the thorn and run into rainswept days the same way they turn towards the sun...
                            And when they're grown and someone has to speak for those who have no voice,
                            may they draw upon that wilder bond, those days of tending tender things and be the one.

                            Comment

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