New York City parents and students are marching to Albany to save the future of charter schools. After receiving minimal support from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, charter school families are seeking help from Governor Andrew Cuomo and the capital.
According to an editorial in the New York Post, charter school families are hoping that Governor Cuomo will be the “students’ lobbyist” that he claims to be:
They sure need one. Here in Gotham, the mayor’s already banned any future public charter from sharing space with a traditional public school. He says he will also charge some of the remaining ones rent. And rumor has it he will announce, possibly this week, a rollback of previously approved “co-locations” for a number of public charters — which would leave 5,600 kids in a lurch.
It’s a cruel thing to do to children, not to mention the moms and dads who see charters as escapes from the traditional public schools that are failing most of the city’s other schoolchildren. Which explains why 50,000 city kids were on charter waiting lists last year — and why applications for charters are already up 47 percent this year.
