Opinion

Charter schools should be part of universal pre-K

There is untapped potential to increase access to pre-kindergarten in high-need communities through public charter schools, which serve many high-need students.

The words come courtesy of Gov. Cuomo’s Education Reform Commission, and they speak the obvious: The state’s charter schools are a natural vehicle for good pre-K programs. Then again, when it comes to public education in New York these days, speaking up for the obvious can be an invaluable public service.

That’s especially true because Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña are making it clear they regard charters as the ugly stepchild of the family. The commission’s modest statement reminds us not only that charters are full-fledged public schools, but that the children who attend them are public-school students.

We frankly remain skeptical of the efficacy of pre-K programs, especially if the mayor and the chancellor succeed in confining the program to schools where teachers unions dominate. But we suspect that if anyone can make pre-K work, it will be the charters — for the same reason they have shown they can teach children whom others write off as uneducable.

Apparently that’s not the way Fariña sees it. This week she made clear to National Public Radio she regards herself as chancellor only for public-school children in teachers-union schools.

“I think right now we need space for our own kids,” she said. “You’re going to have a large pre-K initiative. Where are we going to put some of those kids?”

For a New York City schools chancellor to suggest charter-school students aren’t “our kids” is disgraceful. Whose kids are they, Madame Chancellor?