This morning, visitors from Newark Prep Charter School will travel to the New York Stock Exchange. But this isn’t a class trip to learn about the market. These students and teachers will ring the opening bell in honor of National School Choice Week.
As it turns out, this week is a two-fer for those of us who believe that our education system needs to be shaken up and reformed. It’s also Catholic Schools Week.
The folks behind National School Choice Week plan more than 5,000 events across the country designed to celebrate the diversity in K-12 education beyond the traditional public school: charter schools, private schools, religious schools, magnet schools, online schools, home schools, etc.
Catholic schools are but one part of this mosaic, but they play a vital role. Here in the city, Catholic schools educate more than 80,000 students — 90 percent of whom are minority and more than a third non-Catholic. More than 95 percent graduate high school; 84 percent go on to college — all while saving the city an estimated $1 billion each year.
This week’s national celebrations come at a moment when Albany has a chance to take real action — and put a good school within reach of more New York children.
The opportunity is the Education Investment Tax Credit Act, and it would provide state tax credits for contributions to scholarships, education funds, classroom supplies and art, music and sports programs. Half the benefits would flow to public schools, so the bill doesn’t pit one type of school against another. It’s already passed the Senate, and a majority in the Assembly have signed on as co-sponsors.
What National School Choice Week and Catholic Schools Week have in common is an understanding that today’s parents are badly in need of alternatives to a bureaucratic model of public education that hasn’t changed much since the 19th century.
Let’s hope Albany is listening.