Bill de Blasio’s campaign theme is a “Tale of Two Cities.” Yet his pronouncements suggest that, as mayor, he’d create his own tale of two cities: one for families who made the same choice as he did for his child, a district-run public school, whom he’ll support; and another, for families who made a different choice, charter schools, whom he’ll undermine.
De Blasio boasts of being a public-school parent but the specialized high school his son attends isn’t just any public school: It has 99.6 percent rating in college readiness with 96 percent of its students graduating in four years, 95 percent going on to college and 88 percent receiving an Advanced Designation Regents Diploma.
I went to a specialized NYC public high school myself and support them — but let’s be honest, most parents don’t have a public-school option that’s as good as what de Blasio had access to for his son.
Fewer than a third of New York City public-school students passed the state English Language Arts exam this year. Shockingly, there are more than 50 city schools where not a single African American student passed this year’s state math tests.
That’s why many families opt for charter schools. But charters get less funding than traditional public schools — $2,000 less per student, according to the Independent Budget Office. The disparity is even greater for charters serving needy students.
The problem is that charter schools get no facilities funding, just operating money. That’s why Mayor Bloomberg lets charters use excess public-school space for free.
But de Blasio wants to charge charter schools rent. Even though they are public schools by law. Even though they get no facilities funding. The rent will therefore come out of each school’s operating budget, which is supposed to pay for things like teacher salaries and instructional materials.
Imagine for a moment if the mayor made the school de Blasio’s son attends take more than a half million dollars per year from its operating budget to pay rent, resulting in cuts in special-education services, books and supplies and increased class size. De Blasio would be the first one to chain himself to the front door.
But that is exactly what de Blasio wants to do to the families who chose charters even though those schools serve a more needy population than the school de Blasio’s son attends.
At his school, only 1 percent of students have learning disabilities and only one tenth of one percent are English Language Learners. Most charters have 10 times as many students with disabilities and a 100 times as many English Language Learners.
Yet de Blasio thinks that charter-school support should be gutted while the funding for the high-performing school his son attends increases.
He’s also calling for a moratorium on all placements of charter schools in public-school facilities. He purports to be responding to community concerns. However, what about the concerns of the tens of thousands of parents whose children are on wait lists for charter schools and want more of them? In Bill de Blasio’s view, those parents don’t count.
No mayor can erase all financial inequality, but he can at least try to treat city residents equitably. De Blasio has already told us he won’t do that, that he will run a City of Two Tales. His message to parents who make the same choice he made: I’ll help you. His message to parents who make another choice: Drop dead.
We need a mayor who will support all of our city’s families. Bill de Blasio has already told us that’s not the type of mayor he intends to be.
Eva Moskowitz is founder and CEO of the Success Academy Charter Schools.