It was a tale of two rallies — with Mayor de Blasio getting schooled by Gov. Cuomo.
An overflow crowd of 11,000 charter-school supporters braved Albany’s subfreezing weather Tuesday to cheer Cuomo as he blasted the state’s 200-plus failing public schools and declared that “parents deserve a choice” in charter schools.
“We are here today to tell you that we stand with you,” the governor told the huge crowd. “You are not alone. We will save charter schools.”
Cuomo pledged to ensure that “charter schools have the financial capacity, the physical space and the government support to thrive and to grow.”
His public promise followed an exclusive report in Tuesday’s Post that he privately told a meeting of business leaders last month he would support legislation to provide funds for charters to lease facilities if de Blasio boots them from public-school buildings.
The massive demonstration outside the state Capitol was the largest there in years, despite being scheduled just last week in response to de Blasio’s eviction of three “co-located” charter schools.
Meanwhile, de Blasio drew fewer than 1,500 people — mainly unionized service workers — to a long-planned, nearby rally in support of his tax-the-rich plan to finance pre-kindergarten for all city kids.
The lackluster turnout left the toasty-warm, Washington Street Armory more than half-empty.
And while the mayor insisted that “we need this for our children now,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver conspicuously didn’t mention de Blasio’s desired tax on $500,000-plus earners.
“It needs to be sustainable year after year,” was all Silver (D-Manhattan) said of funding for pre-K.
Silver later told reporters that he wouldn’t hold up the proposed state budget, which is due at the end of the month, over de Blasio’s tax-hike plan.
At the pro-charter-schools rally, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-LI) declared de Blasio’s tax proposal dead on arrival.
“I’ve said it on numerous occasions, the governor has said it: The income-tax increase is not going to be voted on. It’s not going to be a part of this budget,” Skelos vowed.
Also Tuesday, sources told The Post that the United Federation of Teachers and the 1199 SEIU health-care workers union had helped convince almost the entire New York City Assembly delegation to sign on to a letter backing de Blasio’s tax plan.
After the dueling rallies, de Blasio met for about two hours with Cuomo, who has proposed funding pre-K statewide without a tax hike.
De Blasio later called it “a productive meeting” while admitting that he and Cuomo “do have some differences in terms of the best way to get pre-K and after-school [funding] done.”
“But we’re working on that every day,” he added.
Asked to react to Cuomo’s charter-school speech, de Blasio said, “The bottom line is what we’ve said about charter schools: that we are ready to work with charter schools.”
Cuomo didn’t comment after meeting with de Blasio.
But during the charter-school rally, he said he felt “fired up” as he addressed the thousands of parents and kids, many wearing bright yellow T-shirts that read, “Albany: Save Our Schools,” over their winter coats.
Cuomo said charter schools have largely proven to be a “great success,” and gave a shout-out to the Success Academy in the South Bronx, which scored third in the state, and noted that city charters have a waiting list of more than 50,000 kids.
Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx), who has 17 charter schools in his district, rapped the mayor for evicting the three charter schools, all part of de Blasio foe Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy network.
“Throwing children out on the streets — is that progressive?” Diaz asked.