The war over charter schools shifted from City Hall to Albany Thursday as Gov. Cuomo pledged to protect the besieged schools and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver blasted charters as tools of “Wall Street billionaires.”
“We’re not going to be in a situation where charter schools stop, OK?” the governor vowed in a morning radio interview. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”
His comments came as state Senate leaders proposed several measures to shield charters, including reversing Mayor de Blasio’s decision to block three schools operated by Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy from moving into city-owned buildings.
In a rare visit to the press room in Albany, Silver (D-Manhattan) told reporters the measures would never fly with his members.
“It’s shocking to me that they would get into that level of detail. I would not be a party to something that says, ‘The decision you made, Mr. Mayor, was inappropriate’ . . . To come and question those three, I think, is ludicrous,” Silver said.
He charged that charters have enough well-heeled protectors and it’s regular public-school students stuck in classroom trailers who really need Albany’s help.
“They don’t have Wall Street billionaires who can put ads on, or contribute to campaigns, and therefore nobody represents them and they’re doomed to sitting in trailers for the rest of their school career,” Silver said.
The escalating charter confrontation overshadowed the end of de Blasio’s effort to hike taxes on the wealthy to fund more after-school and pre-K classes.
The Senate allocated the full $540 million de Blasio requested for his programs this year, leading Silver to say a tax hike was off the table.
“It’s a done deal. I don’t need a tax,” the speaker said.
De Blasio — who had virtually no chance of enacting such a tax increase in an election year — quickly declared victory.
Cuomo was unwavering in his support of charters and said they would be a key issue in upcoming budget talks with the Legislature.
“Charter schools, I believe, is going to be the big issue in the budget,” Cuomo said on the “Capitol Pressroom” radio show.
“The discussion on the charter schools is going to be powerful and is probably going to be one of the more controversial and complex matters that we wind up dealing with in the budget.”
Charter critics quickly attacked the governor.
“This is a clear Quid Pro Cuomo . . . It’s pay-to-play Albany corruption at its worst,” said Zakiyah Ansar, of the labor-backed Alliance for Quality Education, pointing out that some charter backers are also Cuomo campaign donors.