Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters describes the deal to benefit the billionaire-funded charter schools that is being negotiated right now by the New York legislature and will be voted on next week.
It is not too late to make your voice heard!
Governor Cuomo, who received $800,000 for his re-election campaign from charter school advocates, is making good on his promise to take care of charters. These privately operated schools, supported by billionaires like Paul Tudor Jone, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, and a long list of hedge fund managers, will never have to pay rent for their use of public facilities; they will get additional public fund; and a guarantee that they can never be moved out of their public space. The billionaires proved in the past month that they are willing to spend $5 million or so on attack ads, but they will not pay rent to the city for their use of public space. The Robin Hood Foundation, founded by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, is able to raise $80 million in a single night. But the charters can’t pay the city rent for use of public space. According to Forbes, Paul Tudor Jones manages $13 billion in assets, and he has decided to “save” public education. He and his fellow hedge fund managers have determined to privatize public education. With the help of New York’s feckless legislature and cold-hearted Governor, they are on their way.
Leonie Haimson writes:
According to today’s NY Post, the legislature is about to make the worst possible deal imaginable: considerably more per pupil funding for charters, including more than $1100 per student over three years, and free space or rent paid for by NYC for any new or expanding NYC charter going forward – just in NYC, by the way, where we have the most overcrowded schools in the state, with more than half our students sitting in extremely overcrowded schools by the DOE’s own metrics, which we know are an underestimate.
Thousands of kids on waiting lists for Kindergarten each spring, thousands more sitting in trailers, and the capital plan provides less than one third of the seats needed to eliminate current overcrowding and address future enrollment growth. But charters will be guaranteed the space to expand – paid for by city taxpayers, while our public school students are crushed into larger and larger classes with less space to learn.
Call the Speaker’s office now: tell him to say NO to the deal forcing the city to pay for facilities forever for new or expanded charters, while public school students will sit in increasingly overcrowded buildings.
Speaker Silver: (518) 455-3791
Then call your Assemblymember and urge them to say NO to this deal as well; find their contact info here:
If this deal goes forward, this will truly create a two tier system in which the charter schools will be the only ones in uncrowded facilities, with the rent paid for by NYC taxpayers, and all parents will be forced to apply to charter schools whether they want to or not, just to guarantee a seat for their child in a school that is not hugely overcrowded.
Please call the Speaker’s office and your Assemblymember now.
Thanks,
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The moral of the story is simple…..be careful what you wish for…..
An “in your face” decision by the Mayor gave you this result. There isn’t anyone else to blame.
Who wished for this? I mean, other than you and your fellow Reaganites?
I assume he’s referring to those who “wished for” BDB to take on the charter sector, or at least Eva Moskowitz. Questionable logic re: “there isn’t anyone else to blame,” though.
That being said — and I realize the book has yet to be written about this — it does appear to me that BDB has made a series of horrendous political decisions that have had the end result of turning a mandate into a noose. BDB essentially won the UPK debate as of January 1 and spent the next three months trading away his leverage in the Assembly, assuming he ever had any. As a NYC public school parent, I’m not happy. I would rather see the Assembly blow up the entire budget, including UPK, than sign off on a budget that includes these charter school provisions.
It forces BDB to become Michael Bloomberg – they are going to need to start staking out what spaces CAN accommodate multiple schools, and then work out justifications for reducing their enrollment to accommodate charters.
Before there was a veil of “we’re closing failing schools”, now it’s simply “we need to take your space because we can’t afford not to”.
It wholesale gives the Public School sector over to charters. Do the math on this. Is there any sign that there will be a decrease of charters? So doesn’t that mean that if they’re guaranteed space, that eventually all public schools will be shut out to keep that guarantee?
M: you are right. They used to say “we are taking your space because we are closing failing schools.” Now they say “we want your space because we want your space.” The billionaires spent $5 million to pay for attack ads against the mayor but they can’t afford to pay rent? No. They don’t want to pay rent. Why should they when the Legislature will give it to them for free?
How could you possibly agree with this theft of taxpayer money and the bulling and abuse from the state? What a bunch of con artists. Cuomo is a complete sell-out.
Where is the UFT in this?
Well, Michael, I’m glad I asked that question. The UFT is a willing captive of Cuomo, and is in the process of trying to take over NYSUT, the statewide teacher union federation, because the current leadership, led by Dick Ianuzzi, does not sufficiently grovel before our Governor from Hedgistan.
This episode clearly shows that 1) just because you’re the Mayor, you still don’t control anything unless the Overclass lets you, and 2) electoral politics, minus mass mobilization on many fronts, is a dead end.
For that matter, where’s De Blasio? What leverage is he applying against Silver and the key Assembly members today? What’s he saying to them privately (assuming that he’s even calling them)? How much does BDB want a budget without these charter provisions — badly enough to give up a “win” on UPK?
Where’s De Blasio? See “in the headlights, deer.”
I’m not happy to say it, but he’s been terribly outmatched in this round, which, early though it may be, could be decisive. It’s confounding to think that he didn’t know whom he was dealing with here.
Whatever his shortcomings, he needs to be supported because, unlike his opponents, he’s not a vicious son of a bitch who wants teachers to retire on a cat food diet and who sees dollar signs when he looks at children.
He needs bodies in the streets supporting him. Unfortunately, the UFT leadership is playing him, making nice publicly, working him to get a contract – which they could have never gotten otherwise – while stabbing him in the back with its sycophantic support of King Cuomo.
As for UFT members, they are scared, overwhelmed and demoralized. The new evaluation procedures and the tests they are a part of have people completely distracted – intentionally so – and preoccupied. Plus, the minority that has some awareness of what’s going on also knows it was their union leadership that betrayed them.
So, what then?
Makes perfect sense re: the union strategy.
Re: BDB, I’m speaking off the cuff on this, which is never a good idea for me, but . . . the Senate budget proposal came out over two weeks ago. The Mayor immediately issued a press release PRAISING it, on the basis of UPK funding. Ok, I figured, he’s reacting on the fly, he’ll address the Senate proposals re: charter schools tomorrow. But now that that I think about it, did BDB ever make any public statements opposing the Senate proposal? I don’t recall that happening. Today, again, radio silence. I have to ask, why? What does he have to lose? Did this become his deal to protect after his poll numbers plunged and the UPK funding stream was locked in?
That sounds reasonable.
You said it. The filthy rich got to bully everyone and bought a worthless governor. God help the United States.
“…electoral politics, minus mass mobilization on many fronts, is a dead end….” Actually, voting for Republicans or Democrats is a dead end regardless of mass mobilization. They will ignore your mobilizations as long as you don’t back up the mobilization with votes.
Revolting! Vote 3rd party.
Sadly, I have no faith in the legislature, especially Silver and the assembly members who pulled the terrible Regents move earlier this month. The subtext of their action is pretty much ” hugger off, we don’t care what the public thinks, we play party politics and are motivated by self preservation. ” {Sigh}
Districts will have to face the terrible dilemma of having to find very scarce classroom space (and losing programs) to charters that want to co-locate or losing huge amounts of funds (20% of the basic charter tuition, which I guess is the $13500 per student) for the rental fees-whichever is less- to pay for rents in private buildings. I can just see the pressure on principals to find space for the charters, even when there is no room in the school.
“considerably more per pupil funding for charters, including more than $1100 per student over three years”
It’ll work the way it was intended to work. If you want preferential funding for your child, go to a charter school.
Ain’t “competition” grand?
I love how this completely puts paid to the “choice!” theme, too. The people already in those schools won’t feel as if they had any “choice!” at all. Where’s their choice in all this?
I don’t think you should attribute it to a specific response to a specific charter operator, either.
Going from local control to state control is part of the national game plan. They do it in every state. You know the drill. Everyone who objects to this is “defending the status quo” and “self interested” so must be rolled over or gotten around. That’s much easier to do with a distant regulator at the state level.
In Ohio, they actually took them out from the STATE board of education supervision, in 2005. Eventually this will be done, I don’t know, at the federal level?