New York is a blue state but has a divided legislature. Democrats control the Assembly, and Republicans control the State Senate. Republicans are not the majority of the State Senate. They are in power because of a small group of renegade Democrats who vote with the Republicans. They are called the Independent Democratic Caucus, and they hold the balance of power. Governor Andrew Cuomo likes the divided legislature, as it enhances his power.

The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) investigated the IDC and discovered the source of their ample funding: Hedge fund managers and equity investors who favor charter schools and privatization.

Its report, called “Pay to Play: Charter Schools and the IDC,” lays out the political contributions that fuel the IDC campaigns:

“The IDC received $676,850 from charter school political donors.

“Over the past six years, the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of breakaway Democrats who support Republican control of the New York State Senate, have received $676,850 from charter school political donors. These political donors, including hedge fund managers and their political action committees, have been rewarded by the IDC as seen in the 2017 state budget where privately-
run charter schools got much larger funding increases per pupil than public schools. The IDC-Republican advocacy for privately-run charter schools at the expense of public schools runs counter to the IDC’s public pronouncements that they are championing public school funding and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. The IDC is empowering pro-privatization, pro-Trump Republicans to run the State Senate even though it hurts the more than one million public school students they represent.

“The table below is lists the charter school-af liated individual and political action donations made to IDC members and to committees speci cally bene ting the IDC.

“Senators Hamilton and Peralta are not included in the list of IDC members shown below. Senator Jesse Hamilton joined the IDC on November 7, 2016. Senator Jose Peralta joined in January 2017. The two senators however, have a long history of receiving donations from the charter industry. Over the years, the donations they received come to a total of $ 11,500 for and $26,500 for Peralta. This money is in addition to the total shown in this report.”

Open the link to see the list of donors.

Why does this connection matter?

A Republican Senate can be relied on to prevent tax increases on the wealthy. This matters to them even more than charter schools. Bottom line: the 1% prefer charters instead of tax increases to pay for smaller classes, early childhood education, and the services that would help children and public schools.