The charter lobby in New York is well funded by billionaires like Michael Bloomberg and Paul Tudor Jones as a long list of Wall Street hedge funders. These elites want the state and New York City to open unlimited numbers of charter schools, despite their impact on public schools, attended by nearly 90% of students. New York City has a cap of 275 charters.
But that’s not enough for the billionaires. Governor Kathy Hochul is attentive to their needs because they supply campaign cash.
The legislature rejected her proposal to lift the caps, but she succeeded in inflicting 14 “zombie charters” on NYC. A zombie charter is one that opened but failed.
At a time of budget cuts, this decision will put more stress on the city’s public schools.
The United Federation of Teachers reacted:
Contact: UFT Press Office | press@uft.orgDick Riley | C: 917.880.5728
Alison Gendar | C: 718.490.2964
Melissa Khan | C: 646-901-1501
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Thursday, April 27, 2023
UFT Statement on the State Charter Deal
“The Senate and the Assembly did the right thing by rejecting the governor’s plan to lift the New York charter cap. Unfortunately, the governor listened to the demands of a handful of billionaires and revived 14 zombie charters for New York City — even though New York City has nearly 40,000 unused charter seats. Now it’s time for the governor to listen to New York parents who want accountability and transparency from the charter sector and an end to loopholes that benefit corporate charters at the expense of our public schools.”
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
An unfortunate situation, but those of us who have had public school administrators and board members lie to our faces about NYS ed law understand that there are also other reasons for support of the CONCEPT of charter schools.
She’s a good politician. She’ll stay bought.