By Elizabeth Ling, DFER NY State Director
Applications for NYC charter schools soared this year, with families submitting almost FIVE TIMES the number of applications to charters as seats available.
This bald-faced, stick-you-in-your-eye statistic speaks volumes about what NYC parents think is in the best interests of their children. They value public school options, and they value the excellent, free education that many charters in NYC are offering their students.
Despite their rhetoric and machinations, charter school opponents — such as the UFT and NAACP, who recently filed a joint lawsuit seeking to block the opening of 18 charters in NYC– cannot get around this plain fact. (We’ve come to expect as much from the UFT, but the NAACP should know better. Shame on them.)
Rather than restricting options for parents, we should let them vote with their feet. What is the teachers union afraid of?!
Elizabeth Ling oversees strategy and operations for DFER’s New York State advocacy programs. She focuses on building coalitions of various education reform groups, and works with legislators and government officials to help shape public education policies.