This week, the State Senate will hear testimony on whether Mayor de Blasio should continue to have control over our city’s schools. As principal of Success Academy Harlem West Middle School, and a longtime member of the Harlem community, I know firsthand the impact this policy can have on students.
Mayoral control is a good policy because it provides stability to our school system. But it can also be abused, as it was only two years ago, when Mayor de Blasio rolled back three co-locations previously committed to Success Academy, effectively making hundreds of students educationally homeless. The mayor’s decision was a painful experience for our school community.
In this instance, Mayor de Blasio used mayoral control to wreak havoc on the lives of children. Students like mine deserve the same stability the mayor is asking for, and so if mayoral control is to continue our families and schools must be treated fairly.
As mayor, de Blasio is responsible for all public school children in this city, but he has not been fair and equitable to public charter school students. As principal, I need the resources and funding for my students to run my school — the same resources and funding that district school principals get for their students. But Mayor de Blasio opposes equitable funding for charter school students. In January, he said, “We do not support initiatives that take from one group of children to give to another.”
The mayor’s words were misleading and divisive. Instead of being the mayor of all students, he chose to pit district families against public charter school families.
Charter schools share more than just space with district schools — we also share families. Many Success Academy parents also have children in a district school, and many district school educators send their children to Success and other public charter schools. The mayor’s rhetoric is hurtful to these families and to the community at large.
Equal funding for public charter school students is a very real need and has a strong impact on my school. I need resources to deliver a high-quality education. My school is open from 7:15 in the morning until 5:15 in the afternoon. I am providing more hours of education a year on far less funding. It is unacceptable that the mayor would allow, much less support, such inequality in our schools.
The lip-service sermon Mayor de Blasio delivered at Riverside Church two years ago has not translated into positive action for charter school families. Most strikingly, he does not support parent choice, the single most effective way for low-income families to have access to high-quality public schools.
The quality of schooling a child gets should not depend on his parents’ pocketbook, but in New York City, that’s the harsh reality. Currently, parent choice primarily exists for those who can afford it. Affluent families who want to send their children to the good public schools in Park Slope or Cobble Hill or the Upper West Side can choose to move there. Or they can send their children to private school.
But for low-income families, parent choice depends on winning one of the few available seats in the city’s public charter school lottery, and the odds are not favorable. Last year, 65,000 families applied for 22,000 open seats. The mayor was not moved by plight of 43,000 children stuck on this waitlist, hoping to escape a failing school. He still opposed lifting the cap on charter schools, further limiting the opportunities available to families seeking a better school for their child.
Instead of giving parents choice, the mayor vows he will fix all schools. His plan projects that by 2026 all 2nd graders will be reading fluently — although at the current rate of progress, 2081 is a more realistic prediction. Parents with school-age children cannot wait that long. A kindergartener entering a failing district school this year will have a greater chance of dropping out, or being assaulted by 2026, than entering one of New York’s selective high schools.
If mayoral control is to truly serve all of New York City’s school children it must not be turned into a political lever to favor adult interests over children’s educational welfare. Mayor de Blasio should respect the rights of parents who simply want to be able to choose the school that is best for their child today. He should treat district and charter school students fairly and equitably.
