The influence of teachers' unions in New York prevents the opening of new charter schools, forcing students to learn in cramped and inadequate spaces. This article explores the situation at Success Academy Charter HS of the Liberal Arts, where overcrowding is a constant issue.
Music students at Success Academy's High School of Liberal Arts in Manhattan are practicing in a hallway due to a lack of space in the school. This situation highlights the influence of special interests in New York, as the Legislature refuses to allow more charter schools to open in the city. While thousands of other city children remain on waitlists, unable to escape the traditional public-school system for a charter, even though high-quality organizers are available.
The state's teacher unions exert significant control over the Legislature's leaders, preventing them from lifting the cap on new charters and gradually diminishing mayoral control of the city's Department of Education. As a result, Success Academy Charter HS of the Liberal Arts on Manhattan's East Side must cram its students into closets and hallways in its 33rd Street building, even though three traditional public high schools sharing the site have ample space.Success Academy's 888 students outnumber the children at the other three schools combined. Success HS operates at over 100% capacity of its allotted space, while the other schools are at 39%, 61%, and 74% enrollment. State law mandates the DOE to provide charters with available space in public school buildings, but in practice, it allows for the shameful squeezing of charter students across the city (and not just at Success schools). The unions even persuaded the Legislature to pass a New York City-specific class-size law, partially to consume space that charters could otherwise utilize. Mayor Bill de Blasio's DOE actively sought to suppress charters; Mayor Eric Adams, in principle, is more supportive of parental choices in enrolling their children in charter schools. However, he is also constrained by teachers' union allies in Albany (and on the City Council). Governor Kathy Hochul, focused on her reelection campaign next year, has adopted a teachers' union-appeasing stance, failing to even call for lifting the charter cap in her $252 billion budget proposal.But union power cannot override academic excellence or parents' aspirations for their children's future. The school-choice movement continues to gain momentum even in New York as traditional public schools consistently underperform on all objective measures, and families abandon the conventional system. Squeezing charter schools only compels them to seek alternatives—private or Catholic schools, if they can secure scholarships or other funding, or even relocation outside of New York altogether. Lawmakers who persist in denying choice to families solely to appease their special-interest patrons are courting a political upheaval
CHARTER SCHOOLS TEACHERS' UNIONS SCHOOL CHOICE NEW YORK CITY EDUCATION POLICY
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