On Thursday, September 18th, more than 10,000 students and parents from charter schools crossed the Brooklyn Bridge to gather at City Hall for the “Rally and March for Excellence” event. The aim of the event was to demand the lifting of restrictions on charter schools, in order to allow more families to choose this unique form of public education.
The gathering commenced at 9 a.m. at Cadman Plaza in downtown Brooklyn, followed by a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall. Participants included students, teachers, and parents from charter schools such as Success Academy.
Students sported purple or yellow t-shirts with slogans like “Choice is fairness”, “End charter school caps”, and “Excellence is civil rights”. Eva Moskowitz, CEO of Success Academy, expressed in an email to ABC that “Unfortunately, the opposition to charter schools is very powerful, and we have had to fight for everything we have achieved over the past 20 years. Your child’s access to quality education is currently under serious threat.”
Currently, New York City has 286 charter schools, serving over 150,000 students, accounting for 15% of the city’s public schools. Charter schools receive public funding like traditional public schools but are privately managed by nonprofit organizations. Additionally, their staff are not unionized, and they often have longer school days.
Due to these factors, students in charter schools typically outperform their public school counterparts. For instance, Success Academy consistently ranks among the “top” schools in New York City for math and literacy achievements.
Moskowitz attributed their success to a focus on teaching excellence and academic performance. However, due to teachers not being union members, the school has faced continuous “political” pressure.
In July of this year, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) endorsed Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and mayoral candidate. UFT President Michael Mulgrew responded to Thursday’s march, stating, “Public schools welcome and embrace all children, and are committed to helping students thrive. Mamdani understands this. The leadership at Success Academy, however, does not, as they continue to push out students and parents who do not fit their mold.”
While the organizers insist that the event is non-political, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa expressed his support for charter schools at the rally on the Brooklyn Bridge.
“I am honored to have participated in the march across the Brooklyn Bridge,” Sliwa stated in an email to this publication on September 18th. “Parents must have the ability to place their children in schools that best serve their educational needs.”
If elected mayor, Sliwa pledged to “lift charter school caps; co-locate charter schools with underutilized public school buildings; promote transparency and accountability for all publicly funded traditional and charter schools; encourage collaboration and sharing of best practices between district schools and charter schools.”
Sliwa believes that charter schools provide parents with genuine choice and allow them to benefit from the $42,000 in education funding allocated to each New York City public school student.
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo approved laws supporting charter schools during his tenure, implementing an education plan that involved closing underperforming public schools and potentially replacing them with charter schools.
An advocate for charter schools, education expert Chen Huaihua, stated, “New York City’s public charter schools have made significant contributions to the community, especially to the Black and Hispanic populations.”
“For example, most students at Success Academy are Black and Hispanic, coming from the same communities and economic backgrounds as public school students. However, their academic performance far exceeds that of public school students,” said Chen Huaihua. “We should expand the scale of these charter schools and even introduce their successful methods into our district schools. Cuomo and Sliwa’s support for charter schools is correct, while Mamdani is completely wrong.”