In June last year, a group of black parents in Queens formed the Students Improvement Association. They were outraged that their children, despite high spending per student, were suffering from failing schools.
“There are a lot of middle-class black homeowners here,” says local activist Michael Duncan. “These are successful people, successful families. The results in our schools are not a reflection of the community. Something isn’t right here.”
The response of the de Blasio government? Silence.
Their cry for help is heartbreaking, but it is certainly not the only one. All over the city, parents are outraged at classes being dumbed down and discipline dwindling, while officials care more about ideology than education. Faced with students who were not learning, the old government threw away the standards. No grades, no tests, no choice. Good schools are insulted and bad ones are ignored.
We are at a turning point.
Mayor Adams and School Chancellor David Banks have a chance to undo the damage done to our children, give parents opportunities for success, preserve excellence and repair broken schools. To do this, they need the help of Governor Hochul and state legislators willing to put the needs of students above those of the teachers’ union.
SOS: Save our schools.
Albany Calendar
The legislator’s duty is clear, as is Hochul’s. Stand up for the kids instead of hiding behind the talk of “consensus” when special interests benefit so much from the status quo:
- Extend the mayoralty of New York City schools. Indeed, make it permanent. It’s nice that Hochul has called for a four-year extension while Adams only asked for three, but why leave it as political football at all?
- Lift the cap that prevents the opening of new city charter schools. The number of charter registrations has increased by 9% in the past two years and the demand is only increasing. Charters now teach an astonishing 1 in 4 black New York City students, including 2 out of 5 in K-1 grades. After decades of promises that public schools will improve, parents are voting with their feet. Albany can’t close the door on African-American ambitions.
- Smash the bill to deprive SUNY of its authority to issue new charters. In the city, children in SUNY chartered schools significantly outperform their public school peers on state English and math exams. This legislation is nothing more than an attempt to deny more children access to quality education.
- Start by reining in the Council of Regents, which are constantly undermining educational standards. At the very least, ban the re-cancellation of Regents exams, the ultimate guarantee that New York State recognizes educational achievement for decades.
- Issue a Bill of Rights for parents recognizing that families are the most important stakeholders in the education of their children.
The city’s own duty
Adams and Banks also have their own work for them. The mayor must stand up for charters, no matter how much it irritates the United Federation of Teachers.
- Open more selective high schools and high quality high schools. That’s the only way to reasonably increase the chances for everyone — not by trying to get rid of accelerated programs, but by having more of them.
- Create high-quality programs for the gifted and talented in all neighborhoods, with access options well beyond a 4-year-old test – and add new years of G&T so that children who have benefited can continue to do so.
- Get a grip on school safety. That means abolishing the Blasio ‘restorative justice’ approach, which merely encourages bullies, and establishing a city-wide code of conduct and discipline that is no joke. And strengthen, rather than diminish, the ranks of school security officers.
- Some high-quality new schools should be trade schools: Let go of the idea that college is the only acceptable destination for high school graduates.
- Reverse the de Blasio era policy of denying every possible charter school request for space in existing public school buildings. With enrollment in DOE schools declining, there is no excuse for this obstruction policy.
- Fix special education, including the farce of a process that allows higher-income families to get help for their children, while too many poor parents get lost in bureaucracy. And convert special funds into vouchers that parents can use at any school that meets their children’s needs.
- Reverse the growth of central bureaucracy and instead fund guidance counselors tasked with reaching families to keep children on track.
Striving for excellence
We believe in public education. New York City has managed to provide generations of immigrants, as well as Americans with a history of racial oppression. But New Yorkers have lost faith in DOE schools, and for good reason. Without a clear turnaround, the current not-so-slow exodus will accelerate.
It’s up to Adams and Banks, with firm support from Hochul, to get city schools back on track toward ever-greater excellence. If they don’t, parents will find alternatives and New York public education will die in any meaningful sense.