Nothing succeeds like the Success Academy Network of charter schools, which just saw its entire High School of the Liberal Arts senior class admitted to four-year colleges — for the sixth straight year.
Aside from the four elite high schools, how many other regular public schools can boast anything like that?
And this, when Success scholars overwhelmingly come from low-income black and/or Hispanic families.
Indeed, charters overall enroll the same population as the regular public schools; they simply work better.
Yet many lawmakers keep working to stop charter growth.
The Legislature balks at Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to let dozens more charters open in the city; local politicians rage against Department of Education “colocations” of new charter schools in half-empty DOE buildings.
Year after year, charters do measurably better by kids than do traditional public schools.
But the politicians listen to the New York State United Teachers and the city-based United Federation of Teachers — who hate charters, especially those like Success that expose the regular system’s failure.
Most charters aren’t unionized, and so bring in no UFT dues. And so a growing charter sector means declining UFT power.
But it means rising hope for city children.
The 117-student SA class of 2023 includes Harvard-bound Geah Jean Baptiste, who won last year’s state chess championship and maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA. Baptiste and her classmates are headed to some of the most selective colleges and universities in the nation — and 68% will be the first in their families to attend college.
No wonder these schools are popular with parents — even those in Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s northern Bronx district, where 62% of voters say they support charters, and 68% back increasing the number in the city.
Mind you, not all charters focus on producing college-bound scholars, as Success does. Some specialize in serving special-needs kids; others on other missions. But all aim to provide a sound education and the opportunity to excel in life.
And charter schools that fail get shut down by their state overseers. Failing regular public schools often linger on for years, robbing their students of the opportunity they deserve.
If the Legislature manages to block Hochul’s more-charters-for-NYC proposals, it’ll be a loss for New York’s kids and a win for those who don’t care about them.