Last week, the forces committed to the educational status quo defeated a proposal from the governor and mayor to double the number of charter schools in the state, and thereby damaged New York's chance to win $700 million in federal funds for states willing to make hard choices to improve their schools.
Soon, the same forces will gather to block the latest proposal to allow SUNY and CUNY to set different tuition levels for each college and university, enabling them to raise money to keep pace with rivals in other states. The prospects are not good for this idea, either. In New York, competition in education is an oxymoron. And that's the fundamental problem.
Start with charter schools. The idea is to create an alternative to rule-bound and unresponsive public schools. Charter schools attract thousands of desperate students, raising the possibility of a decline in public school jobs, thereby forcing public schools to become more flexible and effective.
It is beginning to work in New York City, where the 100 charter schools are a key reason Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein are making progress with public education. The threat is real enough that the teachers union used all its political clout to derail the charter school expansion.