Democrats will squabble over charter schools
It would be easy to dismiss the thousands of students, parents and educators marching across the Brooklyn Bridge on Wednesday decked out in red “I fight to end inequality” T-shirts as bit players in a New York squabble over charter school funding.
It’s way more than that.
What you’re witnessing are yet more signs that the Democratic Party is headed toward a serious fissure over education issues, one that will pit the haves against the have-nots. The divide pits traditional liberals (think New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo) vs. progressives (think New York Mayor Bill de Blasio). The odd thing is that some Democrats don’t seem to see this one coming.
Real bad, as in serious conflicts erupting between white suburbanite parents and urban parents.
Another signal of this eruption came last week, when Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced both his resignation and his replacement: John King, a charter school co-founder who became New York state’s education chief. There, he pursued test-focused reforms designed to root out ineffective teachers.
The opposition in New York was intense. The unions hated King’s reforms, and superintendents didn’t want to deal with additional accountability. Both the unions and Democrats will squabble over charter schools: