A much better system is school choice. That's the system in which schools choose their students and send all the others back to those awful public schools. Then you get fabulous test scores and they all look like they suck. Except, of course, when you don't. On those occasions you have to take extreme measure, like dumping an entire cohort. Or two.
But Eva did very well the other night, thank you very much. After her BFFs spent over 5 million dollars on a television campaign to make sure Bill de Blasio could not do what he elected them to do, they had a big gala, featuring legal expert Campbell Brown, and threw over seven million dollars at her. That's ironic, because these are the very people who say you can't just throw money at a problem.
But that, of course, refers to lowly public schools. Governor Cuomo, who not only endorsed but spoke at the school-day rally where Eva dragged her hapless kids, can't be bothered to fund them. That's why he so adores the Gap Elimination Adjustment that makes sure we balance the state budget on the backs of schoolchildren. And just in case that doesn't get the job done, he's set a tax cap in place. Because Andrew Cuomo is the student lobbyist, he's made sure that people who say no to kids get more of a vote than those who say yes. Therefore districts outside of NYC need a super-majority of 60% to overcome the tax cap of 2% or rate of inflation, whichever is lower.
But that doesn't mean Andy Cuomo isn't the student lobbyist. What it means is that he only lobbies for the 3% of NY schoolchildren who attend charters. After all, those of us whose kids attend public school can't give him 800K we know about, and who knows how many vital suitcases full of cash, like Eva's BFFs can.
It's a question of values. And it's pretty clear to me, at least, that Governor Andy highly values the highest bidder.
Posts
