New York City school kids caught a break Thursday when Eva Moskowitz took herself out of the running to be Donald Trump’s secretary of education.
The Success Academy Charter Network CEO met with Trump a day earlier and was rumored to be under consideration for the job. But the kids need her here. And here, it seems, she’ll stay. That’s good news.
True, Moskowitz would have made an excellent education czar. She’s been fearless in taking on the teachers union. Her charter schools have broken records for achievement. And as a former City Council member, she’d have come with valuable government experience.
But losing Moskowitz to DC would’ve been a tremendous loss — not just to Success Academy families, but the whole city.
Fact is, her charters have proved that poor, inner-city kids can achieve just as much as their wealthier, suburban peers — that is, when they’re not trapped in failing traditional public schools. And her fight to expand that kind of opportunity for minority and even middle-class kids is unparalleled.
That has served the city well, particularly given the fierce opposition charters have endured from the unions and folks — like New York’s mayor — who do their bidding.
If Moskowitz left, “who would keep an eye on Mayor de Blasio?” she asked half-jokingly at a press conference Thursday.
Still, President-elect Trump and his team are clearly on the right track if they’ve been considering candidates like Moskowitz. Other names, too, that have surfaced — former DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee and Center for Education Reform president Jeanne Allen — show Trump clearly interested in shaking up America’s sclerotic public-school system and expanding opportunity. Ditto for his proposal to offer $20 billion in block grants to states to broaden school choice.
But Moskowitz belongs with her students — in New York City. Frankly, the only job that would let her help city kids more than as CEO at Success would be as “CEO” at … City Hall.