Education is supposed to be the great equalizer. But that’s not happening in New York City, where hundreds of thousands of our children are in schools that deny them their basic right to a world-class education.
Last year, the city spent more on education — $24.3 billion, or $22,000 per student — than any major city in America. Despite this, 30 percent of our high-school students don’t graduate. Of those who do, 50 percent aren’t ready for college and 50 percent don’t have the English or math skills to get a job. It’s a travesty for which Mayor de Blasio has no answer.
Under de Blasio, city schools are strangled by regulation and bad policy that prioritizes adults instead of children. The mayor has doubled the number of top administrators and tripled their pay, while teachers and students are starved for resources.
Today, a staggering 44,000 students sit on charter-school waitlists, desperately trying to escape failing district schools. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says New York has the longest such wait list in America.
Put simply, de Blasio’s failed policies are robbing our youth of the education, opportunity and success they deserve. He has sold out our school system to powerful unions, entrenched bureaucrats and wealthy campaign donors at the expense of students and families.
We need a mayor who is beholden to no special interests and will put the whole child at the center of every decision about New York schools.
Our city is home to over a million creative, curious, intelligent students who deserve a world-class education that sets them on a path to success and achievement. Our schools should prepare every student for college, a career or whatever path they choose.
Our city’s foremost priority is to ensure that every child in New York has access to a good school. Here’s how:
First, give parents real choice with new public charter, specialized and vocational schools; improved conventional public schools; and religious schools. Guarantee choice to any student in a district underperforming the city math or reading mean, opening enough new district and charter schools to make this possible.
The mayor should insist that Albany remove any cap on charter schools and push for an education tax credit that will significantly expand the number of seats available to low-income children at yeshivas, madrassas and parochial schools.
We should utilize education grants, tax credits, scholarships and savings accounts to ensure every student has access to a top-notch education, especially low-income students and kids with special learning needs. And we need City Hall to support equal funding for students, regardless of whether at a district school or a public charter school.
Second, we need to open new, excellent schools, including a new specialized public high school in every borough. Not enough students, particularly blacks and Hispanics, are reaping the rewards of our specialized schools.
We must get every school that’s not on a path to excellence back on track through direct and rapid changes that improve classroom conditions. The Department of Education should identify our best schools, principals and teachers, and expand their most successful techniques system-wide.
It’s also time to end de Blasio’s disastrous Renewal School Program, which has doubled down on failed approaches while wasting tens of millions on outside consultants.
Third, we must demand transparency and accountability. De Blasio ended the practice of grading schools. We should bring it back, because parents and students have a right to know how schools are measuring up. DOE should also institute a $10,000 bonus for any teacher who lives in the district and community where she or he teaches.
Finally, we must unleash innovation, creating individualized education programs for each student and using state-of-the-art technology. We should also teach students the life skills they need to succeed outside the classroom, like financial literacy, and invest in early childhood education, with initiatives that support parents with language and reading programs for young children.
It’s time to end de Blasio’s overregulation, irresponsible experimentation and bad policy that prioritizes adults instead of children. Once and for all, let’s put the focus on the students and families that our schools are meant to serve.
Paul Massey, a Republican, is running for mayor of New York.